BORN BETHNAL GREEN, 18/09/1866. SON OF JAMES & MARY ANN LOW. WIFE GERTRUDE HARGRAVE & THEIR THREE DAUGHTERS, IVY, EMILY AND DORIS, LIVED AT 34, EASTBOURNE STREET (1911 CENSUS), 7, BELMONT AVENUE, EDINBURGH STREET, AND AT 14 , EDINBURGH STREET, HULL.
HE WORKED AS A TRAMWAY FIREMAN.
HE SERVED ON THE TRAWLER ‘OTHELLO II’, SUNK WHEN THEIR SHIP HIT A MINE ON 31/10/1915. HE LEFT A WIDOW AND 5 CHILDREN. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL TIMES, ON 13/11/1915 WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH. * HIS NAME WAS RECORDED ON THE GARDENER SOCIETY MEMORIAL, HULL HOLY TRINITY CHURCH. ALSO LISTED ON THE WW1 MEMORIAL AT ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH, NEWINGTON, HULL.
THANK YOU TO JO B. WHO FOR THE LINK AND INFORMATION ON 21/5/2016:- link:http://www.canterburydivers.org.uk/wrecks.html#othello_2
Part of the WW1 Dover Patrol, HMT Othello II a 206 Tonne Admiralty Trawler was part of the Minesweeper force and sent to Patrol an area between the Goodwin Gate and the Gull Lightship on the 31st October 1915. As she battled her way out to the site against a strong gale from the SSE, at 1155 am she hit a mine laid by UC-6. The explosion caused extensive damage to her Port side amidships and distorted the cabin door and windows so much they could not be opened. The three men in the wheelhouse managed to squeeze the cabin boy out of the window, but they could not follow and went down with the ship. He was the only survivor of the 10 onboard. This incident caused all the wooden doors in the Dover Patrol force to be replaced with canvas screens which later saved several lives.
