BORN LEEDS 23/02/1880. SON OF WILLIAM WAITE & EMILY PRINCE, OF 107 SPRING STREET, HULL, “BURLEIGH HOUSE”, 136 ST GEORGE’S ROAD, HULL AND 3, RICHMOND AVENUE, MASSEY STREET, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS). HE WAS A SERGEANT IN THE ROYAL MARINE ARTLLERY AND HAD SERVED 18 YEARS. HE WAS KILLED WHEN HMS ‘VANGUARD EXPLODED AT SCAPA FLOW, ON 09/07/1917, KILLED 677 MEN. HE HAD ALREADY SERVED TWENTY MONTHS IN FRANCE, BEFORE TRANSFERRING TO HMS VANGUARD. HE WAS AGED 37. HE IS COMMEMORATED AT PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 18/07/1917.
The eighth HMS Vanguard of the British Royal Navy was a St Vincent class battleship, an enhancement of the ´dreadnought´ design built by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness. She was launched in April 1909, commissioned into the Royal Navy at Devonport in October 1910, and spent her life in the Home Fleet. At the outbreak of World War I, she joined the First Battle Squadron at Scapa Flow, and fought in the Battle of Jutland as part of the Fourth Battle Squadron. She was a part of the action from beginning to end, but did not suffer any damage or casualties. Just before midnight on Monday, July 9, 1917, Vanguard suffered an explosion in one of the two magazines which served the amidships turrets P and Q. She sank almost instantly, killing 677 men.
In terms of loss of life, the explosion on HMS Bulwark remains the second most catastrophic explosion in the history of the UK, killing 738 sailors. The most deadly explosion in British history was that of HMS Vanguard, caused by a stokehold fire detonating a magazine, at Scapa Flow in 1917.
