John-Lynn Tilling

Occasionally I dust off the old brain cells and revisit my family history. At least two of my ancestors were in the during the Great War. Both were long term members of the Navy having joined up long before the war started. Their different histories show the degree of chance that dictated war service and ultimately whether they survived or not. They both did - but their records are so dis-similar as to be almost unbelievable.

On my fathers side his father (George Tilling) born in Barton Stacey near Brockenhurst in Hampshire in 1872 enlisted on 5 June 1896 having been a porter and a fitters labourer on the railway (his dad was an engine driver!) He did his training at HMS Victory (Portsmouth) and after serving on a couple of ships was then posted to Pembroke 2 Sheerness/Eastchurch in October 1899. He made his home in Teynham where my Dad was born in 1911. When war broke out he found himself on HMS Boadicea - on which ship he had been since Feb 1913. He was part of her crew for the entire duration of the war working up from Stoker through the ranks to Chief Stoker. Boadicea (see picture) was a scout cruiser and was assigned to battleship squadrons of the based at . She was present at, but did not fight in, the in mid-1916. The ship was converted into a at the end of 1917 and made three sorties to lay her mines before the end of the war. Grandad was demobilised on Christmas Day 1919.

On Mum's side her Uncle Sydney Friday lived in Ospringe Road after the war in one of the cottages near the railway bridge. He had been born in 1883 and joined up on 8 Nov 1901 at Chatham. He served on a number of ships during the war mainly support sloops and (dangerous work) but the most interesting was a posting to HMS Egmont - the Royal Navy base on Malta!! Warmer than Scapa Flow no doubt!!

He continued in service after the war and was posted to HMS Bluebell which sailed in convoy to China Station from 1920 to 1922. The entire log of this voyage and the cruising in the China Seas has been uploaded to the internet and it is fascinating to see where he was on any day and what happened on board ship. While out on China Station he had a watercolour painted of Bluebell which he brought back to his mother. I have that picture hanging on my bedroom wall!

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Keith Cornish

My father-in-laws uncle was killed on the first ship sunk by torpedo...... think it was HMS Pathfinder..... his name is on the memorial at chatham