Letter from G H Edwards of Exmouth Who Was Serving in HMS Goliath

Exmouth Museum

Registered Charity No 291311 – R NEWS LETTER No. 15 - April 2015

Monday 30th March Museum Opens for the Season

Monday 11th May Annual General Meeting 10:30 at Salvation Army Hall

Saturday 30th May Coffee Morning 10:30 at Salvation Army Hall

Saturday 19th September Coffee Morning 10:30 at Salvation Army Hall

Saturday 31st October Museum Closes for Winter

This year we have moved on our WWI Exhibition to show how the events of 1915 impacted on the people of Exmouth.

The loss of HMS Goliath to a Turkish torpedo boat on 13th May 1915 in the ill-fated Gallipoli Campaign was just one example. With her long-range guns she was being used to shell the Turkish forts in the Dardanelles. Battleship design had improved considerably with the introduction of the Dreadnoughts since this Canopus Class ship was commissioned in 1900 and she would be outgunned by newer German battleships but was thought to be ideal against the weaker Turkish threat. HMS GOLIATH - 570 of her 700 strong crew were killed when the ship was lost - four were from Exmouth. See next page for a letter from an Exmouth survivor.

Letter from G H Edwards of Exmouth who was serving in HMS Goliath.

• Dear Wife and Children- I now take the pleasure of writing to you these few lines hoping it will find you quite well, as I am thankful to say that I am saved after our great struggle in the water after our ship went down. Sam Kirk and Joe Knight are gone. Poor fellows, there was a great loss of life that night. I shall never forget it if ever I live to come home again. Ben Hughes we left up the east coast. I suppose he is all right. Dear wife, we are like poor orphans now. We lost all our belongings so we have got nothing. We are taking up a few things to keep us warm. I hope George is all right. I expect you have heard all that have been saved by the papers. So, dear wife, my head is not very clear yet, so I cannot tell you very much till later on if all goes well with us, it is an awful thing this war. So, dear wife, I don’t think I can say any more this time. From your ever loving and affectionate husband.

REMEMBRANCE POPPIES ……

The installation of 888,246 ceramic poppies at the Tower of London commemorated the British men and women who lost their lives in WWI.

One of our Supporters purchased one of the original poppies when the installation was dismantled and has kindly lent it to the Museum for display this year.

BANK HOLIDAY OPENING ..... The Museum normally closes on Sundays and Bank Holidays. We experimented last year with one Bank Holiday opening and encouraged by the number of visitors we have decided to open on Bank Holiday Monday mornings throughout the Season. We shall, however, be closed on Good Friday.

WEBSITE …..

Have a look at us on DevonMuseums.net/Exmouth for latest news and events. You can also follow us on Twitter@exmouthmuseum

AN EXMOUTH ARTIST …..

We have recently acquired a further work by Thomas Mair which we are exhibiting in the stairs Gallery together with two other paintings and a selection of his prints. Thomas was born in 1879 in Exmouth. His father is shown in the Census as a Thatcher but a number of his family were also local artists. By 1901 he was in business as a Picture Dealer, Artist and Printmaker at 46 The Strand. These premises were later taken over by Fred Keetch Ltd. One of his paintings which we have on display can be viewed on the Your Paintings website at www.bbc.co.uk/yourpaintings

CONTACT US You can ring us on 07768 184127 or e-mail [email protected] Postal address – Exmouth Museum, Sheppards Row, Exmouth EX8 1PW