156 Men Remembered on Christchurch Memorial Chronologically Listed by Date of Death
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156 Men remembered on Christchurch Memorial Chronologically listed by date of death. Roll of Honour 1914 James William HUNT HMS Amphion 6th August James William RICE HMS Amphion 6th August Wallace CLISSOLD 2nd Bn. Grenadier Guards 14th September Robert WORKMAN 1st Bn. South Wales Borderers 26th September Percy GUBBINS 1st Bn. Gloucestershire Rgt. 21-24th October John JAMES 1st Bn. Gloucestershire Rgt. 30th October Charles DAVIS HMS Good Hope 1st November Thomas DORINGTON 1st Royal Dragoons 12th November Clive Guisse MOORES* Royal Engineers 30th November William WINSTONE 1st Bn. Gloucestershire Rgt. 22nd December Arthur YOUNG 1st Bn. Gloucestershire Rgt. 23rd December Ernest RADBURN 1st Bn. Gloucestershire Rgt. 28th December Frederick VICK 1st Bn. Gloucestershire Rgt. 30th December *Commemorated on Bussage church plaque but not included on Christchurch Memorial Able Seaman James William HUNT (J/12346) HMS Amphion Killed in action 6th August, 1914 James was born on the 27th August 1894 in Chalford, his parents unknown. Fostered as a young boy by Alfred and Annie Kirby of 3 The Arches, Chalford Vale he attended Christchurch School and was by all accounts a popular boy, who also sang in the church choir. The census of 1911 shows James working as a brass finisher at the Ryhouse Foundry. He joined the Royal Navy as a Boy second class aged 16, in May 1911. His height is recorded as 5 feet 6 inches, his hair as brown and his eyes blue. He initially went to Portsmouth for Boys' training, being promoted to Boy 1st Class in January 1912. He spent 3 months on board HMS King Alfred, a cruiser of the reserve fleet, three months on a training ship and then 6 months on the cruiser HMS Talbot, during which time he reached his 18th birthday and was promoted to Ordinary Seaman. He then returned to HMS King Alfred followed by further training at Devonport. In April 1913 he was posted to HMS Amphion and was promoted to Able Seaman in February 1914. It was reported that “He was a most promising sailor. He always spent his leaves at Chalford, and had recounted to the boys (of Christchurch School) some of his experiences in the Navy, and especially Egypt where he had recently been’’ On the morning of the 6th August, just two days after war had been declared, the Amphion struck a German mine and sank. Around 150 British sailors lost their lives that day, including James, just a few weeks away from his 20th birthday. ‘’While proud of him we sympathise deeply with his only brother, Sidney, who is still in the school, and with Mrs Kirby who had been a mother to Jim since he was quite a little fellow.” He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval memorial and at Christchurch. Photographs of James Hunt and James Rice were obtained by Camilla I believe. Not sure about copywrite. Leading Signalman James William RICE (223011) HMS Amphion Killed in action 6th August, 1914 James was born in Brimscombe on the 26th August 1886. In 1901 he was living with his mother Eliza (a laundress and washerwoman) and his widowed grandfather. After leaving school he worked for a time as a labourer, before enlisting into Boys Service in the Royal Navy in October 1902. He was 5ft 1in tall, had brown hair and grey eyes and was of a fresh complexion. He had a scar on his right forearm and several tattoos including a horseshoe and a heart & dagger. As Boy 2nd class he served at HMS Impregnable, the school training ship in Devonport. He was promoted to Boy 1st Class in July 1903. Further shore based training led to his first sea posting on board HMS Russell a pre-dreadnought battleship, part of the Home Fleet. In August 1904 he started his 12 years' Colour Service. Promoted to the rank of Signalman in 1906, over the next four years he served on a number of ships - HMS St George (Cape and West African station), HMS Amphitrite, HMS Kent (China station) and HMS Niobe. In 1910 he returned to HMS Vivid at Devonport for training and was promoted to Leading Signalman, before joining HMS Challenger for two years (Australia Station). On his final return to HMS Vivid in 1913 he passed his educational qualification for Petty Officer and his Yeoman of Signals test. In April 1913 he was posted to the Amphion, and was killed with her sinking in August 1914. The Stroud News reported ‘’Much sympathy is felt for the relatives of two Chalford young men who went down on the ‘Amphion’ last week. They were Mr J W Rice and Mr J W Hunt. Natives of the village, they have fallen early in the struggle for supremacy on the part of their country and her allies’’. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval memorial and at Christchurch. The Sinking of HMS AMPHION 6th August, 1914 At 2300 on August 4th 1914, England declared war on Germany. In anticipation of war the Konigin Luise, a former Hamburg - Holland holiday ferry, had been converted to an auxiliary minelayer by the Germans. On the night of 4th August she left her home port of Emden and steamed south through the North Sea to lay mines off the Thames Estuary. The ship resembled the steamers of the Great Eastern Railway that sailed from Harwick to the Hook of Holland, so she was painted in their colours of black, buff, and yellow to help disguise At the port of Harwick 80 miles north of London, HMS Amphion and the destroyers of the 3rd Flotilla were preparing to sail. They departed in the early hours of the morning and by daylight on the 5th August they were well out into the North Sea. A few hours after leaving port a destroyer on the screen spoke to a fishing vessel that had seen an unknown vessel "throwing things over the side". At 1025 Amphion sighted the unknown steamer and sent the destroyers Lance and Landrail to investigate. The steamer was the Konigin Luise which made off at 20 knots, altering course, before disappearing into a rain squall where she began laying more mines. At 1030, Lance signalled she was engaging the enemy and is credited with firing the first shot of World War 1. They were soon joined by Amphion (which had won the fleet gunnery prize for 1914) and the German came under very accurate fire. The Konigin Luise was only lightly armed with two 3.7cm MGs and some smaller weapons and offered little resistance. Commander Biermann brought her onto a south-easterly course hoping to regain neutral waters and draw the British ships into her minefield. However, after receiving numerous hits, the order was given to sink the ship to avoid any further loss of life. On fire amidships and with smoke and steam pouring from her funnels, the she rolled over to port and sank. 46 of the 100 crew were rescued. During the action the Amphion gun crews from the disengaged side crossed over to watch the firing and showed their appreciation of good salvoes by cheering and applauding. After the action Capt. Fox mustered all hands and reprimanded the men for leaving their posts. He reminded them that they were at war and no matter what the other fellow was doing, each man was to go on with his duty and stick to it. The ship's company rather enjoyed the lecture and saw the sense in it. That night the Amphion and the destroyers set course to return to Harwick. Unfortunately, due to reported problems with mines and submarines, the allocated course ran very close to where the Konigin Luise had laid her mines. At 0645 the Amphion struck a mine which exploded just beside the fore bridge and broke the ship's back. The explosion practically destroyed the bridge and smoke and flames poured from the slits in the conning tower. Except for one man, all the fo'csle gun crews were killed and the bridge occupants badly burnt. As the hands were at breakfast, many were killed or suffocated in the forward mess decks. This included 19 of 21 German survivors. Capt. Fox stopped engines and proceeded aft to take charge. The ship was well down at the bows and attempts to extinguish the raging fires in the forward part of the ship failed. Abandon Ship was ordered. As most of Amphion's boats were destroyed, the accompanying destroyers sent their boats to rescue the crew. There was no confusion or panic. The men fell in on deck. Within twenty minutes of the first explosion all the survivors were safely on board the destroyers. Unfortunately, although Amphions' engines were stopped, she still had way on and she continued turning in a circle. Just as the last boatload of survivors was taken off, she again struck the same row of mines. Her magazine detonated in a huge cloud of pale yellow smoke and the fore part of the ship completely disintegrated, showering the attending destroyers with debris. There were several casualties, one 4- inch shell falling on board the destroyer Lark, killing two of Amphion's men and a German prisoner. The Amphion slid astern and sank at 0705. One officer and 150 men were lost. Thus, with the war only 32 hours old, HMS Amphion, which had primarily assisted in inflicting the first German Naval loss of the war, became the first British Naval war loss. I have included various pictures of HMS Amphion and crew members taken from internet search. Likewise newspaper cuttings. Not clear on copywrite for doing this? Private Wallace Christopher CLISSOLD (16370) 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards Died 14th September, 1914 Wallace was born in 1894 at Rose Cottage, Bussage, one of eight children of John W Clissold, an engine driver at Flock Mills and Emily.