No.SS/103784, Stoker 1st Class, William Henry HUBBARD
Aged 27
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William Henry Hubbard was born on 10th June 1887 (3rd qtr 1887 Stow 4a:711), son of Henry and Kate Annie HUBBARD (née STURGEON)
1891 census...Aged 3, he was at The Five Bells, The Street, Hessett with his father Henry HUBBARD [30] innkeeper; his mother Kate [30]; sisters Annie [7] and Edith [5]; brothers Leonard [2] and Harry [2 months]; aunt Ethel STURGEON [15] barmaid. All were born in Hessett. 1901 census...Aged 13, he was still at The Five Bells with his parents; sisters Edith, Agnes [8], Bertha [6], Gladys [4] and Ada [10 months]; brothers Leonard and Harry. 1911 census...He was in the Royal Navy on HMS Vindictive. His widowed mother was the innkeeper at the Five Bells, Hessett with his sisters Edith Lauretta, Gladys Amelia, Ada Beatrice; his brothers Albert Leonard (in the family business), Harry Frederick (carpenter), Edward John and Sidney Charles [5]. His father had died in September 1906 and his mother had lost one of her 12 children. Royal Navy records have his mother after his death at 3 Queen's Road, Felixstowe. |
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He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 28th September 1906, a painter born 10 June 1887. He joined HMS Cressy on 29th July 1914. HMS "Cressy" was an armoured cruiser, completed in 1901. Her main armament consisted of two breech-loading 9.2-inch (234 mm) Mk X guns in single gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. They fired 380-pound (170 kg) shells to a range of 15,500 yards (14,200 m). On 22nd September together with HMS Aboukir and HMS Hogue she was patrolling in the North Sea off Holland. Bad weather had forced the recall of their destroyer escorts. Otto Weddigen in command of the German submarine U9 came into contact with the three British battle cruisers steaming in line abreast. Due to their lack of speed and sure there were no enemy about, none were zig zagging. Weddigen sunk all three in under an hour. From all three ships 837 men were rescued and 62 officers and 1,397 ratings were lost, 560 of those lost were from Cressy.
also commemorated on his father's headstone in Hessett. click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
