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Remembered Today:

Battle of Jutland, Granddad's spoon


Philmitch13

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Evening all,My first post,been browsing the forum and thought some of you may find this interesting.

My Grandfather Charles John Mitchell was serving aboard HMS Dublin at The Battle of Jutland.During the night The Dublin was struck by a German shell.The shell came through the mess deck and struck my Granddad's spoon.

See attached pictures.

As you can see the spoon is twisted and you can see the imprint of the shell

After the big clean up, Granddad's shipmates presented the spoon to him mounted in a wooden box.

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Edited by Philmitch13
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Excellent Phil, we will be expecting more good posts from you now!

 

BillyH.

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1 hour ago, BillyH said:

Excellent Phil, we will be expecting more good posts from you now!

 

BillyH.

Thanks for the welcome.

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Just found out my Grandad served the Boer war in the army. We knew nothing about this only his naval record as none it came up on ancestry is this unusual

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Well come to the forum Phil. Lovely family history memento.

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4 hours ago, Philmitch13 said:

Just found out my Grandad served the Boer war in the army. We knew nothing about this only his naval record as none it came up on ancestry is this unusual

I don't know how Ancestry works, so I couldn't say, but changing forces was not totally unusual; I started researching a naval surgeon from 1944 only to find that he had been with the 8th Argyll & Sutherlands in the Great War.

 

Do you have a date of birth for him? This is the naval service record for a Charles John Mitchell (maybe not the right man) of Liverpool, born 29 July 1886. I can't find an army record for him, but it's just possible he was in the Royal Naval brigade ashore during the Boer War (as in the relief of Ladysmith), and the story has got blurred. It'll probably be on Ancestry too? http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6772524

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Stoker Charles John Mitchell 306883 appears to be the only man of that name on board H.M.S. DUBLIN at Jutland.  He was, however, born on 29 July 1886 (in Liverpool) and would have only been 12 in 1898, the year the Boer War broke out, and still a few months short of 16 when it ended in May 1902, so, on the face of it, his opportunities for active military service in South Africa were limited,

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Hi Malcolm

I agree,Iam confused.The date I have for my Grandad's date of birth is December 1886.I had never heard of any connection to the Boer war until this weekend when my cousin turned up wearing my Grandad's medals.The Photo I have attached shows the medals,(The bottom set) but he did say one was missing which one I don't know.

Phil

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The stars in the lower row are from the Second World War, as is the one on the right displaying King George VI.

Edited by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr
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  • 6 months later...

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