Petty Officer Kensington, PoW Angora c 1917- who is he?

[charlie962]

I came across mention of a "PO Kensington" who was referred to by a fellow prisoner (an army sergeant) I was researching. They were together in one of the work camps at Angora either late 1916 or more probably 1917. There were no further clues.

I have researched the Kut Naval PoWs (another thread) and he is not one of them that I have found. Nor is he on the HMYacht Zaida thread. I have trawled through the ICRC cards and backing sheets and found nothing appropriate (But ICRC seemed to index most Navy men somewhere else, which is not in the normal run of Mespot cards). I have searched casualty lists and FindmyPast newspapers without luck.

The Sergeant's recollection of names was accurate for other (army) names I followed up. It is possible he made a mistake- recalling in early 1919 events of two years previous.

He could be one of the numerous submariners who were held ? I've noted at least one PO at Angora but his name is nothhing like Kensington.

The only Kensington I found was William Henry Kensington (Devonport 134883) , who was a CPO on the AMC Orcoma 1915-1919. But that ship never went to the Med nor as far as Mespot or India according to naval-history-net.

Any thoughts please?

Thanks

 

Charlie

[horatio2]

1 hour ago, charlie962 said:

William Henry Kensington (Devonport 134883)

This is the only Kensington surname appearing in the WW1 medal rolls for RN, RM, RNR, RNVR and MMR.

[charlie962]

Thanks for that confirmation, horatio2.

I've started to look at some named Kennington, There are several POs but I haven't found a suitable candidate. It was a reporter who interviewed the Sergeant who quoted the name three times, but I was favourably impressed by the accuracy of the other details and thus the name cannot be far out.

Charlie

[seaJane]

Cossington (RNAS)? https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6818726

sJ

[charlie962]

22 hours ago, seaJane said:

Cossington (RNAS)?

Good thinking but sadly not. Seems to have been a junior airman not a PO.

charlie

[charlie962]

I suspect it is Sidney James Cromwell Kenchington, PoW from 1915. petty Officer. I shall follow up.....

 

HM Submarine E15. Yes he looks like the man.  183194 Portsmouth

For ref, I found him via FindmyPast by putting   *ington  in name and Petty in keyword and came up with an E15 crew list of missing/PoWs.

Edited 10 July , 2021 by charlie962

[charlie962]

Fascinated to see that Kenchington's 14/15 Star sold in May 2021 DNW auction for 220pounds ! Whoever bought it might like to know what brief story I found ?

 

charlie

[michaeldr]

I wonder if your PO is to be seen here? https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-english-prisoners-of-war-in-constantinople-1915-94199598.html

 

Edited 10 July , 2021 by michaeldr

[charlie962]

32 minutes ago, michaeldr said:

I wonder if your PO is to be seen here?

A list of names courtesy FindmyPast :

Edited 10 July , 2021 by charlie962

[michaeldr]

There are some details regarding that photograph of the prisoners, which can be read here http://www.navyingallipoli.com/teksty/e15_eng.pdf

[TullochArd]

Intentional Deletion - far too slow on the follow up at this end!  Point already made above.....ages ago.

Edited 10 July , 2021 by TullochArd

[TullochArd]

1 hour ago, charlie962 said:

Fascinated to see that Kenchington's 14/15 Star sold in May 2021 DNW auction for 220pounds ! Whoever bought it might like to know what brief story I found ?

..... that would have added another fifty quid to the hammer price.

[charlie962]

The little bit I have is about him flooring a Turkish labourer ('a big brute of a man') who was threatening the sergeant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TullochArd]

1 hour ago, charlie962 said:

The little bit I have is about him flooring a Turkish labourer ('a big brute of a man') who was threatening the sergeant.

..... that would have added another fiffty hundred quid to the hammer price.

[charlie962]

On 10/07/2021 at 18:33, TullochArd said:

..... that would have added another fiffty hundred quid to the hammer price.

plus the bit about a firing squad.....

 

Sadly soldiers' accounts rarely mention names of other men. I try to research those rare names I come across because it is the individual episodes that bring to life a dry list of dates from a service record, and pin a man with certainty to a particular event or place.

 

Charlie

Edited 12 July , 2021 by charlie962