Dockyard Workers

[Petroc]

I posted a similar question to this a good while back, but had little response. I'm hoping that someone out there might be able to elaborate..

my great-grandfather and his brother were shipwrights at Devonport before the Great War, and my grandmother was born in Devonport..sometime before the outbreak my great-grandfather moved to North Devon from Plymouth and found work in the Appledore shipyard in the village at the mouth of the Torridge and the trecherous confluence of the Torridge and Taw. At the promise of better pay he went back to Plymouth, leaving his family in North Devon, and was serving in his trade capacity, alongside his brother, during the Great War.

Family tradition, from his daughter (my grandmother) had it that one, if not both, brothers had been 'sent to the Dardanelles' to repair ships...she was also adament that both had been sent 'to Bolougne' later in the war for the same purpose, where both were infected by the influenza pandemic and from which (fact) they both unfortunately died.

Is there any genuine historical precedent for 'dockies' being sent abroad like this? If so, who administered them? To which Naval/Military/Governmental board were they responsible?

[horatio2]

Is there any genuine historical precedent for 'dockies' being sent abroad like this? If so, who administered them? To which Naval/Military/Governmental board were they responsible?

There certainly is. I remember reading somewhere that HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH (brand new) was still carrying out trials when she arrived at the Dardanelles and it is entirely possible that she still had Admiralty dockyard personnel on board, even though in an operational area.

[truthergw]

After Coronel, when a task force was assembled, the master of the naval dockyard was told that specific ships had to sail on a given day, much less than his estimate of when they would be ready. He was specifically instructed that dockyard workers who had not finished would have to sail with the ship. At sea, they would be the responsibility of the Captain of the vessel who would endeavour to offload them as soon as he could.

[Petroc]

Thanks, folks...

So where would my great-grandfather have been based/billeted/controlled and payed if he was serving the naval/merchant fleet in Bolougne?

[joseph]

His Base Port at Plymouth/Devonport, he also could well have been entitled to the BWM. Sailing across the channel would be operational.

Regards Charles

[Petroc]

Interesting aside, maybe.....my mother has a photo somewhere of William Tovell's (my g-gfthr) gravestone in North Drvon, which not only lists him as the usual 'father..son..blah...but 'former employee of HM RN Dockyard'...I'll try to post it if I can...an interesting example of the War extending to the lives of non-combatents?

[joseph]

Could be the Dockyard sorted the stone out, it happened in my family with an accident in 1904, the shipyard is mentioned on the gravestone.

Regards Charles

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Any of these from the family tree?

Name Tovell, William George, Official Number: J106581, Place of Birth: Fulham, Saint Mary, Norfolk, Date of Birth: 31 October 1906 ADM 188/860

Name Tovell, James Ernest, Official Number: J5539, Place of Birth: Brighouse, Yorkshire, Date of Birth: 24 September 1893 ADM 188/658,

Name Tovell, Charles John, Official Number: F50552, Place of Birth: Ipswich, Suffolk, Date of Birth: 09 March 1900 ADM 188/642

Name Tovell, James Frederick. Official Number: F24911, Place of Birth: Guildford, Surrey, Date of Birth: 31 May 1901 ADM 188/609

Name Tovell, James, Official Number: F10368, Place of Birth: Ipswich, Suffolk

Date of Birth: 29 September 1898 ADM 188/580

Name Tovell, Francis George, Official Number: F10148, Place of Birth: Marylebone, London, Date of Birth: 19 March 1884 ADM 188/580

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...mp;mediaarray=*

[per ardua per mare per terram]

It was quite common for the Dockyard personnel to be shifted around, it also happened to those fitting out Prince of Wales who ended up chasing the Bismarck!

There were also docks overseas such as at Malta.

[Petroc]

I'm not sure...will have to check family stuff..but thank you very much for your attempts and research..

I DO know that the Tovells were from East Anglia, prob Norfolk, but don't know if they 'came home' or married in to 'peninsula' families from devon and cornwall... i know that many of the coastal communities in Kent and upwards towards Grimsby in the 19th C came from Westcountry stock..and that many families 'followed the fleet' fishing-wise...a fascinating subject..........and, like I said, i will try to post a pic if people are interested of the headstone overlooking Appledore Shipyard

[jimmie]

Petroc's family history somewhat mirrors mine. My paternal grandfather worked for Devonport dockyard before and after the Great War ( he died in 1924) although his family came from round the River Dart and especially Stoke Gabriel. On occasions he was seconded elsewhere; I think just before WW1 he and his family spent 2 years in Bermuda ( didn't we have an American squadron there at that time?) and he also worked in Invergordon and, I think, Malta. I'd like to find out more about this history. Does anyone know where dockyard records can be accessed for this period? I'm particularly interested to know more about the home base's responsibility for such seconded staff. One reason is to find out more about my uncle, his son, who was in the same employment situation as his father ( he was a Devonport dockyard diver) who was seconded to the Singapore base where he was killed in an accident on board a naval mooring vessel in the harbour there , although this was outside the Great War time period but before we were at war with Japan.

Jim