White George Croft 1899

George Croft White

1899-1967

Father Nm: George White 1877–1944
Birth 5 Jul 1877  Fleetwood, Lancashire, England
Death Jul 1944 Fylde,

Mother Nm: Jenny Cowell1879–1958
Birth 28 Aug 1879  Fleetwood, Lancashire, England
Death Oct 1958   Fylde

Marriage Dt: Apr 1919   Fylde, Lancashire,

K comments:
Spouse comments: Clara Amelia Blincow [10974]  1902–1968
BIRTH 28 MAY 1902 Birkenhead, Cheshire
DEATH APR 1968   Fylde

Children.George Ernest 1921-1980 William Alan 1926–1999

Born 1897

23 June 1899 Fleetwood

1901 Census

With Grandparents FleetwoodThomas White 57
George White 23
Jenny White 23
George White 1
Marion White 3/12

1911 CENSUS

19 Blackiston St W Fleetwood

George White 33
Jenny White 31
George Croft White 12
Marion White 10
Maggie White 8
Elsie White 6
William Allen White 4
John George Bordman 20

WW1

 

George Croft White, 1899, Deckhand, Deckhand DA 9377, Royal Navy Reserve – Trawlers.

Synopsis

George lied to enlist at 16 and was probably found out at some point to be underage for instance his previous employment was crossed out in his record. However, he stayed for the duration of the war and served with honour. Winning a special mention and the Royal Navy Reserve Medal for efforts to save men sunk by a German U-boat in the North Atlantic.

George was a deckhand on Trawlers assisting Royal Navy in areas of operation hence his involvement in searching for survivors of a sunken boat.

His Navy records indicate his postings to the main to shore base depot ship. They were nominal ships though and it was from these he was to sail on mainly it seems Trawlers,

During this research, I sought out some expert knowledge about RNR operations. These experience researchers have suggested which Trawler.s George might have served on.

1915

• 1 November. Enlisted age 16 lied about age birthday 1897 instead of 1899. Address 37 Hathaway Lane, Fleetwood.
• Posted to Attentive III which appears to have been an older Scout Cruiser but now a shore base ship in Dover.

  

1916

• 24 August. Discharged from attentive III and it appears to hospital.
• 24 August 18 March 1917. Posted to Acteon which was a Naval torpedo school at Sheerness (HMS Actaeon was a hulk, originally the 50-gun .. HMS Vernon that formed part of the Navy’s torpedo school, HMS Vernon. She was renamed HMS Actaeon in 1886 and was sold in 1923-Wikipedia).

1917

• 18 March-24 April. Posted to Victory shore base at Portsmouth.
• 25 April-31 August. Posted to HMS Gibraltar a depot ship based in the Shetland Islands. An old ship she was the base for the 10th Cruiser Squadron on Northern Patrol.
• 1 September-31 December. Posted to Lord Landsdowne base ship.

 

1918

• 1-13 January. Posted to HMS Nesmar. (NESMAR, hired drifter, Adty No 2514. Built 1911, 87grt, Lowestoft-reg LT.1112. Armament: 1-3pdr. Renamed NESMAR II 12.17)
• 14 January-28 February 1919. Posted to the Trawler depot ship Vigorous based in Larne and part of the Auxiliary Patrol Area XVII.
• 5 February. Commendation for Valour. It was on this day that George was recognised for his valour in rescuing the crew of the Tuscania. “On the morning of 5 February 1918, she turned south for the North Channel en route Liverpool. The German submarine UB-77 sighted Tuscania′s convoy during the day and stalked it until early evening. Under the cover of darkness around 6:40 pm, the submarine′s commanding officer, Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Meyer, ordered two torpedoes fired at Tuscania. The second of this struck home, sending her to the bottom of the Irish Sea within about four hours. Tuscania sank nearly three years to the day after her maiden voyage as a passenger liner. About 210 of the troops and crew were lost,[4] while many others were rescued by the Royal Navy destroyers Mosquito and Pigeon”

From Horatio2 at Great War Forum

He was Deckhand, 9377. DA, Royal Naval Reserve.

He was, on the face of it, drafted to the hired Banff drifter VIGOROUS. From 5 January 1918 she was the commissioned nominal ship for the Larne Auxiliary Patrol Base. (“Nominal” means she lent her name because every shore establishment had to be a commissioned ship of the Royal Navy. VIGOROUS would have continued to operate as a net vessel. He did not serve in the other RN ships mentioned.

However, boats that I have seen named as involved in the TUSCANIA rescue include the hired Grimsby trawler CORRIE ROY and the hired Hull trawler ELF KING – but not VIGOROUS. Both boats were based at Larne from 14 Jan 1918, having come over from HMS NESMAR at Oban. Before that base move they were based on HMS GIBRALTAR (Shetland) from 28 Apr 1917, on HMS LORD LANSDOWNE (at Oban) from 1 Sep 1917 and on HMS NESMAR from 1 Jan 18. The coincidence of all of these dates with White’s record dates up to his arrival at Larne makes me think that George White was actually serving in CORRIE ROY. His record does show CORRIE ROY from 18 Mar 1917 and a later move to ELF KING on 15 Nov 1918.

Note: HMS VIGOROUS was the trawler parent/depot ship at Larne from 5 January 1918, taking over the task there from HMS THETIS (an old cruiser). Auxiliary Patrol Area XVII (North Coast of Ireland, based at Lough Larne)

1919

• 31 January. Sent ashore for demobilisation at Fraserburgh.

Medals

Sources

1. 1. Ancestry  and BFA database
   2. National Archives – Naval record
   3. Great War Forum

After the War

1939 Census

Fleetwood

George C White 40 Labourer
Clara A White 37
George E White 18
William A White 13
Clara A Speed 57
Stephen Speed 68

Death 1967

Oct Quarter, Fylde, Lancashire

Gallery

There are service records in the National archives for this person they can be viewed and download from their website https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/