Buried in our churchyard are two local lads

Stoker 2nd class John Jarrett died 22.10.18
and Stoker 2nd class Sidney Crittell died 25.10.18

Does anyone know what happened on HMS Pembrooke in October 1918 that would have lead to their deaths. I assume it wasn't in action as they're both buried at home
Many Thanks Hambo

If it was HMS PEMBROKE then that is the shore base at what was then the RN Dockyard at Chatham ... but to confuse matters there were other HMS Pembroke's and these were numbered ie HMS Pembroke II.

I wonder if your men died from Spanish Flu, soem otehr serious ailment or an accident.

Thanks Jonathan
If it's shore based my guess would be flu as well. It seems to make sense that they were home based in that they were both brought home. Is there any way of finding out if it was an accident?
Hambo

We've got an HMS Pembroke 1 in Romford. Regards Steve.

His service record (at Kew) would possibly give details but I cant quarantee it will give cause of death.

Hello

The two men you named were two of 242 men who died of the Spanish influenza in PEMBROKE from mid 1918 through 1921.

don

Thanks one and all
Very helpful, I'll be over there this afternoon and this completes their story
Hambo

His service register, in ADM 188 at Kew, will have DD (Discharged – Dead) followed by the cause.

Pembroke 1 was an accounting base, which meant that the man could be serving anywhere in the country. It was an administrative device for naval clerks; the army also had a similar method where they listed anywhere in the UK as ‘Home’ and the whole of France as simply ‘France,’ whether that meant Paris or on the Somme.

Permbroke 11 was Chatham; recently researched my uncle's srvice history and Naval Historical Records answered my queries on ships and shore establishments which he served on that were on his record sheet.
Invalided out 1940 and died 1941; only mention of why he was discharged is described as PUNS, physically unfit for Naval service - nature of disease r/l - which they reckon may be right lung and possibly TB. Other than this there is no information on what his illness was.
I will have to get a copy of his Death Certificate from the local council as this semms to be the only way of finding out.

Lots of graves to "HMS Pembroke" men in a local cemetery (Caister-On-Sea, Norfolk) near me.

Illness, I think, as there was a Naval Hospital (and Asylum, come to think) nearby in Great Yarmouth.

Mark.

Squirrel
In WW2 Pembroke II, was a Chatham accounting base (just like Pembroke I continued to be) although, in WW1 Pembroke II was the RNAS base at Eastchurch. An accounting base was not the same as a fixed base, like Pembroke the RN Chatham barracks, because personnel were more likely to be on detached duty and it was a flexible system of allocations, it could mean they were in Chatham, on the river, on shore assignments, in small vessels, the list is huge and there are indications that in World War One the Navy ran separate card indexes with details of actual locations, but only the RND one seems to have survived.

The Navy changed their system of service registers in 1929, I haven’t seen PUNS in any of the previous records, but I have seen similar comments (in army records I’ve seen just the word ‘debility’ and on naval I’ve seen unfit for service). I presume naval medical records were kept separately and few seem to have been preserved and so it’s difficult to track illnesses or injuries. As your uncle didn’t die on service they only recorded his cause for discharge. I think that the death certificate is your best bet.

Thanks for this. Yes I am waiting for the Borough Council in question to reply to my 3rd enquiry!

I came across this message in my very first trawl through the forum, and wondered whether there was a list of these 242 men. My interest concerns the death of William WISKER or WHISKER (a Sailmakers Mate) who died on 21st Jan 1921 apparently at HMS Pembroke. This man is listed on the CWGC site as well as on the Wiveton, Norfolk memorials, where he is buried.

Regards,
Mike FRY
Johannesburg

Mike,

Welcome to the forum. This is the Admiralty record for your man:

WISKER, WILLIAM, SAILMAKERS MATE, 204376, PEMBROKE (former WILDFIRE), 21/01/1921, DIED.

Best wishes
David

Apart from the WILDFIRE bit, I had already gleaned that information from TNA. Not knowing my way around the ADM188 records, I would assume that WILDFIRE was his previous posting prior to the Chatham barracks.

Regards,
Mike Fry
Johannesburg

Mike,

Wildfire was the base ship at Sheerness.

Regards Charles

Thank you. As usual, I realised that that might be the case just as I pressed the tit

Regards,
Mike Fry
Johannesburg

Mike,

You have obviously got his documents what ships was he on during the war.

Regards Charles

Hi Charles,
Quite the opposite actually! I have no documents. All I have is what I picked up from a gravestone in Wiveton, Norfolk. This was photographed and appears on a website for war casualties. The same information also appears on the CWGC site, which is why I started to delve a little further.

As background information: William WISKER (or WHISKER) is the brother of a girl named Agnes DIX (don't ask ). She married a John Thomas PROUDFOOT who was the brother of my Great-grandmother. So there's a hint of a family connection to the man.

As for other information, my old man served in the RN from a boy of 12 until leaving in 1959 as a diver. From him I know a little about the Navy, but it was late last night and I couldn't question him about Chatham as I might have done.

Mike,

His documents are available online and can be downloaded for GB pound 3.50
they are here;

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...p;resultcount=1

I would suspect he just died in Pembroke hospital and served elsewhere.

Regards Charles

Name Wisker, William
Official Number: 204376
Place of Birth: Wiverton, Norfolk
Date of Birth: 15 October 1881

Entered the Navy in 1899, looks like someone who sined up in the Boer War.

I took the plunge and downloaded the mans service record. Seems as though he joined up as a boy of 12 and stayed in until his death. Doesn't seem to have been a particularly distinguished career - he spent several periods in the cells My old man thinks this is where he got his aptitude for trouble from since he also spent the odd night or two in the cells and had his pay docked for insubordination.

I'm still at a loss to explain how William WISKER managed to acquire a CWGC memorial stone. According to his service record he died of Delerium Tremens. So, he was probably an alcoholic, and the periods spent in the cells were most likely as a result of drinking binges.