Faces of the CWGC Plymouth Naval Memorial

The CWGC Plymouth Naval Memorial, unveiled in July 1924, commemorates more than 7,200 sailors of the First World War who sailed from the naval base of Devonport. The Second World War Extension was unveiled in May 1954 and bears the names of nearly 16,000 service personnel who were lost or buried at sea.

Last month, the memorial welcomed Poppies: Wave, by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper. This is the first time the sculpture has been fixed to a monument dedicated to remembering the war dead of the two world wars.

Here are the stories of some of the men and women behind the names on the memorial.

Highest Rank

Admiral Sir Tom Spencer Vaughan, Royal Navy.

Killed in the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales on 10 December 1941.

Second World War Extension Panel 44

Youngest

Boy 2^nd Class John Eden McPherson, Royal Australian Navy.

HMAS Tingira, accidently drowned on 16 March 1919, aged 14.

First World War Memorial, Panel 31.

Oldest

Lieutenant John Philips, Royal Naval Reserve.

HMS Sultan II, died 4 May 1943, aged 65.

Second World War Extension, Panel 103.

Female Service Personnel

Josephine Carr

Josephine, was the first service women of the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) to die as a result of enemy action. She was the daughter of Samuel and Kathleen Carr who lived on Bethesda Road, Cork, Ireland. She enlisted in the WRNS on 17 September 1917, and worked as a shorthand typist.

The WRNS was the women's branch of the Royal Navy. Formed in 1917, it was disbanded in 1919, and then revived in 1939 at the beginning of the Second World War. It remained active until the WRNS were integrated into the Royal Navy in 1993. WRNS worked in many roles including cooks, clerks, wireless telegraphists, radar plotters, weapons analysts, range assessors, electricians and air mechanics.

On 10 October 1918, Josephine and two fellow Wrens boarded the mail ship SS Leinster, to travel to Holyhead. She was seen last by Wren Maureen Waters sitting in the Reading Room at the time that the ship cast off. Shortly after leaving Dublin Bay, the Leinster was hit twice by torpedoes fired by the German submarine, U-123. The Leinster sank in just eight minutes.

More than 500 of the 700 passengers and crew died in the icy waters of the Irish Sea. Some of the dead were recovered and laid to rest in CWGC Grangegorman Military Cemetery, Dublin. Josephine's body was never recovered and she is commemorated on Panel 31 of the CWGC Plymouth Naval Memorial.

 

Commander Spencer Forbes, HMS Monmouth

Spencer was the son of Mr and Mrs Edward Forbes and husband of Ethel Forbes, of Catisfield, Fareham, Hampshire. He was 40 years old when he died.

Shortly after the outbreak of war, HMS Monmouth, an armoured cruiser launched in 1904, joined Admiral Cradock’s 4th Cruiser Squadron in the south Atlantic. On 1 November 1914, the Monmouth was sunk with all hands at the Battle of Coronel, which took place off the coast of Chile. The 737 crew members of the Monmouth were lost, and 671 are commemorated on the CWGC Plymouth Naval Memorial, including the ship’s captain, Frank Brandt, and Commander Spencer Forbes.

Spencer is commemorated on Panel 1 of the memorial.

 

Able Seaman Victor McKey, HMS Amphion

Victor was born in Yardley, Birmingham, on 12 October 1892 and was one of seven children of John and Harriett McKey. Victor joined the Royal Navy as a teenager and had served on other ships prior to joining the crew of HMS Amphion shortly before the outbreak of the First World War. He was 21 years old when he died in the sinking of the Amphion.

HMS Amphionwas the first British warship to be lost in the First World War.

Amphion began the war protecting the eastern approaches to the English Channel. On 6 August 1914, just two days after Britain declared war on Germany, the Amphion struck a German sea mine.She sank with the loss of 150 men, of whom 140 are commemorated on the CWGC Plymouth Naval Memorial.

Victor is commemorated on Panel 1 of the memorial.

 

Fireman Robert William Pusey, Mercantile Marine Reserve

William was born in Hythe, Southampton, on 1 March 1890. He married Edith-Kate Prince from Shrivenham, Berkshire, and they had four children

Robert worked as a ships fireman and in 1912 he joined the crew of the Titanic on 6 April 1912 for a wage of £6 a month. The Titanic was the largest ship afloat at the time it entered service and was the second of three Olympic-class ocean liners operated by the White Star Line.

On 15 April 1912, the Titanic was on her maiden voyage to New York when she hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean. There were an estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard the ship, and more than 1,500 died, making it one of the deadliest commercial peacetime maritime disasters in modern history.

Working deep down in the ships engine room Robert was one of only a handful of firemen to escape the sinking. He was one of a dozen occupants rescued in emergency lifeboat 1.

Despite his experience on the Titanic, Robert remained at sea and continued to work as a fireman. During the First World War he joined the Mercantile Marine Reserve, serving on HM trawler Dirk, a requisitioned fishing trawler used by the Royal Navy for coastal patrols. On 25 May 1918, she was torpedoed by the German submarine, UC 75 off Flamborough Head, Yorkshire.

Robert died in the sinking of the Dirk and has no known grave. He is commemorated on Panel 31 of the memorial.

Photo credits:

Josephine Carr, Women's Royal Naval Service. Drowned in the Irish Sea when the SS Leinster was torpedoed 10 October 1918. © IWM (WWC N3-1)

Commander Spencer Dundas Forbes. Unit: Royal Navy, HMS Monmouth. Death: 1 November 1914, at sea. © IWM (HU 122231)

Victor McKey (image courtesy of Mark Hone)

Occupants of Lifeboat 1 after their rescue following the sinking of the Titanic. Robert is second from left at the back.