Thomas Martin Allen, (West Lynn), lost with the sinking of the Aboukir 1914

This picture appeared in the edition of the Eastern Evening News dated Wednesday, September 30, 1914. The accompanying caption read:-

 

ON BOARD THE LOST CRUISERS

 

THOMAS MARTIN ALLEN, R.N.R., of West Lynn, who was lost in H.M.S. Aboukir. He was captain of one of the Lynn Conservancy Board’s steam tugs.

 

Seaman ALLEN, THOMAS MARTIN

Service Number:……………… 3133C

Died:…………………………… 22/09/1914

Unit:……………………………..H.M.S. "Aboukir."

Service:…………………………Royal Naval Reserve

Commemorated at CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL

Source: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3048329/allen,-thomas...

 

The WW1 Naval Casualties database records Seaman 3133. C. (CH) Thomas Martin Allen, Royal Naval Reserve was killed or died as a direct result of enemy action on the 22nd September 1914 whilst serving aboard HMS Aboukir. His body was not recovered for burial. Martin was born on the 7th April 1883 at King’s Lynn. The next of kin informed of his death was his widow, Rose, of 64, Checker Street, King’s Lynn.

 

Thomas Martin Allen, born Kings Lynn, Norfolk on the 7th April 1883 has Royal Naval Reservis papers with service number B 1417 held at the National Archive under reference BT 377/7/23743

discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8483496

 

These show his parents as Samuel and Mary. He joined the Royal Naval Reserve from the 1st July 1903. He is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, with a fresh complexion. He lived at West Lynn Norfolk. In his civilian life he is shown working on several Lynn based Tugs. The records go to the end of 1913. In 1910 he spent time at sea aboard the Hogue.

discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8483496

 

From the start of 1914 he has a new set of records under servive number C 3133, which are held at the National Archive under reference BT 377/7/35371

As well as the physical details given previously his eye colour is given as blue and his home address as 64 Checker Street, Kings Lynn. He spent a month at sea from the 25th February 1914 to the 24th March 1914 aboard HMS Formidable. His civilian life was as a mate on a tug. He is recorded as Missing from HMS Aboukir when it was sunkby torpedo September 22nd 1914.

 

It looks like he had served previously to joining the Royal Naval Reserve as it is noted that he had two months training aboard HMS Dido from the 3rd April 1903 to the 30th June 1903. When Naval Prize money was paid out to his widow, Mrs R. Allen, in July 1921 her address then was given as ‘Opposite the Swan Inn, West Lynn’. He is recorded as having served 10 years 4 and 3 /5th months in the reserves.

discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8495118

 

 

No match on Picture Norfolk, the County Image Archive.

 

The Government Probate Service holds no obvious Civil Probate for this man.

 

Thomas is remembered on the War Memorials at Kings Lynn and in the churchs of West Lynn and South Lynn All Saints. In writing about these memorials the Roll of Honour website notes that: His parents lived at West Lynn. Married with three children, lived at 64 Checker Street, King's Lynn. Had been master of the King's Lynn Conservancy Board tug 'T. Brown' from July, 1914. Called up 2/8/1914. Served on the Aboukir with his brother William who last saw Thomas signalling the Cressy and the Hogue shortly after the Aboukir had been hit.

Source: www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/SouthLynnAllSaints.html

 

His entry in De Ruvignys multi-volume Roll of Honour adds nothing additional.

 

 

7th April 1883 – birth and baptism……………

 

(Sourced WW1 Naval Casualties and his Royal Naval Reserve service records).

 

The birth of a Thomas Martin Allen was registered with the Civil Authorities in the King Lynn District of Norfolk in the April to June quarter, (Q2), of 1883.

His mothers’ maiden name was Reynolds.

 

The baptism of a Thomas Martin Allen, born 7th April 1883, took place at St Nicholas, Kings Lynn, on the 6th June 1883. His parents were Samuel Henry, a fisherman, and Mary. The family lived at North Street, Kings Lynn.

www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/5818d91de93790eca3f23e3...

 

1891 Census of England and Wales

 

The 7 year old Thomas Allen, born “Lynn”, Norfolk, was recorded living at George Street, Kings Lynn. This was the household of his parents, Samuel H., (aged 42, a Fisherman, born Lynn), and Mary, (aged 39, born Lynn). As well as Thomas the couples other children living with them are:-

Saul(?) H………aged 15…born Lynn……Fisherman

Josiah…………aged 13(?)..born Lynn……Errand Boy

William……….aged 10…..born Lynn

John……………aged 5…..born Lynn

Mary E………...aged 3……born Lynn.

Also in the household is Thomas’ maternal grandmother, the 85 year old widow Mary Weston. Recorded as living on own means, she was born Saddlebow, Norfolk.

 

1901 Census of England and Wales

 

The Allen family were now recorded living at The Swann Inn, St Peters Place, West Lynn.

Father Samuel, (52), is now recorded as an Innkeeper. He lives there with wife Mary, (50), and children William, (20, Fish Hawker), Thomas M, (17, Iron Moulder), John, (15, General Labourer), Mary, (13) and Martha M, (6) – all born Kings Lynn.

 

A site dedicated to the history of Norfolk Public Houses shows that Samuel took over the license by 1900, (and possibly as early as 1896), and had relinquished it by 1904.

www.norfolkpubs.co.uk/norfolkw/westlynn/wklwsw.htm

 

1908 Marriage………………………

 

The marriage of a Thomas M. Allen to a Rosannah Seekings was recorded in the Kings Lynn District in the April to June quarter, (Q2), of 1908.

 

It actually took place at St. Peter, West Lynn on the 17th May 1908. Thomas Martin Allen, then aged 25 and a bachelor, was married to Rosanna Seekings, 26 and a Spinster. He was a Seaman living in West Lynn and his father was Samuel Allen, fisherman. She lived in South Lynn and her father was John Seekings, Labourer. Witnesses were Albert Seekings and Mary Allen. The marriage followed the reading of the banns.

www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/58184242e93790eb7f77446...

 

1911 Census of England and Wales

 

The 27 year old Seaman, Thomas Martin Allen, was recorded as the married head of the household at, (possibly No.30), Providence Street, Kings Lynn. He lives there with his wife of 2 years, Rosanna, (aged 29, born Clenchwarton, Norfolk) and their 1 year old son, Thomas John, who was born West Lynn.

 

His parents were now recorded living “Near the Swan”, West Lynn. Father Samuel Henry, (36), has gone back to being a self-employed Fisherman. He and Mary, (60), have been married 36 years. They don’t state how many children they have had. Living with them is their unmarried son, John, aged 25 and a “Fishermans Son working Fishen”.

 

Until September 1911 the quarterly index published by the General Registrars Office did not show information about the mothers’ maiden name. A check of the General Registrars Office Index of Birth for England and Wales 1911 – 1983 shows potentially two additional children of Thomas and Rosanna – the Roll of Honour site does state them to have had three in total.

 

The candidates, all in the Kings Lynn district with mothers maiden name Seekings are:

Albert G Allen……..Q2 1911

Ethel R. Allen………Q2 1913

 

Family in the Great War…………………….

 

The Roll of Honour site has already referred to his brother William being aboard the Aboukir.

 

The would be D 1947 William Allen, Royal Naval Reserve, who joined that organisations predecessor in September 1898. He was born at Kings Lynn on the 9th November 1877. Following the sinking of the Aboukir he was hospitalised and then had a couple of shore postings before being invalided out and awarded a pension in February 1915.

discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8501674

 

There is also a B 2498 John Allen, Royal Naval Reserve, who was born King’s Lynn on the 1st December 1884. He joined in December 1904. Sadly he drowned in the Lynn Channel of The Wash on the 29th December 1913.

discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8484574

 

 

On the day…………………………………

 

The Action of 22 September 1914 was a German U-boat ambush that took place during the First World War, in which three obsolete Royal Navy cruisers, manned mainly by reservists and sometimes referred to as the livebait squadron, were sunk by a German submarine while on patrol.

 

Approximately 1,450 sailors were killed and there was a public outcry in Britain at the losses. The sinkings eroded confidence in the British government and damaged the reputation of the Royal Navy, at a time when many countries were still considering which side they might support in the war.

 

The cruisers were part of the Southern Force (Rear-Admiral Arthur Christian) composed of the flagship Euryalus, the light cruiser Amethyst and the 7th Cruiser Squadron (7th CS, also known as Cruiser Squadron C, Rear-Admiral H. H. Campbell), comprising the Cressy-class armoured cruisers Bacchante, Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy, the 1st and 3rd Destroyer flotillas, ten submarines of the 8th Oversea Flotilla and the attached Active-class scout cruiser, HMS Fearless. The force was assigned patrol duties in the North Sea, supporting destroyers and submarines of the Harwich Force to guard against incursions by the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) into the English Channel.

 

Although concerns had been expressed about the vulnerability of these ships, particularly to attack by more modern German cruisers, no changes had been made before the events of 22 September; there was less concern about submarine attacks. The War Orders of 28 July 1914, which conformed to pre-war assumptions about attacks by destroyers rather than submarines, had not been modified. The orders required the ships to patrol the area "south of the 54th parallel clear of enemy torpedo craft and destroyers" with the support of Cruiser Force C, during the day. The Harwich Patrol was given two patrol areas, at the Dogger Bank and further south in the Broad Fourteens; usually three of the cruisers were to the north, closer to the Dogger Bank and sailed south during the night. The cruisers shifted area to the Broad Fourteens and reinforced the fourth cruiser there during troops movements from Britain to France. Heading south meant sailing towards German bases and becoming more vulnerable to submarine attack

 

The U-boat was treated equally lightly by the Imperial German Navy; in the first six weeks of the war, the U-boat arm had lost two boats and seen little result for their effort. On the morning of 22 September, U-9 (Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen) passed through the Broad Fourteens on her way back to base. On 16 September, Christian had been allowed to keep two cruisers to the north and one at the Broad Fourteens but had kept them together in a central position, able to support operations in both areas. Next day, the destroyer escorts had been forced to depart by heavy weather, which continued so bad that neither patrol could be reformed. The Admiralty ordered that the ships were to cancel the Dogger Patrol and cover the Broad Fourteens until the weather abated. On 20 September, Euryalus returned to port to re-fuel and by 22 September, Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy were on patrol under the command of Captain J. E. Drummond of Aboukir.

 

At 06:00 on 22 September, the weather had calmed and the ships were patrolling at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), line abreast, 2 nmi (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) apart. Lookouts were posted for submarine periscopes or ships and one gun either side of each ship was manned. U-9 had been ordered to attack British transports at Ostend but had been forced to dive and shelter from the storm. On surfacing, she spotted the British ships and moved to attack.

 

At 06:20, the submarine fired a torpedo at the nearest ship from a range of 550 yd (500 m) and struck Aboukir on the starboard side, flooding the engine room and causing the ship to stop immediately. No submarines had been sighted, so Drummond assumed that the ship had hit a mine and ordered the other two cruisers to close in to help. After 25 minutes, Aboukir capsized and sank five minutes later. Only one boat could be launched, because of damage from the explosion and the failure of steam-powered winches needed to launch them.

 

U-9 rose to periscope depth from her dive after firing the torpedo, to observe two British cruisers engaged in the rescue of men from the sinking ship. Weddigen fired two more torpedoes at Hogue, from 300 yd (270 m). As the torpedoes left the submarine, her bows rose out of the water and she was spotted by Hogue, which opened fire before the submarine dived. The two torpedoes struck Hogue; within five minutes, Captain Wilmot Nicholson gave the order to abandon ship and after 10 minutes she capsized before sinking at 07:15.

 

Watchers on Cressy had seen the submarine, opened fire and made a failed attempt to ram, then turned to pick up survivors. At 07:20, U-9 fired two torpedoes toward Cressy from her stern torpedo tubes at a range of 1,000 yd (910 m). One torpedo missed, so the submarine turned and fired her remaining bow torpedo at 550 yd (500 m). The first torpedo struck the starboard side at around 07:25, the second the port beam at 07:30. The ship capsized to starboard and floated upside down until 07:55. Two Dutch sailing trawlers in the vicinity declined to close with Cressy for fear of mines.

 

Distress calls had been received by Commodore Tyrwhitt, who, with the destroyer squadron, had already been at sea returning to the cruisers, now that the weather had improved. At 08:30, the Dutch steamship Flora approached the scene (having seen the sinkings) and rescued 286 men. A second steamer—Titan—picked up another 147. More were rescued by the two Lowestoft sailing trawlers Coriander and J.G.C., before the destroyers arrived at 10:45, 837 men were rescued while 1,397 men and 62 officers—mostly part-time men from the Royal Naval Reserve rather than regular sailors—had been killed. The destroyers began a search for the submarine, which had little electrical power remaining to travel underwater and could only make 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) on the surface. The submarine submerged for the night before returning home the next day.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_22_September_1914

 

 

Postscript………………….

 

After his death a pension was awarded to his widow Rosanna Allen, and their three children Thomas John, Albert George and Ethel Rosanna. (Source - Naval Pension Ledger)

 

Mildly photoshopped to minimise impact of damage present on the original image.

 

Done