County’s brave sailors blamed for their own death
There were many grief-stricken families in Whitstable where, by September 1914, more than three dozen men from the town were serving in the Royal Naval Reserve.
Eight working in the oyster fishing industry all joined HMS Cressy on the same day. But just six weeks later, only two returned.
Four who lost their lives lived just a few yards away from each other in Middle Wall and Waterloo Road.
The wife and three children of one of them, George Keam, were picking hops when they heard the news. She is said to have collapsed in shock.
A family photo was later taken with an image of the dead hero, George, superimposed in the background.
The others eventually confirmed dead were Henry Phillips, of Waterloo Road, Frederick Down, of Middle Wall, James “Fred’ Wootton, also of Middle Wall, Jack Baker, of Fountain Street and Charles Jordan, of Albert Street.
The tragedy also claimed the lives of many men from Thanet.
Fred Terry was just 17, a greengrocer’s errand boy from Mill Lane, Birchington, serving on HMS Aboukir when he died.
In Broadstairs, two telegrams containing grim news were delivered to the families of two men in the same street who died on HMS Cressy: James Horn, 35, lived with his wife at Rose Cottage in Reading Street and Thomas Miller, 24, lived with his parents nearby.
Also lost was Charles Setterfield, 24, of Livingstone Road, St Peters, who was on HMS Aboukir, and blacksmith Robert Brenchley, of St Peter’s Park Road, who was 46 and married when he was lost in HMS Cress.
Many families in Margate were left grieving after the deaths of Reuben Boulden, Arthur Brenchley, James Shrubshall, James Huckstep, Albert Bowden and George Emptage.
From nearby Westgate, William Pointer was also to perish. He had joined the Navy when he was 16 and served 12 years, qualifying as a diver. Tragically, his younger brother, Frederick, was also to give his life in the service of his country the following year
With Chatham being the home port, the Medway Towns were badly affected.
Among many casualties was William Clarke, a married man from Old Brompton, aged 31, and Joseph French, 34, from Rainham
Tragically, brothers James and Thomas Hussey perished. They were both married with seven children and lived next door to each other in Cross Street.
One of the five dead bodies landed by Titan at The Hook in the Netherlands was that of Horace Farmer from Chatham, who served on Cressy.
Also lost on Cressy and never found was James Turner from the town – his parents pleading in local newspapers for news about their son. Another casualty was Ernest Carter, 25, who lived in Station
Road.
But a rare survivor of the Cressy sinking was William Stevens, from Gravesend, who later described how he saw the captain, Robert Johnson, go down with the ship.
Three seafaring brothers from Customs House Road in Deal joined HMS Cressy at the outbreak of war but two never returned to their already widowed mother. Louis and Albert Penn, were able seaman but only their younger brother Hubert survived.
A ditty box belonging to Louis and containing a few personal effects was washed up on a Dutch beach and returned to his mother.
Among the few survivors was able seaman Dolbear from Dover who was in the sick bay of Cressy at the time of the attack
He later gave a harrowing personal account of his escape and how he clung desperately to a mess table in the freezing water until being rescued and pulled into the SS Flora by another Dover man, Charles Davis.
A list of the missing from Dover, all serving on Cressy, was published which included William Terry,
Willie Chittenden, John Back, George Henry and George Bull.
Only Bull, who had worked at the local coastguard station, eventually made it home safely.
Other casualties were Harry Crascall, aged 36, who had been working as a barber in Dover, Allen Loram, 32, and William Terry, along with Frank Crittenden, 35, from Eythorne.
Thomas Beerling, 21, from Staple near Wingham, was also killed, as, painfully for his family, was his brother Alfred two years later while serving in the Army.
Henry Wickenden, 36, from Linden Crescent, Folkestone, perished and left a widow, but she re-married just three months later.
In Gravesend and Northfleet, William Lovatt and George Povey lost their lives.
As the appalling death toll was confirmed, memorial services were held at parish churches around the county.
In the small farming village of Hernhill, near Faversham, a service was held at St Michael’s Church for Charles Arnold, 26, who served on Cressy, and petty officer Harvey, who died on Aboukir.
Both are commemorated on the war memorial in the corner of the churchyard opposite the Red Lion pub.
Lieutenant Commander Walter Grubb, from Hollingbourne, near Maidstone, was the gunnery officer on HMS Cressy.
He was also the brother of the then-vicar of Shepherdswell and had only been married a year when he was lost.
Among the other casualties from the town and surrounding area were John Jones, 48, from East Malling, Arthur Martin, 25, from Bower Street, Maidstone, Arthur Styance from Loose, George Watson, from Peel Street, Maidstone, and Thomas Clifton, 23, who also lived in the town. All were serving on HMS Cressy.