Can you tell me about my grandfather’s career as a stoker?
Since there is no obvious role for a stoker at an air station, Charles was probably billeted there temporarily
QI really enjoyed Simon Wills’s informative article about ships’ stokers in the April 2017 issue of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine.
My paternal grandfather Charles Horace Arthur Hiscox (30 September 1890-29 July 1950) was a stoker during the First World War. He served on HMS Pembroke, HMS Cattistock and HMS Faulknor. Would you be able to give me any more information relating to his life or service on these ships?
The article really shows how hard it must have been for men like my grandfather, and just how strong and brave they were. Catherine Hiscox
ARoyal Navy service records downloaded from The National Archives’ ( TNA) Discovery catalogue ( discovery.national
archives.gov.uk), ancestry.co.uk and findmypast.co.uk will show how an individual was deployed. However, this is only part of the story and many family historians want to know what their ancestors actually experienced.
The identity of a ship can be ascertained via books such as Ships of the Royal Navy by JJ Colledge (various editions), but it is important to note that not all placements designated as ‘HMS’ were actually ships. So HMS Pembroke, where Charles served for a while, was actually a Royal Naval Air Station in Eastchurch, Kent. Since there is no obvious role for a stoker at an air station, Charles was probably billeted there temporarily, between ships, waiting to be allocated to a new seagoing vessel.
When he did serve afloat, Charles worked on two quite different ships. HMS Faulknor was a destroyer that formed part of the Dover Patrol – a taskforce designed to prevent German vessels entering the English Channel – whereas HMS Cattistock was a minesweeper.
ancestor’sTo put career,flesh on I your would recommend consulting Imperial War Museums’ collection online at iwm.org.uk/collections. Type ‘stoker’ into the search engine and then filter the ‘subject period’ to First World War. You’ll find an array of material to help you visualise Charles’scareer, such navalas pictures of stokers at work and fascinating interviews with veterans who served in that role. There are also photos of HMS Faulknor and HMS Cattistock. You could even visit TNA at Kew and look at HMS Faulknor’s log, which will reveal ship movements, orders, weather and events such as disciplinary action. To find the correct documents, type ‘Faulknor’ into the AdvancedTNA’s catalogueseries ADM53, DiscoverySearchand restrictof to followed by the dates you’re interested in. Finally, if you contact the National Museum of the Royal Navy you can ask whether they assist have you any ( nmrn.org.uk/material to research/nmrn- libraries). Its library collection includes diaries, photos, interviews, and much Simon more. Wills