Individual's Report

My Great grandfather was born on the 31st December 1870 in Liverpool, Lancashire. There is a birth registered in the Prescott district at that time but I have yet to obtain that certificate. My first concrete evidence of him is when he joined the Royal Navy. I have both a photocopy of his original Certificate of service and also his service register entries from the National Archives Documents Online section. From this I can see that he joined the Navy in Portsmouth on the 20th April 1894. At this time he was described as being 5 feet 3 inches tall with Dark hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. He also had a tattoo on his left arm of a heart, dagger and thistle. At the time of joining the Navy he was living at 40 Thompson Street, Liverpool. It was also stated that he could swim.
From the 20th April 1894 until 22nd November he was assigned to HMS Victory as a Stoker 2nd Class. This could be the famous flagship of Admiral Lord Nelson, but I also believe that the navy personnel stationed within the barracks of Portsmouth dockyard were nominally listed as being attached to HMS Victory. It also seems that he spent 5 days in the cells between the 7th and 12th of November 1894, but for what I don't know! On August 15th 1894 he qualified in Small Arms.
On the 23rd November 1894 He joined HMS Trafalgar, the steel armoured battleship and would serve on her until 12th October 1897. Again during his time on the ship he spent 5 days in the cells between 27th November and 1st December 1894. I wonder just what he was up to! He was promoted to Stoker on 31st Jan 1895 and on the 7th July 1895 he qualified as a Stoker Mechanic (Boilermaker) and on Jan 6 1897 he qualified in what appears to be a Duel F Boat (the wording on the certificate is difficult to read). He was awarded his first Good Conduct badge on 29 April 1897, So I assume he had managed to avoid the cells again. On 30 June 1897 he requalified in small arms.
On 13th October 1897 he joined HMS Victory again, On the documents from the National Archives it lists this as Victory II, and from what I can ascertain this was a land based training facility, either in Portsmouth or Crystal Palace in London. Also from reading various web sites it would appear that nearly all of the navy personnel who served at Victory II, were Stokers, so it would be fair to assume that this was some sort of mechanical training facility. On the 10th May 1898 he joined the Majestic class battleship HMS Hannibal. This ship was virtually brand new, although launched 2 years earlier she wasn't completed until April 1898 at Portsmouth and was at that time the largest battleship ever built. Whilst serving on Hannibal he was deprived of his good conduct badge on the 19th July 1898, but again I don't know for what reason. This was restored on 25th Feb. 1899.
on 17th June 1900 he married Kate Cora Newton in Melcombe Regis, Dorset, and HMS Hannibal was given as his usual address on the marriage certificate.
In September 1900 he requalified again in small arms and on the 17th October 1900 he 'Passed Ldg Sto:2C' which I think is the exam to become a leading Stoker.
On 18th January 1901 he joined the former triple masted flagship of Sir Charles Napier, HMS Duke of Wellington, This vessel was at this time part of the dockyard fleet at Portsmouth, and I believe also shorn of her three masts. It was onboard the ship on census night of March 31st 1901 that John was recorded.
He joined his next ship, HMS Eclipse, on 30th May 1901 again as a Stoker. his record shows that he also qualified in 'Destroyers' on 18th March 1902. He must have been reasonably well behaved aboard Eclipse as he was awarded his second good conduct badge on 30th April 1902, and again on the 6th November 1903 he qualified in 'R. S.A.' but I don't know what that refers to.
On 19 Nov 1904 John joined the Special service Vessel Steam Yacht HMS Fire Queen. After only a couple of months John joined the Torpedo training establishment at HMS Vernon. At this time this consisted of three or four older naval vessels moored up in Portchester creek. It was whilst serving at Vernon that John was promoted to Leading Stoker 2nd Class.He then spent 1 day back on HMS Fire Queen (30 - 31st March 1905) before again joining HMS Victory On April 1st 1905, again I don't know if this was the ship or just land based at the naval barracks.
On January 1st 1906 John joined the training ship HMS Fisguard, this was the renamed former 1869 ship HMS Audacious.
On 30th May 1906 John joined HMS Sapphire II, which was in fact the renamed HMS Imperieuse, acting as a depot ship. John was promoted to Stoker Petty Officer 2 Class on May 30th 1906.
The next 'big event' in Johns' life was the birth of his first child, Kate Marion Reid, on November 5th 1906, Bonfire night! Kate was born in Portsmouth.
He was awarded his third good conduct badge on April 28th 1907 before moving ships to HMS Blenheim (Boyne) on September 17th 1907. I have a little confusion over this ship as on my grandmothers (May Clara Reid) birth certificate, Her father is shown as being a Stoker aboard HMS Boyne, yet his Naval Service Certificate and the documents at the NAtional Archives refer to him joining HMS Blenheim (Boyne). He again returned to HMS Victory (or Portsmouth barracks) in June 1909 where he was promoted to Stoker Petty Officer on July 15th of that year.
On July 24th 1909 he joined HMS Imperuise until April 1911, and it was during this period that the photograph at the top of this web page was taken, meaning that John was between 39 and 41 years of age in the photo.
He then returned to Victory on 3rd April 1911, before joining HMS Glasgow on April 5th 1911. John again returned to HMS Victory (Portsmouth) on 17th September 1912 and whilst there qualified in Oil fuel on 25th October.
He then joined the Eclipse class cruiser HMS Minerva on November 10th 1912 before returning to HMS Victory on 30th July 1913.
He joined HMS Vindictive on 10 August 1913, just one week before the birth of his third daughter Jessie Winifred Violet Reid.
John's health must have deteriorated fairly rapidly as he was invalided out of the navy on January 8th 1914 and he died a week later at home on January 15th 1914.
After I had started my research, I contacted my fathers cousin who still lives in Weymouth. He provided me with the photocopies of Johns Navy service Certificate, and after I had spoken to him about John (his grandfather), he went to the local council offices in Weymouth and located the site of Johns grave in Melcombe Regis cemetery, and 94 years after his death, he had a headstone erected there, which I think proves that because we take an interest in our forefathers, they are never truly forgotten.