Peterborough & The Great War

Biography

George was born on 10 September 1886, to parents George William, a fisherman, and Harriet Annie (nee Thomas). His parents did not marry until the following year and so it is probable that his birth was registered as George Thomas.

On the 1891 census George was living with his mother Anne and younger brothers Walter and Albert at 92 Seago Street, Lowestoft. His father could have  been away at sea fishing. In 1901, the family are living at 67 Maidstone Street – George William (47) fisherman, Harriet (35), George (14), Walter (13), Albert (10), Violet (8) and Ivy (6). In 1911 the family, except for George and Walter, were living at 65 Trafalgar Street, with the addition of Cecil, aged 8. George is a watchman on board LT1027 ‘Glory’, a sail powered 45 Ton Lowestoft based trawler.

In 1916, Walter was serving on the Steam Drifter ‘Newark Castle’, (a type of fishing vessel using drift nets), as a net stower. The vessel was sunk on 6 July 1916 around 23 miles SE of the river Tyne by the German U-Boat U23, under command of Oberlieutnant Ernst Voigt. In a three day patrol, the U-Boat sank eight British vessels of similar size.

Crew members came through Peterborough East Station on 8 July 1916 and wrote two detailed accounts of the attacks in the visitor’s books, describing how the German U-Boat U23 captured the vessels, allowing the crews off before sinking the vessels with bombs.  The crew of the “Newark Castle” were rescued by a British submarine and landed in Blyth six hours later, along with crews from “Girl Bessie” and “Petunia”.  http://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/4372.html

U-Boat U23 sank 51 ships until it was badly damaged by depth charges from the patrol boat HMS PC-60 off the Lizard on July 26 1917. http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=UB+23

U-Boats under the command of Oberlieutnant zur See Ernst Voigt, sank 80 ships.  Voigt, who was highly decorated, which included the Iron Cross 1^st class, died on 25 August 1917 when UC 72 hit a mine in the Straits of Dover. http://uboat.net/wwi/men/commanders/377.html

George and his nine crewmates could possibly have been returning to Lowestoft, following their unfortunate encounter with the German submarine.

In the 1939 Register, George’s mother, Harriet is widowed and living with George Thomas, a fisherman and other members of the Mayhew family.

It is believed that George died in 1963, aged 77 at Deben, Suffolk. No marriage or children have been found.

Please get in touch if you can tell us more about George.