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Stoker 1st Class K/39457 William George Grove
H.M.S. Glatton, Royal Navy
Local Information:
Stoker Grove was born on the 30th October 1885 in Caversham, Oxfordshire and his occupation was shown as Engine Driver. He enlisted at Portsmouth on the 5th January 1917 for the duration of hostilities. He had previous naval service with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (number 15700) on joining he was shown as being 5ft 6ins tall, Chest 42 inches, Brown Hair, Grey eyes with a fresh complexion and a scar on the lower side of his jaw.
He died on the 16th September 1918, aged 30, the husband of Emily E. Grove, of 13 Oxford Street, Caversham.
He is buried at Gillingham (Woodlands) Cemetery, Kent, United Kingdom (Naval). The remains of 1 officer and 56 ratings lost with HMS Glatton, were finally interred on 3rd April 1930.
[His link with Hungerford is not clear. He is not listed on the Church memorial which indicates that he may have worked in Hungerford and not lived here].
Richard Vendome (from Oxford) kindly contacted the Virtual Museum (Nov 2013) to say that "William George Grove was my maternal grandfather, and brother of Sidney Grove and May Wells (nee Grove, married to George Wells), both of whom lived in The Croft, Hungerford, until their deaths in the 1970s-80s."
Photo Gallery:
HMS Glatton
- HMS Glatton.
Naval Service record:
Victory 11 - Stoker 2nd Class - 5.1.1917
Victory 11 - Stoker 1st Class - 16.6.1917 – 27.8.1917
Hindustan - Stoker 1st Class - 28.8.1917 – 14.5.1918
Victory 11 - Stoker 1st Class - 15.5.18 -30.8.1918
Glatton - Stoker 1st Class - 31.8.1918 – 16.9.1918
Naval Information:
HMS Glatton was originally built as a coastal defence ship for the Royal Norwegian Navy. She was purchased from Norway at the beginning of World War I, but was not completed until 1918 although she had been launched over three years earlier. On 16 September 1918, before she had even gone into action, she suffered a large fire in one of her 6-inch magazines, and had to be torpedoed to prevent an explosion of her main magazines that would have devastated Dover. Her wreck was partially salvaged in 1926, and moved into a position in the north-eastern end of the harbour where it would not obstruct traffic. It was subsequently buried by landfill underneath the current car ferry terminal.
She had been commissioned on 31st August 1918, at Newcastle; between the 6th and 8th of September she had completed with stores and ammunition, and, after experiencing bad weather on her way south, she arrived at Dover on September 11. She did not proceed to sea again. She had taken in some coal on the day of the explosion. Stoker Grove was one on those killed in the explosion.
The Canal Wharf, 2011