On January 9, 1919 the SS Northumbria sank in the North Sea. Only two members of the crew survived; among those lost was Thomas Poole.
Thomas Poole was born in 1882, the son of William and Elizabeth Poole. He enlisted with the Royal Marine Light Infantry on April 9, 1901. In 1919 he had been drafted to the SS Northumbria, a Defensively Armed Merchant Ship carrying wheat from Baltimore to the UK, to man the ship’s gun. The ship sank off the coast of Coatham, County Durham, after striking two mines.
Thomas’s younger brother Henry John joined the Royal Navy in January 1907. He served on HMS Empress of India, Argyll and Leviathan before being transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve in 1912. Able Seaman Henry Poole ended his naval career in 1921 on Vivid I, a shore based ship.
And along with a patriotic love of their country, the two brothers shared the love of a woman.
On February 16, 1916 Thomas Poole, a Royal Marine aged 34, married Beatrice Fanny Dixon aged 26 at Christ Church. The couple’s son Derrick Thomas Poole was born on October 20, 1918. Less than three months later Thomas was killed on the SS Northumbria.
Did he ever get to see his son? What was Beatrice to do now?
We can’t begin to imagine what life was like for those women in the immediate aftermath of the war. The 1921 census figures revealed that there were in excess of 1.7 million more females than males in the population – known collectively as the ‘Surplus Women.’ The prospect of marriage and a family unlikely for so many. But what about the women like Beatrice, widowed aged 30 and with a child to support. What kind of future could she expect?
In the December quarter of 1919 Beatrice married Henry John Poole, Thomas’s younger brother. They went on to have two children of their own – Gordon Henry John born in 1920 and Doreen Elsa born in 1930.
In 1939 the family lived at 138 Broad Street. Henry John Poole was working as a Rivetter’s Holder Up in the railway factory, Derrick was a Motor Mechanic and Gordon a Metal Machinist also in the railway works. Nine year old Doreen was still at school.
A happy ending for one war torn family.
Henry John Poole died in 1965 and Beatrice Fanny in 1977. Neither of them are buried in Radnor Street Cemetery.
Thomas Poole was buried on January 16, 1919 in grave plot D1023 where he lies alone. The CWGC Eyes On Hands On team of volunteers care for his grave.
Radnor Street Cemetery 