Chief Petty Officer William Hexter
Royal Navy, Chief Petty Officer, 159153
Date of Birth: 10th of October 1875
Place of Birth: Teignmouth, Devon
Date of Death: 3rd quarter of 1937
Romanian Cross of Military Virtue
Awarded the China Medal, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Royal Navy Long Service Medal, the Romanian Cross of Military Virtue (1st Class) and Mentioned in Despatches
William Hexter was born on the 10th of October 1875 to Father, George William, a mason, and Mother, Sarah Jane. William was baptized on the 29th of June 1876 at West Teignmouth.
In 1881, William and his family were living at 1, Osmonds Lane, East Teignmouth.
| George W Hexter 1864 | Emily L Hexter 1870 |
| Frank A Hexter 1874 | William Hexter 1875 |
| Annie Hexter 1878 | Private Henry Edward Hexter 1880 |
The 1891 census shows William aboard HMS Ganges, at Falmouth, boy 2nd class.
Commander Coke and Officers aboard HMS Ganges - Image from Godfrey Dykes R.N.
William's Royal Navy service record shows he served for 12 years from the 10th of October 1893 until the 7th of October 1905, but he seems not to leave service until 1919. He is described as approximately 5' 2" tall, with brown hair and blue eyes, and a blue dot tattooed on his left arm.
William's first ship was HMS Superb in 1901 after spending many years on training ships.
HMS Superb IWM © Q 67444
In 1875 another “Ironclad” of 9,000 tons was launched at Blackwell for the Turkish government as the Hamidieh. In February 1878, however, she was purchased for the Royal Navy at the cost of £443,000 and was renamed HMS Superb.
Between 1893 and 1896 she was reconstructed at Portsmouth and rated a 2nd class Battleship. Her armament, after construction, consisted of 8 x 10-in.. 4 x 9-in. 4 x 7-in. guns.
William spent most of World War I on HMS Blake.
![HMS Blake - Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-DIG-ppmsca-12345] Public Domain](/images/survived/hexter-w-hms-blake.jpg)
HMS Blake - Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-DIG-ppmsca-12345] Public Domain HMS Blake was named in honour of Admiral Robert Blake and was the lead ship of her class of protected cruiser that served in the Royal Navy from 1889–1922.
HMS Blake was converted to a destroyer depot ship in 1907, serving through World War I as depot ship to the 11th Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet.
A destroyer tender, or destroyer depot ship in British English, is an auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships.
William married Annie E Warrillow in the 4th quarter of 1916 and they had a son, Richard in 1920.
William was 'Mentioned in despatches' via the Acting Warrant Officer on the 30th of March 1918.
Awarded the Romanian medal for Military Virtue, 1st class.
William's older brother, Private Henry Edward Hexter, 7th Battalion, Prince Albert’s (Somerset Light Infantry) was killed in action in 1917 at the third battle of Ypres (Passchendaele).
William Hexter died at Stoke-on-Trent in the 3rd quarter of 1937.
