Crew of HMS Defiance. Photo Cyberheritage
1st Class (Leading) Stoker Frank John Churchill
Royal Navy, HMS Vivid
Died in Military Service
Date of Birth: 19 December 1876
Place of Birth: West Teignmouth
Date of Death: 14 May 1917 aged 40.
Buried: Teignmouth Cemetery. Remembered on Seafront Memorial and St. James’ Church war Memorial Window, Teignmouth, Devon.
Awarded the Bristish War Medal and the Victory Medal
Leading Stoker Frank John Churchill age 40.
Frank was born on 19 December 1876 and baptised 25 January 1877 in West Teignmouth, the son of local postman Samuel John and Mary Grace (née Holman). In 1891 the family were living in Sun Lane and Frank was working as an errand boy. In 1898 he married Amy Louise Lovell and in 1901 they were living with Amy’s widowed father in Bishopsteignton. 1911 showed him and Louise living with their six children at 1 Willow Street; he was working as a labourer.
On 31 January 1898 Frank joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker Class 2, service number 287282. In 1910 after 12 years’ service he was moved to the Royal Fleet Reserve and was called up on 2 August 1914 joining HMS Diana.
On 4 August 1914 the German topsail schooner Else was in the English Channel on passage from Rio de Janiero to Falmouth, when it was intercepted and taken as a prize of war by the old second class cruiser HMS Diana. Frank moved to Vivid II in 1916 and was serving with Vivid III, the Devonport base for Trawler Division. He was home on leave at Willow Street, prior to taking up a new commission, when he was taken ill with pneumonia and died on 14 May 1917. Buried in Teignmouth Cemetery. Remembered on Seafront Memorial and St. James’ Church war Memorial Window, Teignmouth, Devon.
Franks' Commonwealth War Grave in Teignmouth Old Cemetery
The inscription on Franks' Commonwealth War Grave in Teignmouth Old Cemetery:
F.J. Churchill
Leading Stoker R.N.
287282
HMS Vivid
14th May 1917 Age 40
“Peace Perfect Peace”.
Download Frank's Commonwealth War Graves Certificate
Clipping from Frank's will announcement
He had a younger brother, Leonard Churchill who initially served on the battleship HMS Marlborough then later on HMS Vivid, he died in 1915.
Frank left a widow and nine children, seven of whom were under 14 years.
HMS Vivid
During the First World War HMS Vivid was a Royal Navy base at Devonport, a district of Plymouth.
A number of ships were renamed HMS Vivid whilst serving as depot ships for the base, HMS Cuckoo (launched in 1873), was a torpedo gunboat that was HMS Vivid between 1912 and 1920.
Some men served at the base for the duration of the war, others could be recorded as serving on HMS Vivid when between ships, on leave or on route to hospital etc.
The Stonehouse Naval Hospital was a mile from the Devonport base. For casualities coming to the UK from ships in the Atlantic, Stonehouse was the first large UK Naval hospital that they would reach.
![Arriving at the Naval Hospital Stonehouse by boat. <br />Cyber Heritage [Public domain]](/images/snippets/rnh3.jpg)
Arriving at the Stonehouse Naval Hospital by boat. Cyber Heritage [Public domain]
There were a lot of casualties. Over 5000 British ships were lost in the First World War.
A J5 Class submarine built in the Devonport yard during WW1
(later transferred to the Australian Navy) © IWM SP3096
The Royal Navy Devonport dockyard was a part of the base. During WW1 the yard built battle cruisers, cruisers, dreadnoughts and submarines.
These all used the cutting-edge technology of the time as did the battle ship HMS Warspite and the steam-driven J5 submarine shown here.
Experts in every related field were gathered to help develop and test new designs for the best possible vessels and weapons to equip them.
The most capable people available would have trained those responsible for training others in using these newly developed technologies.
Battleship HMS Warspite. The battleship HMS Warspite (1913) was built at Devonport and was the most technically advanced ship of her era. She carried a company of more than 1,000 sailors and officers, holds more honours than any other in British naval history and served in both World Wars. At the Battle of Jutland in 1916, Warspite held off the German High Seas Fleet. © IWM (Q 75593)
Naval Trawlers
Vivid III was the part of the Devonport base relating to the Trawler Division.
At the outbreak of the First World War about 3000 civilian steam fishing trawlers were put into military service and more than 39,000 fishermen joined the Trawler Section of the Royal Naval Reserve to crew the ships they knew so well.
They cleared mines from sea routes, and attacked enemy submarines.
This was vitally important work, the Maritime Archeology Trust estimate that in 1918 alone, enemy U-boats sank 5896 British vessels.
Fishing vessels on Admiralty service played a role in something in the region of 20 per cent of all allied U-boat sinkings during 1918.
Fishermen, the Fishing Industry and the Great War at Sea: A Forgotten History.
By Robb Robinson page 161
