Crew of HMS Defiance. Photo Cyberheritage
1st Class Petty Officer Walter James Davis
HMS Vivid, Royal Navy
Died in Military Service
Date of Birth: April, 1869
Place of Birth: Teignmouth, Devon
Date of Death: 15 July 1916 aged 46
Buried: Teignmouth Cemetery. Remembered on Seafront Memorial and St. James’ Memorial Window, Teignmouth.
Petty Officer 1st Class William James Davis age 46.
Born Teignmouth in April 1869 William was the son of Frederick and Caroline Davis, a fisherman of Coombe Lane. He was baptised on 26 May 1870 at St. James’ Church. In 1871 the family were living at Coombe Lane, by 1881 they had moved to Mulberry Street. In 1901 he was shown on board HMS Magpie serving as a Petty Officer. The 1911 census showed him living with his wife and two children in Parsons Street, he was working with the Gas company. He married Clara Hooper in 1905 registered in Quarter 3 at Newton Abbot.
Whilst living at 10 Mulberry Street, he joined the Royal Navy on 12 January 1885 serving as a Boy 2nd Class, no. 130216, reaching the rank of Petty Officer 1st class by the end of his service in 1909 when he was transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve. During this time he served in the South African Wars and was awarded the South African Medal.
In August 1914 he was called back with the Royal Fleet Reserve and served on HMS Albion sailing for South and East Africa and was at Gallipoli until May 1915.
The following year returning to HMS Vivid he was invalided out of service on 28 March 1916 and died at home on 15 July 1916 leaving a widow and two young children.
Buried in Teignmouth Cemetery; remembered on Seafront Memorial and St. James’ Memorial Window, Teignmouth.
Grave Inscription reads: “From His Loving Wife Son And Daughter”.
HMS Albion
HMS Albion while aground near Gaba Tepe, replying to the Turkish batteries, which shelled her heavily.© IWM (Q 13808)
Albion joined the 8th Battle Squadron, of the Channel Fleet in August 1914, and sailed to Cape of Good Hope and East Africa.
In February 1915, she was sent to The Dardenelles.
She was damaged by Turkish shellfire during bombardments on 28 April and 2 May 1915, including grounding off Gaba Tepe.
In October 1915 she transported troops to Salonika.
She returned to England and was stationed on the East Coast as guardship.
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
