Chief Armourer Frank Morrish
HMS Defence, Royal Navy, 175632
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1873
Place of Birth: Dawlish, Devon
Date of Death: 31 May 1916 at the Battle of Jutland, aged 42
Buried: Remembered on Plymouth Naval Memorial; Seafront Memorial, and St James's Church Memorial Window, Teignmouth, Devon
Chief Armourer Frank Morrish age 42.
Born on 15 September 1873 at Dawlish, and baptised on 26 August 1874. He was the eldest son of William, general labourer, and Ann Morrish of Commercial Road, Dawlish. He was shown with his family at this address on 1881 census. By 1891 he was living with his family off Brook Street, Dawlish and working as a coach builder's apprentice.
He enlisted in the Royal Navy on 28 August 1893 where he trained as an Armourer at HMS Cambridge, his service number was 175632 (Dev). In December 1900 he married Emma Louisa Woodley, daughter of Thomas and Lucy Woodley of Teignmouth. The 1901 census showed them living in Devonport, he was serving with the navy. In 1911 Emma and her son Frank, age 6, were boarding at 11 Commercial Road, Teignmouth, with her sister's family. Frank is away at Portland with RN.
Frank joined HMS Defence in January 1913; she was a Minotaur-class Armoured Cruiser. He had recently been home on leave and returned just ten days before the battle. He died on 31 May 1916 when HMS Defence was sunk by gunfire from the German battleship Friedrich der Grosse at the Battle of Jutland, all the crew of 893* men were lost. * figures vary.
Newspaper clipping
Remembered on Plymouth Naval Memorial; Seafront Memorial, and St James's Church Memorial Window, Teignmouth
HMS Defence
Frank died along with 903 others of the crew when the HMS Defence was sunk on 31 May 1916 during the Battle of Jutland.
HMS Defence 1907. By unknown Royal Navy serviceman. - Steve Johnson's cyber-heritage website at http://www.cyber-heritage.co.uk/defweb
She was serving as an escort to the Grand Fleet.
Defence was fired upon by one German battlecruiser and four dreadnoughts as she attempted to engage a disabled German light cruiser.
There were no survivors.
The Battle of Jutland
This was the largest naval battle of the First World War (May 31 - June 1, 1916).
It involved involved 250 Warships and around 100,000 men.
The German and British navies were 10 miles apart and pounded each other with shells for a whole day.
The German High Seas Fleet had hoped to ambush and destroy the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea.
The British were warned by their codebreakers and put two forces to sea early, they lost 14 ships and over 6,000 men in the battle but the fleet was still ready to fight the next day.
Amongst those losses were six men from Teignmouth. Two brothers, Edward and Frederick Meyers, were both stokers aboard HMS Indefatigable; it was Frederick's 23rd birthday. Frank Morrish had just returned from leave, he was chief armourer on HMS Defence. Arthur Kidston and William Mutters were both serving in the Royal Marine Light Infantry; Arthur was on board HMS Black Prince and William on HMS Queen Mary. Seaman Stephen Sienesi died of wounds on board HMS Petard and was buried in Edinburgh.
The Battle ended in a stalemate, both sides claimed victory.
The German navy did not seriously challenge British control of the North Sea during the First World War again after that battle, as a result the British were able to blockade essential supplies from reaching Germany which contributed to Germany losing the war.
Warships of the Grand Fleet in the North Sea. © IWM (Q 68706)
