CHARLES SQUIRES MASON

   Photographs courtesy of Heather Godson

Born: 14th March 1894, Ipswich.

Died: 12th January 1918; age 23; drowned in a wreck off Hesta Head, Windwick, Orkney Islands.

E.A.D.T. – Thursday, 17^th January 1918 – Mr. and Mrs. Mason, of Orwell Place, Ipswich, have received information that their son, Able Seaman Charles Squires Mason, R.N.V.R., aged 23 years, was drowned at sea on the 12^th January. Charles Mason, who was educated at Ipswich Middle School, Needham Market Grammar School, and at Brussels, spent two years in a broker’s office in London, and was a partner with his father in the firm of Charles Mason and Son.

Residence: 8, Orwell Place, Ipswich.

Occupation: a Junior Partner in his father’s firm of Charles Mason & Son – Tea Merchants.

Enlisted: 11th September 1916.

Rank: Able Seaman; Service Number: London LZ5688

Regiment: Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, H.M.S. ‘Narborough’ – Torpedo Boat Destroyer.

Memorial Reference:

31.

Chatham Naval Memorial,

Kent.

Relatives Notified & Address: Eldest son of Charles & Ellen Mason, of Leigh House, 44, North Hill, Colchester.

CENSUS               

1901   7, Norwich Road, Ipswich.

Charles was 8 years old and living with his parents & brother.

Charles Simpson Mason, 41, a Tea Merchant – employer, born Elmstead, Essex.

Ellen Maria Mason (nee Squires), 41, born Ipswich.

Thomas William Mason, 6, born Ipswich.

1 general domestic servant.

1911   Jupes Hill, Mount Hill Avenue, Springfield, Essex.

Charles was 17 years old, a Tea Taster’s Assistant. He was living with his paternal uncle & aunt + cousin.

George Mason, 53, a Local Security Insurance EOI, born Elmstead, Essex.

Kate Mason, 42, born Fressingfield, Suffolk.

Vera Dorothy Mason, 11, born Chelmsford, Essex.

1 domestic servant.

Charles was educated at Ipswich Middle School, Needham Market Middle School, L’Institut Homades, Uccle, Belgium and at L’Internationale, Brussels, Belgium.

Charles was an amateur yachtsman and a member of the Ipswich Swimming Club and the Petrel Rowing Club.

Probate to Charles Mason – father, a Tea Merchant.

Charles is also remembered on his parents’ headstone at Colchester Cemetery, Essex. Charles is also remembered on the war memorial at Northgate High School. Formerly Ipswich Grammar School for Boys, and on the war memorial at St. Michael’s Church, Ipswich, where he also had a private memorial on a lectern.

In the 1921 Census, Charles’s parents had moved from Ipswich to Leigh House, Colchester, Essex. His 61 year old father, Charles Mason, recorded his occupation as “Food Powder Manufacturer – Retired as Son lost in the war.”

Charles’ father, Charles Simpson Mason, died on the 14^th July 1916, at his residence, Leigh House, 44, North Hill, Colchester, Essex.

Suffolk Chronicle and Mercury – Friday, 17^th December 1926 – Mr. Charles Simpson Mason, of Leigh House, North Hill, Colchester, Essex, formerly carrying on business at Orwell Place, Ipswich, as a grocer, died on the 14^th July, aged 66 years. The Will read thus: “I direct that my Master Mason’s apron shall be placed upon my body after my death by a brother belonging to the Lodge of which I shall be a member and shall be buried with me, and that my executors shall cause a tombstone to be erected on the grave with a suitable inscription to my memory, and with a further inscription to the memory of my dead son, and also of Charles Squires Mason, son and partner of the above, who was lost with T.B.D. Narborough at Hesta Head, Windwick, South Ronaldshay, Orkney Islands, on January 12th, 1918, aged 24, and whose body was not identified, if found at all.”

H.M.S. Narborough was an Admiralty M-class destroyer launched in 1916. On the 12th January 1918, she and her sister ship H.M.S. Opal were wrecked on the Pentland Skerries after running aground in a violent gale and snowstorm. Only 1 sailor survived (William Sissons); 188 were killed.

Another Ipswich man on board was Arthur Albert Loose, who would probably have been known to Charles.

  H.M.S. ‘Narborough’