DONALD FREDERICK MURRAY
From May through to September 2026, Andrew will be fulfilling his dream to hike the iconic Land’s End to John O’Groats! You are all warmly invited to follow Andrew’s epic journey on his Facebook page, “Andrew Beal LEJOG”: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577588795730
As Andrew hikes the 1,300+ miles, he will raise funds for the Ipswich War Memorial Project to help finance our future exhibitions and research of the brave Ipswich men and women who lost their lives in conflict. If you would like to make a small donation, please click on the link: https://gofund.me/5d4a50570
Thank you for your love and support. Andrew & Helen – I.W.M.P.
Born: 10th May 1902, Southwold, Suffolk.
Died: 4th February 1940; age: 37.
Residence: 121, Brunswick Road, Ipswich.
Occupation: Office Boy.
Enlistment Details: Location: Chatham, Kent; Date: 10th May 1920 – signed up for 12 years. Height: 5ft 7 1/4ins, fresh complexion, grey eyes & dark brown hair.
Service:
Ganges – Boy II – 7th November 1917
Ganges – Boy I – 9th May 1918 – 2nd February 1919
Calypso – Boy I – 3rd February 1919
Calypso – Ordinary Seaman – 10th November 1919 – 31st August 1920
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 1st September 1020 – 28th October 1920
Commonwealth – Able Seaman – 29th October 1920 – 9th April 1921
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 10th April 1921 – 7th November 1921
Dragon – Able Seaman – 8th November 1921 – 5th January 1922
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 6th January 1922 – 2nd October 1922
Royal Sovereign – Able Seaman – 3rd October 1922 – 16th September 1924
Pembroke I – 17th September 1924 – 30th September 1926
Abdiel – Able Seaman – 1st October 1926 – 14th January 1927
Tyrain – Able Seaman – 15th January 1927 – 29th April 1927
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 30th April 1927 – 22nd June 1927
Royal Oak – Able Seaman – 23rd June 1927.
Volunteered – 27th August 1931
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 22nd June 1932
Valiant – Able Seaman – 9th January 1934
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 16th August 1934
Seamew – Able Seaman – 19th January 1935
Calcutta – Able Seaman – 10th April 1935
Tern – Able Seaman – 29th April 1935
Dorsetshire – Able Seaman – 19th December 1935
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 15th March 1937
Wishart – Able Seaman – 6th February 1938
Cardiff – Able Seaman – 16th March 1938
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 14th June 1938
Wander – Able Seaman – 15th October 1938
Boadicea – Able Seaman – 5th May 1939
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 12th May 1939
Sphinx – Able Seaman – 4th February 1940.
Rank: Able Seaman; Service Number: C-J 81418.
Regiment: Royal Navy, H.M.S. Sphinx.
Grave Reference:
Section O. Collective Grave 11.
Wick,
Highland,
Caithness-shire,
Scotland.
Donald’s body was buried with 22 year old KENNETH UPSALL, a Stoker 2nd Class, C/KX95972, of the Royal Navy. Kenneth was born in February 1917, the son of Frederick Upsall, a relayer for the L.N.E.R., and Bertha Maria Upsall (nee Crowson), of 4, Lambs Row, Witham Bank, Boston, Lincolnshire.
Nottingham Journal – Friday, 9th February 1940 – BOSTON LAD ON SUNK SPHINX – Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Upsall, of 4, Lambs Row, Witham Bank, Boston, have received a telegram informing them that their son, Kenneth Upsall, 22, who was serving in the minesweeper Sphinx, which was sunk last weekend, is among the 54 missing, feared lost. Kenneth was due home for leave, and his mother thought the telegram was from him telling them when he would arrive. A former butcher’s apprentice in Boston, he had been in the Navy for a year. He was home on leave last Christmas.
Kenneth Upsall was due to be a best man at a Spalding wedding for fellow Sphinx’s shipmate, Stoker Alexander Grant, 24, of Dundee, fiancé of Miss Hilda Bradford, of Moulton Seas End. Alexander was lucky enough to jump right on to a ship that was alongside and did not have to get into the water at all.
Relatives Notified & Address: Son of Frederick & Harriet Murray; husband of Alexandra Wilgress Murray, of Otley, Suffolk.
CENSUS
1911 Reform Club, Lower Brook Street, Ipswich.
Donald was 8 years old and living with his mother & sisters.
Harriet Murray (nee Lanham), 38, a manageress of the Reform Club – at home, born Bunwell, Norfolk.
Evelyn Alma H. Murray, 12, born Haverhill, Suffolk.
Muriel Lanham Murray, 10, born Haverhill.
Ena Mary Murray, 4, born Ipswich.
1921 Naval Camp, Zion Hall, Long Eaton, Derbyshire.
Donald was 19 years and 1 month old. He was ranked as an Able Seaman in the Royal Navy.
Donald’s father was Frederick Murray, born 1872, Stockbridge, Hampshire – died August 1932, at 21, Oxford Road, Ipswich—a Draper.
In 1939, in Ipswich, Donald married Alexandra Wilgress Miller, born January 1901, Swilland, Suffolk – daughter of Walter Wilgress Miller, a farmer, and Marion May Miller (nee Richardson) (died 1920, Otley), of Red House, The Green, Otley.
Probate to Alexandra Wilgress Murray – widow, of Red House, The Green, Otley.
3rd and 4th February 1940
H.M.S. ‘Sphinx’ was a Halycon-class minesweeper, built by William Hamilton & Company at Port Glasgow, Scotland, and launched on the 7th February 1939. She was commissioned in July 1939 by the Royal Navy and assigned to the 5th Minesweeping Flotilla of the Nore Command, based at Dover, Kent, to carry out minesweeping in the English Channel and the North Sea. In December 1939, H.M.S. Sphinx was transferred to Rosyth, the coastal port of Dunfermline, Scotland.
On the 3rd February 1940, H.M.S. ‘Sphinx’ was minesweeping in the Murray Firth when, at 09:12 am, she came under an aerial attack from two German Dornier aircraft. A bomb passed through her bridge and upper deck before exploding in her forward mess deck. Commander John Robert Newton Taylor and 4 crew were killed.
On the 4th February, the wind was gale force and the sea very rough, when H.M.S. ‘Sphinx’, without her engines, was taken in tow for Invergordon. At 04:55 am, a huge wave hit her broadside, and she capsized. The crew found themselves thrown in the water and covered in the oil that had earlier been deliberately pumped from the tanks to calm the sea. Many choked to death.
46 crew survived; 49 lives were lost. Donald was laid to rest in a collective grave after a service at Wick Old Parish Church. Members of the R.A.F. were pallbearers and carried the coffins draped in Union Jacks.
Leave a Reply