ALFRED EDWARD BARBER
Photos courtesy of Janine Fisher.
Born: 26th June 1882, Ipswich.
Died: 22nd September 1914; age 32; KiA with submarine in North Sea.
Enlistment Location: Chatham, Kent; Age: 17; Occupation: a Porter. Height on enlistment: 5ft 3 1/2 ins, height at 18 years old – 5ft 5ins, fresh complexion, grey eyes & dark brown hair. Tattoo of a cross, 3 dots and a heart on right forearm. On the 26th June 1900, 18 year old, Alfred signed up for 12 years.
Service:
Northampton – B2C – 3rd July 1899
Northampton – B1C – 2nd October 1899 – 17th October 1899
Curacoa – B1C – 18th October 1899 – 22nd January 1900
Pembroke I – B1C – 23rd January 1900 – 26th January 1900
Jupiter – B1C – 27th January 1900
Jupiter – Ordinary Seaman – 26th June 1900 – 7th December 1900
Offence – 31st December 1900 – 90 days – hard labourer for stealing.
Pembroke I – Ordinary Seaman – 3rd March 1901 – 29th May 1901
Eclipse – Ordinary Seaman – 30th May 1901
Eclipse – Able Seaman – 4th April 1902 – 18th November 1904
Pembroke – Able Seaman – 19th November 1904 – 16th May 1905
Wildfire – Able Seaman – 17th May 1905 – 23rd August 1905
Pembroke – Able Seaman – 24th August 1905 – 20th November 1905
Vindictive – Able Seaman – 21st November 1905 – 1st February 1907
Hyacinth – Able Seaman – 2nd February 1907 – 26th March 1909
Royal Arthur – Able Seaman – 27th March 1909 – 14th May 1909
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 15th May 1909 – 22nd July 1909
Tyne – Able Seaman – 23rd July 1909 – 9th August 1909
Pembroke – Able Seaman – 10th August 1909 – 14th March 1910
Tyne – Able Seaman – 15th March 1910 – 28th February 1911
St. George – Able Seaman – 1st March 1911 – 22nd June 1912
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 23rd June 1912 – 12th July 1912
Joined Royal Fleet Reserve – Chatham – 13th July 1914
Aboukir – Able Seaman – 2nd August 1914 – 22nd September 1914.
Rank: Able Seaman; Service Number: 205320
Regiment: Royal Navy, H.M.S. ‘Aboukir’.
Memorial Reference:
2.
Chatham,
Kent.
Relatives Notified & Address: Husband of Mrs F. Barber, of 70, Cavendish Street, Ipswich.
CENSUS
1891 Ridge Cottage, Rose Hill Road, Ipswich.
Alfred was 8 years old and living with his parents & siblings.
James Barber, 49, a Carpenter & Builder – own account, born Albion Street, Ipswich.
Frances Anna Barber (nee Faiers), 46, born Ipswich.
Henry Barber, 23, a Gardener – Domestic, born Ipswich.
Elizabeth Barber, 18, a Dressmaker, born Ipswich.
Francis Barber, 13, born Ipswich.
Charles Herbert Barber, 10, born Ipswich.
Christine Caroline Barber, 6, born Ipswich.
Frederick James Barber, 3, born Ipswich.
Philip Augustus Barber, 7 months, born Ipswich.
1901 Chatham Dockyard, Kent.
Alfred was 18 years old, an Ordinary Seaman on board the Royal Navy’s ‘Pembroke I’
1911 Stangate Creek, Sheerness, Kent.
Alfred was 28 years old, married, and an Able Seaman on board the Royal Navy’s Torpedo Boat No. 9.
Alfred’s mother Frances Barber died November 1907, at 89, Rosehill Road, Ipswich. His father, James Barber remarried in March 1909, Ipswich, to Lavinia Eliza Snell, born September 1855, Woodbridge, Suffolk.
On Christmas Day, 1910, at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Ipswich, Alfred married Florence Rose Miles, born June 1884, Ipswich.
On the 1911 census, 26 year old, Florence Rose Barber is living with her sister and her family home – 8, Ruskin Road, Ipswich.
Harry Edward Whittle, 27, a Commercial Clerk – Co-operation, born Ipswich.
Jane Annie Whittle (nee Miles), 29, born Ipswich.
Leslie Miles Whittle, 1, born Ipswich.
Alfred’s widow, Florence Barber died in early 1920, Ipswich.
22nd September 1914
The three ships Cressy Abourkir and the Hogue were on patrol without an escort seeking shelter from bad weather off Ostend steaming 2,000 yards apart at 10 nots. German U-boat U-9 commanded by Kapitanleutnant Otto Weddigen spotted the ships and lined up for an attack U-9 fired one torpedo at 06:20 at Aboukir which struck her on the starboard side. She began listing and capsized around 06:55,
Hogue was struck by two torpedoes around 06:55 and capsized ten minutes after being torpedoed and sank at 07:15. HMS Cressy had spotted U-9 attempted to ram the submarine.U-9 fired two torpedoes from its stern tubes on making an escape from Cressy, but only one hit. U-9 had to manoeuvre to bring her bow around with her last torpedo and fired it at a range of about 550 yards at 07:30. The torpedo struck on the port side and ruptured several boilers, scalding to death the men in the compartment. HMS Cressy took on a heavy list and then capsized, sinking at 07:55. At 08:30 Small fishing craft Dutch and British trawlers picked up survivors 837 men were rescued and 62 officers. From the three ships it is estimated 1,397 enlisted men were lost, 560 of those lost were from HMS Cressy.
Ipswich men lost:
Robert Abbott
H.M.S Cressy
Able Seaman age 29
Alfred Edward Barber
H.M.S. ‘Aboukir’
Able Seaman age 32
Charles Valentine Garrod
H.M.S. ‘Aboukir’
Able Seaman age 32
Reuben John Sewell
H.M.S. ‘Hogue’
Petty Officer age 30
Charles Alfred Larking
H.M.S. ‘Cressy’
Able Seaman age 33
H.M.S. ‘Aboukir’:
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