ARTHUR DOUSE
Ipswich Suffolk Chronicle And Mercury – 1918.
Born: 1863, Ipswich.
Died: 20th May 1917; age 54; killed as a result of an attack by an enemy submarine.
Residence: 44, Gladstone Road, Ipswich.
Occupation: a Seaman – Captain.
Rank: Master.
Regiment: Mercantile Marine, ‘Caspian.’
Memorial Reference:
London.
Relatives Notified & Address: Son of the late Captain Thomas & Ann Douse; husband of Kate Augusta Douse, of 56, Inglis Road, Addiscombe, Croydon.
CENSUS
1871 28, Borough Road, Ipswich.
Arthur was 7 years old and living with his parents & siblings.
Thomas William Douse, 44, a Sailor, born Hockley, Essex.
Annie Douse ( nee Jolly), 35, born Felixstowe, Suffolk.
Gertrude Douse, 10, born Ipswich.
Thomas Douse, 9, born Ipswich.
Beatrice Douse, 5, born Ipswich.
Edwin Douse, 4, born Ipswich.
Jessie Douse, 2, born Ipswich.
On the 1891 census, Arthur is away at sea, his wife, Kate Augusta Douse, 28, lived at their family home – St. John’s Hill, Woodbridge, Suffolk. Arthur’s sister, Laura Douse, 15, born in Ipswich, was staying with Kate.
1901 41, Newmarket Street, Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire.
Arthur was 37 years old, a Mariner – Sea. He was married and head of the household.
Kate, 38.
Leah Frances Alexander (nee Smyth), 82, a widow, born Woodbridge, Suffolk.
On the 1911 census, Arthur is away at sea, his wife, Kate Augusta Douse, 48, lived alone at their family home – 19, Khartoum Road, Ipswich.
On the 26th March 1891, at the Quay Chapel, Woodbridge, Suffolk, by the Reverend William Amer, Arthur married Kate Augusta Bohn, born on the 23rd August 1862, at 60, Hemingford Road, Islington, Middlesex – daughter of the late Thomas Bohn, a solicitor’s managing clerk, and Mary Ann Trotman, of 60, Hemingford Road, Islington.
On the 21st December 1865, Kate’s father, Thomas Bohn, died at the family home, 60, Hemingford Road, Islington.
Kate Augusta Bohn was loved and cared for by William Alexander, a hay cutter and trusser, and Leah Frances Alexander (nee Smyth), a governess/schoolmistress, at their family home at Bradfield Street, Woodbridge, Suffolk. On the 1901 census, Leah Alexander, a widow, was loved and cared for by Kate and Arthur.
Arthur’s father, Thomas William Douse, died in July 1898, at Quay Street, Woodbridge, a Master Mariner of the “Impress of India,” and was buried at Woodbridge Cemetery, Suffolk.
Arthur’s mother, Annie Douse, of Moulton Villas, 19, Khartoum Road, Ipswich (the home of Arthur and Kate Augusta Douse), died in January 1909, at 1, Hamilton Villas, Wivenhoe, Essex, the family home of her daughter, Jessie Forsgate (nee Douse), and her husband James Thomas Forsgate, and was buried in the grave of her husband at Woodbridge Cemetery.
Arthur’s sister, Annie Douse, a nurse born in 1872, Ipswich, died on the 16th March 1908, at Bridge House, Barton Mills, Suffolk and was buried at Barton Mills on the 20th March 1908, aged 36 years.
On the 15th April 1882, Arthur was 19 years old, an Able Seaman on board the ‘Clyndr’ of Glasgow (117 tons), when she arrived at the port of Sydney, New South Wales, from Glasgow. Master – E. Pasifull.
On the 15th July 1884, Arthur was 21 years old, an Able Seaman on board the ‘Shandon’ of Glasgow (1397 tons), when she arrived at the port of Sydney, New South Wales from Glasgow. Master – E. Pasifull.
Kelly’s Directory’s
1892 – 6, Gordon Villas, St. John’s, Woodbridge, Suffolk.
1896 – 6, Gordon Villas, St. John’s, Woodbridge, Suffolk.
In 1913 – 1914, Arthur, a Bona Fida Seaman, was the 1st Mate aboard S.S. Russian Prince. The cargo ship from North Shields sailed between Tampico, Mexico, to Aransas Pass and New Orleans. S.S. Russian Prince was of the Prince Line and owned by Messrs: The Prince Line Ltd., Master Joseph Chilvers.
20th May 1917
Howard Houlder, G.J. Middleton & Alexander Freeland & Co., London, were the owners of the ‘Caspian,’ a steam cargo ship built in 1894. Arthur Douse was the Master of the ‘Caspian’ when on a voyage from Antofagasta to Savona, with a cargo of nitrate, she was torpedoed by U-34 & sank 3.5 miles East of Cape Cervera, Alicante, with the loss of 25 of her crew.
Arthur’s widow, Kate Douse, received from the Admiralty a certificate of commendation granted to Arthur for zeal and devotion to duty in carrying on the trade of the country during the war.
E.A.D.T. – Monday, 18th June 1917 – FIGHT WITH A SUBMARINE – DEATH OF A GALLANT IPSWICH CAPTAIN – Details concerning the death of Captain Arthur Douse, of 44, Gladstone Road, Ipswich, who was killed when his vessel was attacked and sunk by a German submarine, are given in a letter to his brother. The writer says: –
“On Sunday morning, 20th May, between 5 and 5:30, when off Cape de Pablo, the German submarine, which was close to the land, opened fire on us. We replied almost immediately. After a few shots were exchanged, they got the wheel-house and steering gear, killing the quarter-master at the wheel. Your brother, who took command on the bridge when the fight started, ran along to the engine-room and shouted down to keep her full speed, he himself taking the wheel and steering a zig-zag course, so that she could not get broadside on. The fight continued in this way for over an hour and a half, during which time the port lifeboat had three large holes knocked in it, and the starboard one cut in halves, six of the seven crew being killed by the shrapnel. Your brother shouted and encouraged the gunners all the time.
“About seven o’clock, just as the last few shots were being fired, the submarine got the wheel-house again, entirely smashing it up. Your brother, coming to the door, was struck by a bursting shell, which completely smashed his skull, killing him instantaneously. As we had no more ammunition left, signals were run up, and it was decided to abandon the ship.”
The writer describes how the second officer and chief engineer were taken prisoners. The Germans went on board the ship and blew her up. Five of the crew were picked up by a Norwegian ship. “Captain Douse,” the writer says in conclusion, “was indeed a hero. He would not give in as long as he had a shot left or could help her going – a sentiment that was shared by all under him. Out of 37 of the crew, with two naval reserve gunners, I am only aware of the five survivors of our boat.” Captain Douse leaves a widow but no family.
Merchant Navy / Mercantile Marine. Both services suffered heavy losses from German U-boat attacks, enemy ships and underwater mines. U-boats sank 7,759,090 tons, with the loss of 14,660+ merchant seafarers. 2,479 British merchant vessels and 675 British fishing vessels were lost. The sea trade was important to the war effort, supplying food and materials as well as arms around the globe. The Mercantile Marine War Medal was instituted by the Board of Trade and approved by King George V.
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