HAROLD HEWITT
Image from the Suffolk Chronicle and Mercury – 1917.
Born: 24th October 1890, North Creake, Norfolk.
Died: 28th October 1917; age 27; KiA whilst serving on board H.M.S. Erebus, which was hit by a German wireless-controlled explosive motorboat.
Residence: 52, Belle Vue Road, Ipswich.
Occupation: a Labourer.
Enlistment Details: Location: Chatham; date: 24th October 1908 – signed up for 12 years. Height: 5ft 3 ins on joining – 5 ft 5 ins at 18 years old, fresh complexion, grey eyes, light brown hair and a mole under the left eye.
SERVICE:
Ganges – Boy 2nd Class – August 1906
Ganges – Boy 1st Class – 13th March 1907 – 14th April 1907
Natal – Boy 1st Class – 15th April 1907 – 11th May 1907
Sutlej – Boy 1st Class – 12th May 1907 – 1st September 1907
Charybdis – Boy 1st Class – 2nd September 1907 – 28th October 1907
Pembroke – Boy 1st Class – 29th October 1907 – 4th November 1907
Warrior – Boy 1st Class – 5th November 1907 – 8th November 1907
Sappho – Boy 1st Class – 9th November 1907 – 29th April 1909
Brilliant – Boy 1st Class – 30th April 1908
Brilliant – Ordinary – 24th October 1908
Brilliant – Able Seaman – 16th August 1909 – 10th December 1909
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 11th December 1909 – 21st January 1910
Actaen – Able Seaman – 22nd January 1910 – 30th September 1910
Vernon – Able Seaman – 1st October 1910 – 7th April 1911
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 8th April 1911 – 28th April 1911
Actaen – Able Seaman – 29th April 1911 – 8th May 1911
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 9th May 1911 – 19th May 1911
Orontes – Able Seaman – 20th May 1911 – 30th June 1912
Egmont – Able Seaman – 1st July 1912 – 17th October 1913
Pembroke I – Able Seaman – 18th October 1913 – 2nd Janaury 1914
Dido – Able Seaman – 3rd January 1914
Dido – Leading Seaman – 1st September 1915 – 19th December 1915
Pembroke – Leading Seaman – 20th September 1915 – 11th August 1916
Erebus – Leading Seaman – 12th August 1916
Erebus – Petty Officer – 3rd June 1917 – 28th October 1917.
Rank: Petty Officer; Service Number: 237029
Regiment: Royal Navy, H.M.S. Erebus.
Grave Reference:
BA.1A.24.
Ipswich.
Relatives Notified & Address: Husband of Mabel Annie Hewitt, of 52, Belle Vue Road, Ipswich.
CENSUS
1891 11, Egmere Cottages, Egmere, Norfolk.
Harold was 5 months old and living with his parents & siblings.
Edward Hewitt, 50, an Agricultural Labourer, born North Creake, Norfolk.
Mary Ann Hewitt, 44, born Sculthorpe, Norfolk.
Ernest Henry Hewitt, 14, an Agricultural Labourer, born Egmere, Norfolk.
Emma Hewitt, 11, born Egmere.
Kathleen Susanna Hewitt, 9, born Egmere.
Anne Mary Hewitt, 7, born Egmere.
Charles Hewitt, 5, born Egmere.
Daniel Hewitt, 2, born Egmere.
Benjamin Hewitt, 1, born Egmere.
1901 Glebe House, North Creake, Norfolk.
Harold was 10 years old and living with his parents & siblings.
Edward, 62, an Agricultural Labourer.
Mary Ann, 54.
Edward Hewitt, 26, a Gardener, born Egmere.
Ernest, 24, an Agricultural Labourer.
Emma, 21, a Domestic Housemaid.
Anne Mary, 17, a General Domestic Servant.
Charles, 15, a Yardman – Cattle.
Daniel, 13, a Shepherd’s Page.
Benjamin, 11.
1911 Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar, Averstoke, Gosport, Hampshire.
Harold was 30 years old, an Able Seaman.
Harold’s father, Edward Hewitt, died in 1915, Norfolk.
His mother, Mary Ann Hewitt, died in 1919, Norfolk.
On the 22nd January 1917, at St. Helen’s Church, Ipswich, 26 year old Harold, Royal Navy Seaman of H.M.S. Erebus, married 22 year old Mabel Annie Hall, born October 1894, Warley, Essex – daughter of Charles William Hall, a Quarter Master Sergeant for the Suffolk Regiment, and Annie Hall (nee Pearce), of 52, Belle Vue Road, Ipswich.
E.A.D.T. – Monday, 5th November 1917 – NAVAL FUNERAL AT IPSWICH – The funeral of Petty Officer Harold Hewitt. Royal Navy. He was killed in action; the funeral took place on Friday afternoon, from No. 52, Bellevue Road, Ipswich, the house of the deceased’s father-in-law. Petty Officer Harold Hewitt, who was only 27 years of age, joined the Navy when a lad of 14. He was a native of North Creek, Norfolk, and he married in January 1917. He had been in most of the important naval engagements since the outbreak of the present war. The remains were accorded full naval honours, the coffin, draped with the national colours, being borne from the house to the cemetery on a naval gun carriage drawn by 20 boys from the Naval Barracks, Shotley, under a petty officer. The service was conducted by the Reverend J. Wood, rector of St. Helen’s Church, assisted by the Reverend C. E. Downton, rector of Bucklesham. The coffin was of polished elm with black fittings, the breastplate bearing the inscription: “Harold Hewitt, died October 28th 1917, aged 27.” Amongst the numerous floral tributes with which the coffin was covered were wreaths from the captain and also the men of Harold Hewitt’s ship, another from his old shipmates of the torpedo flotilla, and one from the regimental sergeant-major and quartermaster-sergeant at the Suffolk Depot, Bury St. Edmund’s.
The funeral arrangements were carried out by Messrs. Hastings and Son.
H.M.S. ‘EREBUS’
On the 28th October 1917, a German DCB (distance controlled boat) loaded with a 1540lb bomb exploded in the dock, causing a 50ft hole in the ship.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Erebus_(I02)
http://www.naval-history.net/OWShips-WW1-03-HMS_Erebus.htm
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