JOHN WILLIAM FUDGE

Laid to rest at the Field of Honour.

Born: 25th September 1885, Cooling, Kent.

Died: 27th November 1918; age: 33; died of Influenza at the Royal Navy Hospital, Haslar, Gosport, Hampshire.

Widow informed on the 28th November 1918.

Occupation: Royal Navy First Class Stoker.

Enlistment Details: Location: Chatham; Date: 8th February 1905; signed up for 12 years; Occupation: Royal Marine Barracks – Ch/14261. Height: 6ft 1/2ins, fresh complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair.

SERVICE:

Acheron – Stoker 2^nd Class – 8^th February 1905 – 28^th February 1905

Acheron – Stoker 2^nd Class – 18^th April 1905 – 9^th August 1905

Pembroke II – Stoker 2^nd Class – 10^th August 1905 – 18^th August 1905

Albion – Stoker 2^nd Class – 19^th August 1905

Albion – Stoker 2^nd Class – 2^nd April 1906

Illustrious – Stoker 2^nd Class – 3^rd April 1906

Illustrious – Stoker 1st Class – 1^st July 1906 – 31^st December 1906

Vivid II – Stoker 1st Class – 1^st January 1907 – 2^nd January 1907

Illustrious – Stoker 1st Class – 3^rd January 1907 – 1^st June 1908

Pembroke II – Stoker 1st Class – 2^nd June 1908 – 30^th June 1908

Dido – Stoker 1st Class – 1^st July 1908 – 21st September 1908

Minerva – Stoker 1st Class – 22^nd September 1908 – 17^th October 1910

Pembroke II – Stoker 1st Class – 18^th October 1910 – 24^th November 1910

Vivid II – Stoker 1st Class – 25^th November 1910 – 1^st May 1911

St. George – Stoker 1st Class – 2^nd May 1911 – 1^st February 1914

Pembroke II – Stoker 1st Class – 2^nd February 1914 – 20^th April 1914

Lowestoft – Stoker 1st Class – 21^st April 1914 – 31^st December 1917

Pembroke – Stoker 1st Class – 1^st January 1918 – 6^th March 1918

Victory X (P23) – Stoker 1st Class – 7^th March 1918 – 27^th November 1918.

Rank: Stoker 1st Class; Service Number: 308262.

Regiment: Royal Navy, H.M.S. “P.23.” The Dreadnought Project.

Grave Reference:

BA.2.94.

Ipswich Old Cemetery,

Ipswich.

CENSUS

1891   23, Turner Street, Cliffe, Kent.

John was 5 years old and living with his parents & sisters.

John William Fudge, 28, a Cement Labourer, born Frinsbury, Kent.

Emily Frances Fudge (nee Smith), 26, born Brighton, East Sussex.

Frances Emily Fudge, 4, born Cooling, Kent.

Lilian Mercy Fudge, 1 month, born Cliffe, Kent.

1901   76, Benton Road, Wallsend, Northumberland.

John was 15 years old, a Brickyard Labourer. He was living with his parents & siblings.

John, 38, a Brickyard Labourer.

Emily, 36.

Lilian, 9.

Charles Fudge, 7, born Jarrow, Durham.

1911   Dockyard, Devonport.

John was 25 years old, a Stoker – Engine Room for the Royal Navy. He was 1 of 9 men on board H.M.S. ‘Dee,’ a twin-screw torpedo boat.

In 1913, in Ipswich, John married Bessie Rosanna Silvester, born April 1893, Ipswich – daughter of David Silvester, a dustman for the Ipswich Corporation, and Emma Silvester (nee Jay), of 94, Surrey Road, Ipswich.

Bessie and John had two sons:

John Ernest David Fudge, born July 1914, Milton, Kent. John later changed his surname from Fudge to Studholme.

Alfred James Fudge, born September 1918, Ipswich and baptised on the 7th October 1918 at All Saints Church, Ipswich – family home at 94, Surrey Road, Ipswich.

In April 1920, in Ipswich, John’s widow, Bessie Rosanna Fudge, married Richard Coote; they had 11 children and made their family home at 33 Allenby Road, Ipswich.