JOSEPH JAMES HOWELL
Born: 18th January 1869, at Stamford Hill, Tottenham, Middlesex.
Died: 31st March 1918; age 49; drowned as a result of an attack by an enemy submarine.
Residence: 282, Spring Road, Ipswich.
Rank: Donkeyman/Fireman.
Regiment: Mercantile Marine, ‘Vianna’ (London).
Medals Awarded: Mercantile Marine Medal & British Medal.
Memorial Reference:
London.
Relatives Notified & Address: Son of the late John & Sarah Howell; husband of Caroline Ada Howell (nee Groves), of 282, Spring Road, Ipswich.
Fellow Ipswich shipmate also killed on the Vianna – Charles Bonnes Rusher.
CENSUS
1871 9, Union Row, High Street, Stoke Newington, Hackney.
Joseph was 2 years old and living with his parents and siblings.
John Howell, 44, a Sergeant for the Metropolitan Police, born St. George in the East, Middlesex.
Sarah Howell (nee Donovan), 42, born Aldgate, Middlesex.
Martha Howell, 13, born Kingsland, Middlesex.
John Howell, 8, born Kingsland.
Edmund Howell, 6, born Kingsland.
1 lodger.
1881 Ingham Place, West Ham, Essex.
Joseph was 12 years old and living with his parents and brother
John Howell, 55, an Inspector of Police – Great Eastern Railway.
Sarah Howell, 52.
Edmund Howell, 16, Clerk.
1891 12, Brentwood Road, Hornchurch, Essex.
Joseph was 21 years old and a Railway Clerk. He lived with his parents.
John Howell, 64, an Inspector of Police – Great Eastern Railways.
Sarah Howell, 62.
In 1901, Joseph’s family lived at Harwich Road, Ramsey, Kent.
Caroline, 32.
Hilda, 4.
In 1911, Joseph’s family lived at 282, Spring Road, Ipswich.
Caroline, 42.
Hilda, 14.
boarders – 3 young children.
On the 13th September 1872, Joseph’s father, John Howell, resigned from the Metropolitan Police. He was suffering from rheumatism and had been kicked in the leg by a prisoner. He had served 45 years and lived at 9, Union Row, High Street, Stoke Newington.
In 1895, Woolwich, Joseph married Caroline Ada Groves, born 1868, Stratford, Essex and baptised on the 7th October 1868, at St. Paul’s Church, Stratford, Essex – daughter of James Alfred Groves, a railway engine driver, and Mary Ann Groves (nee Everett), of 6, Falmouth Street, West Ham, Essex.
Caroline and Joseph had one daughter:
Hilda Helen Howell, born June 1896, Plumstead, Kent.
Joseph’s wife, Caroline Ada Howel, died in October 1919, at 282, Spring Road, Ipswich.
Joseph’s daughter, Hilda Helen Mitchell (wife of Herbert Robert Mitchell), applied for her late father’s medals on the 11th April 1922. They were issued on the 2nd August 1922 and sent to Hilda, of 282, Spring Road, Ipswich.
On the 31st March 1918, the S.S. ‘Vianna’ was steaming south, 4miles East of Seaham Harbour, carrying a 360-ton cargo of coal and a crew of 15, on passage from Tyne for Ipswich, when she was torpedoed by an unseen submerged German submarine UC-64 (Commander Ferdinand Schartz). The missile detonated on her port side against the number two hold, and she sank within minutes, with the loss of 4 lives. The rest of the crew were picked up by a patrol vessel within 15 minutes and landed back at the Tyne.
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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