Peterborough & The Great War

Biography

Herbert was born in Lowestoft in 1893, one of 16 children to parents William Thomas Rose and Susannah (nee Liffen).  The family were closely connected to the herring fishing industry in Lowestoft, his father was a fisherman, his mother repaired nets, the brothers worked in the industry too but Herbert appears to have started his working life as an errand boy in a bakery.  His father died in 1909, and in 1911 Herbert was living at home with his mother and seven siblings in Park Road, Lowestoft.

By 1916, Herbert was serving on the Steam Drifter ‘Newark Castle’, (a type of fishing vessel using drift nets), as the ‘cast off’.  The vessel was sunk on 6 July 1916 around 23 miles SE of the river Tyne by the German U-Boat U23, under command of Oberlieutnant zur See Ernst Voigt.  In a three day patrol, the U-Boat sank eight British vessels of similar size.

Crew members came through Peterborough East Station on 8 July 1916 and wrote two detailed accounts of the attacks in the visitors’ book, describing how the German U-Boat U23 captured the vessels, allowing the crews to leave before sinking the vessels with bombs.  The crew of the “Newark Castle” were rescued by a British submarine and landed in Blyth six hours later, along with crews from “Girl Bessie” and “Petunia”.  http://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/4372.html

U-Boat U23 sank 51 ships until it was badly damaged by depth charges from the patrol boat HMS PC-60 off  Lizard on July 26 1917. http://uboat.net/wwi/boats/index.html?boat=UB+23

U-Boats under the command of Oberlieutnant zur See Ernst Voigt, sank 80 ships.  Voigt, who was highly decorated, which included the Iron Cross 1^st class, died on 25 August 1917 when UC 72 hit a mine in the Straits of Dover. http://uboat.net/wwi/men/commanders/377.html 

Herbert and his nine crewmates could possibly have been returning to Lowestoft, following their unfortunate encounter with the German submarine.

Herbert married Jeanetta Curtis in 1917 in Middlesbrough.  They had a daughter Jeanette born in 1918 in South Shields.

In the 1939 Register, the family are living in Bamborough Terrace, Tynemouth.  Herbert is a master waterman and his daughter is a net braider trawling.

It is possible that Herbert and Jeanetta had three further children, Herbert E (1919), Arthur A (1921) and Charles W (1923).

Herbert passed away on 10 December 1974 aged 80, whilst living at 23 Wooler Avenue, West Chirton, North Shields.

Please get in touch if you can tell us more about Herbert and his family.