31/05/2026
JUTLAND REMEMBERED - 31st May 1916
Today marks the 110th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland, the greatest naval battle of WW1, and along with those remembered specifically from Welling and East Wickham, we remember all those local Bexley men (and boys) lost at sea...
ON THIS DAY ~ THE EWT REMEMBERS…
AGER
William James Ager, a stoker on HMS Defence. William’s family lived at Nill Road, Erith.
Age 23
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BEADLE
Charles Thomas Beadle came from a well-known family of Watermen in Erith and Crayford. A First Class Boy on HMS Indefatigable, his parents – Charles and Mary – lived at Stoneham’s Cottages in Crayford. He is remembered on the Manor House Memorial in Crayford.
Age 17
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BEAGLEY
On the same ship, Stoker Harry John Thomas Beagley had spent all his life in Belvedere – born and baptised in town, and now remembered on the Belvedere War Memorial.
Age 21
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BRAME
Bandmaster Victor Cyril Brame was a clerk from Pickford Road in Bexleyheath before joining the Royal Marines. You can see his name on the Bexleyheath War Memorial.
Age 31
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BROWNE
Gunner William Edgar Browne came from Abbey Wood. William had first joined the Royal Marines in 1901.
Age 34
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CHILD
Petty Officer Stoker Charles Henry Child. A worker at Erith Oil Works before joining the Navy, married Mary Amelia at St. John's in 1904.
Age 38
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CRISP
Boy 1st Class Albert Crisp was serving on HMS Invincible. His parents, Albert and F***y, came from Coleman Road in Belvedere. Albert had joined the Royal Navy in 1914, as a boy.
Age 17
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FALCON
Stoker Christopher James Falcon’s widowed mother lived in Sutherland Road in Belvedere. His late father, John Baptist Falcon had served in the army, so a naval career was a new move for Christopher: he had also worked as a barber’s assistant in Erith, and also in a munitions factory before enlisting in January 1916.
Christopher’s name is on the Belvedere War Memorial.
Age 22
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FROMM
Harold Fromm’s grandfather had settled in London from Prussia: Harold was born in Paddington, and was a trainee gas engineer before joining the navy.
Later, the family settled in Crocus Road in Welling (part of the ‘Hutments’ estate for war workers).
Harold was an exemplary serviceman, and soon became a Leading Seaman on HMS Fortune.
Unlike many of his Jutland colleagues, Harold’s body was not lost at sea: he lies buried in Borsmose Churchyard in Denmark.
Age 21
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PALMER
Assistant Paymaster (Royal Naval Reserve) Harry Hibbitt Palmer was an Erith man, born and bred: his family had a large house in Park Crescent, and Harry was destined for a career in banking before the war.
He is remembered on the Erith (Christ Church) Memorial.
Age 25
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SELL
Frederick Richard Sell was a Welling boy – he attended Foster’s School and lived with his family on Welling High Street. After the war, Frederick’s younger brother named his first son ‘Frederick’ in honour of his lost uncle.
Age 22
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PURDY
A Norfolk man by birth, Samuel Purdy settled for a time in Blaxland Villas Bellegrove with his wife Clara and 3 children. A lifelong navy man, Samuel was Chief Stoker on HMS Queen Mary.
He is remembered on the Welling War Memorial.
Age 48
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RUTLAND
William Edward Rutland was a Stoker on the same ship.
From Cray Place in Foots Cray, before the war William had been a gardener at `Twysdens’ –a grand house in Foots Cray, later the home of the famous WW1 surgeon Sir Harold Gillies.
Remembered on both the Sidcup Memorial & Footscray Memorials.
Age 24
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STEWARD
Petty Officer William Ernest Steward had served all his adult life in the Royal Navy. His family lived in Armstrong Cottages, Bellegrove, Welling.
William’s younger brother – Alfred Bertie – died a week later on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Remembered on the Welling and East Wickham Memorials.
Age 30
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WALLIS
Harry Wallis was a Naval Instructor. A brilliant scholar (he had an MA from Oxford) Harry had intended to pursue a career as an actuary, but the seas must have been in his blood, too – his father was Royal Navy officer.
Harry had married Alice Maud just the year before, and they lived at a house on The Park, Sidcup.
Remembered on the Sidcup War Memorial.
Age 29
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Pictured, along with the naval picture, are;
Harry John Thomas Beagley of Belvedere
Victor Cyril Brame of Bexleyheath
William Edward Rutland of Foots Cray
Harry Wallis of Sidcup
