yeovil at War
William John Melhuish
Drowned alongside Lord Kitchener
William John Melhuish was born in Yeovil on 28 October 1894, the illegitimate son of charwoman Sophia Rachael Titmus (1872-1925), originally from Hatfield. He was recorded variously as William Titmus, William Melhuish (presumably his father's surname) and William Melhuish-Titmus.
Sadly nothing is known of his early life but he is listed in the 1911 census living with his mother and a lodger at York Place, Kingston. 15-year old William (recorded as Titmus) was working as an errand boy.
During
1915 William enlisted
(as Melhuish) and
became a
Private, Service
No PO/16514, in
the Royal Marine
Light Infantry.
After training
he served on
board HMS
Hampshire.
HMS Hampshire was one of six Devonshire-class armoured cruisers built for the
Royal Navy in
the first decade
of the 20th
century. She was
assigned to the
China Station in
1912 and
remained there
until the start
of World War I
in August 1914.
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle fought by the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet against the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of battleships in the war. Fourteen British and eleven German ships were sunk with 6,094 killed and 674 wounded on the Allied side and 2,551 Germans killed and 507 wounded. After the battle Walter sent a postcard home to say that he had survived the battle.
Several days later HMS Hampshire was sailing to Russia, carrying the Secretary of State
for War, Field
Marshal Lord
Kitchener, when
she is believed
to have struck a
mine laid by a
German
submarine. She
sank with heavy
loss of life,
including
William Melhuish,
Lord
Kitchener and
his staff.
On 30 June 1916 the Western Gazette reported "Private WJ Melhuish-Titmus, whose parents live at York Place, Kingston, Yeovil, was one of the crew of HMS Hampshire recently lost at sea with Lord Kitchener on board. The young soldier was 20 years of age."
William's body was not recovered for burial. He is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial and his name is recorded on the Yeovil War Memorial in the Borough.
Other Yeovil lads who went down with HMS Hampshire were 17-year old Walter Adams and 19-year old Harry Parsons.
gallery
York Place seen from Kingston, probably photographed in the late 1960s. William and his mother Sophia lived in the first cottage at left.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission certificate in memory of William Melhuish.
