Photo search

Just thought I'd post a story relevant to HMS Kent but with a twist....

Had posted some of the few photos I have of my Great Uncle taken when he served on HMS Kent on this blog in the past, in nearly all the photos I have there was a fellow stoker who looked slightly younger but of course there was no names or such info, just faded photos.

As I have mentioned before my Great Uncle served on Kent for nearly most of WW1 before being promoted to Stoker Petty Officer and posted to HMS Glatton, a monitor which had just been re-fitted in a hurry to take part in the final stages of the war,unfort this ship met with a tragic accident by exploding in Dover harbour and had to be sunk to prevent other ships catching fire and destroying the town of Dover itself, there was a lot of casualties with many men dying a week or so later of their wounds, my Great Uncle was one of those listed as missing, presumed killed.

Last October I was just going a Google search on HMS Glatton when I came across a website giving details of of one of Glatton's victims, Leading Stoker Reginald Wells who came from Effingham, the website was a local history group who had researched the war service records of local men, in the case of Reginald Wells I noted that he joined HMS Kent he same day as My Great Uncle did back in 1914 and stayed on Kent before transferring to HMS Glatton... the same day as my Great Uncle!

Intrigued by their common background I was fairly certain that they would have known each other and contacted the local secertary of the group explaining my interest, also attached some of my photos hoping that they might have some of Reginald Wells to compare them but unfort while they agreed with my theory they didn't have any photos.

So the story rested there-  until last month when I received an email from the local history group in Effingham, they had being loaned an old photo album of photos taken by a local lady who took photos of all the serving service men from Effingham at the time and who also had the foresight at the time to note each person's name  on the back of each photo, the one photo they had confirmed of Reginald Wells is the same chap who appears in my photos, after all these years I  can actually put a name to this other sailor, hope to post the photo sent to me by the group for comparsion, just have to get their permission first.

Best regards

Tony