More about Wallace Donachey

Wallace has no known grave but is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial. He was serving aboard H.M.S. Hawke, a Cruiser built in 1891. She was patrolling in the North Sea off the coast of Aberdeen when on 15.10.1914 she was struck by a single torpedo fired from German Submarine U-9 and quickly capsized with the loss of 524 crew. 70 crew survived the sinking.

Wallace Donachey    299952   Royal Navy

MARRIAGES.

DONACHEY–FORBES–At Dundee, on the 4th August by special license, Wallace Donachey, 6 Arthur Street, to Marjory M’Walter Forbes, 5 Rose Street, Dundee.

Dundee People’s Journal 8th August 1914

DUNDEE STOKER ON BOARD THE HAWKE

IS THOUGHT TO HAVE PERISHED.

That agony of suspense which is almost as hard to bear as actual sorrow, is the portion of Mrs W. Donachey, who resides at 7 Rose Street, Dundee.

Wallace Donachey, her husband, was a stoker on board the ill-fated “Hawke,” and his name does not appear in the list of survivors, the gravest doubts are entertained as to his safety.

Donachey, had served twelve years in the navy, and only this year was placed on the reserve ranks.  The circumstances of the of the case are of the most tragic description, for the missing sailor who was only 33 years of age, was married by special licence on the morning of the very day he was called up, and left the city the same night.  Donachey having secured employment as a stoker at Kirriemuir Gasworks, the young couple intended to take up their residence there, but these plans were all shattered in the most tragic fashion on the outbreak of war.

The terrible strain of waiting is naturally telling very heavily on the young wife, but as no official intimation is forthcoming as to the stoker’s fate, there is still some ground for hope.

Dundee Courier 19th October 1914

DONACHEY–Lost at sea board H.M.S. Hawke, on the 16th October, Wallace Donachey, stoker, aged 33 years, beloved husband of Marjory Forbes, 5 Rose Street, Dundee.  — deeply mourned.

Dundee People’s Journal 7th November 1914

Wallace Donachey was the son of Mr John and Mrs Margaret Donachey of Arthur Street, Dundee and was the husband of Mrs Marjory McW Donachey of 5 Rose Street, Dundee. He was employed as a Rope Worker before he joined the Royal Navy as a Stoker Second Class in 1902. After initial Naval training at HMS Pembroke, the Naval Barracks at Chatham, Kent he served onboard many warships of the Royal Navy including HM Ships Sans Pareil, Victorious, Royal Oak, Halcyon and Andromanche before leaving in February 1914. He was recalled to the Royal Navy in August 1914 and joined the cruiser HMS Hawke in Queenstown, now Cobh, in Ireland. In October 1914 HMS Hawke was patrolling the North Sea searching for German shipping when she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-9. No distress signal was received and only about 70 survivors were picked up many hours later but over 520 men died in the sinking. Wallace Donachey is listed on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent. Newspaper reports list his name as Wallace Donachey. Another Dundee man, Leading Carpenters Crew George Murray RNVR was also lost in the sinking.

Iain Stewart and Iain Birnie