William Harris

Military Information

  • Date of enlistment:
  • Place of enlistment:
  • Service no: 354734
  • Rank: Ships Chief Cook
  • Service Occupation:
  • Awards:
  • Regiment/Service: H.M.S. Indefatigable
  • Unit/Ship: Royal Navy
  • Place of Death: Lost at Sea
  • Age at Death: 34
  • Date of Death: 31.05.1916
  • Burial Country:
  • Cemetery: Plymouth Naval Memorial
  • Grave/Mem Ref no: Panel 17

Personal Information

  • Date of Birth:
  • Place of Birth:
  • Address: 281 Hilltown, Dundee
  • Occupation:
  • Mother:
  • Father:
  • Siblings:
  • Spouse:

    Emma J. Harris

  • Children:

    Leonard, born 29.06.1907, Joseph, born 08.09.1911, George, born 13.07.1913, Lily, born 22.05.1902, Mina, born 06.06.1906 & Gwendoline, born 09.02.1908.

More about William Harris

William has no known grave but is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. William was serving aboard H.M.S. Indefatigable a British Cruiser which was lost at the Battle of Jutland. She sank at 16:03 pm after being struck by a German shell which caused her magazine to explode taking over 1,000 of her crew with her.

P.O. William Harris, who lived at 281 Hilltown Dundee, was serving on HMS Indefatigable.
Hit by two or three shells fired by the German battlecruiser SMS Von der Tann at around 4.00, her magazines exploded a few minutes later. Of her crew of 1019, only two survived.

First Class Petty Officer William Harris, who resided at 281 Hilltown, Dundee, was on board the Indefatigable. The Admiralty have informed his wife that his name is not amongst the saved. The People’s Journal, Saturday, 10 June 1916, 6.

Information supplied by Gary Thomson

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