Great War Dundee
This is Dundee's story of those that served in the First World War, and of the people left at home
George Insch
Military Information
- Date of enlistment:
- Place of enlistment:
- Service no: Ply/13832
- Rank: Private
- Service Occupation:
- Awards:
- Regiment/Service: H.M.S. Goliath
- Unit/Ship: Royal Navy
- Place of Death: Lost at Sea
- Age at Death: 27
- Date of Death: 13.05.1915
- Burial Country:
- Cemetery: Plymouth Naval Memorial
- Grave/Mem Ref no: Panel 7
Personal Information
- Date of Birth:
- Place of Birth:
- Address: 34 Russell Street, Dundee
- Occupation:
- Mother:
Jessie Jamieson (formally Insch) 34 Russell St, Dundee
- Father:
- Siblings:
- Spouse:
- Children:
More about George Insch
George has no known grave but is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial. He was a Royal Marine serving aboard H.M.S. Goliath which was one of the six Canopus-class pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Royal Navy in the late 19th century. Commissioned in 1900, she served in the Far East on the China Station until 1905, at which time she joined the Mediterranean Fleet. In 1906, she was attached to the Channel Fleet. Having been mothballed prior to the outbreak of the First World War, she was returned to full commission.
Goliath took part in operations against German East Africa, participating in the blockade of the German light cruiser SMS Königsberg in the Rufiji River. From March 1915, she was part of the Dardanelles Campaign, and remained in support of the landings at Gallipoli in April. On 13 May 1915 Goliath was sunk in Morto Bay off Cape Helles by two torpedoes from the Turkish torpedo boat destroyer Muâvenet-i Millîye, which was manned by a combined German and Turkish crew, drowning 570 of her 700 crew members, including her captain, Thomas Lawrie Shelford.
Information supplied by Gary Thomson
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