More about Robert Peters

Robert was killed during a hostile air raid on Chatham Naval Barracks on 03.09.1917.

Robert Peters   C1/158 Hood Bn Royal Naval Division

DUNDEE SEAMAN WOUNDED.

Seaman Robert Peters resides at 43 Annfield Road, Dundee, and before the war he was employed as an ironturner.  He was called up at the outbreak of hostilities, and was with the Naval Brigade at Antwerp, going to the Dardanelles with the Hood Battalion.  He has been a member of the Dundee Naval Volunteers since April, 1912.

Dundee Courier 28th December 1915

PETERS—Killed on the 3rd inst., as the result of enemy action, A.B. Robert Peters, R.N.V.R., aged 24 years, second son of the late John Peters, 43 Annfield Road, Dundee.

Dundee People’s Journal 15th September 1917

Family Background:

Robert`s father was a Railway Weighing Clerk and the family lived at 9 Forest Park Road and then 43 Annfield Row, Dundee.

 Service History:

Robert joined the RNVR in April 1912. On the outbreak of war he joined the Hood Battalion and served at Antwerp and then Gallipoli where he was wounded and evacuated to Hospital Ship Rewa in Mudros harbour, Lemnos. On recovery in May 1916 he transferred to HMS Waveney, an old destroyer in the 7^th Flotilla, based in the Humber. On the night of 3^rd September he was sleeping in the Drill Shed of the Naval Barracks at Chatham, HMS Pembroke whilst Waveney was being repaired. Four German bombers dropped 40 bombs on the Docks there-the first air raid of Britain. The Drill Shed was hit and Robert was killed along with 130 other casualties-the highest number in Britain until WW2.