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Thomas McKinnon Dilly

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Military Information

  • Date of enlistment:
  • Place of enlistment:
  • Service no:
  • Rank: Senior Wireless Operator
  • Service Occupation:
  • Awards:
  • Regiment/Service: S.S. Cyrene
  • Unit/Ship: Merchantile Marine
  • Place of Death:
  • Age at Death: 16
  • Date of Death: 05/04/1918
  • Burial Country:
  • Cemetery:
  • Grave/Mem Ref no:

Personal Information

  • Date of Birth:
  • Place of Birth:
  • Address: 16 High Street, Arbroath
  • Occupation: Grocer, High Street Co-Operative Society
  • Mother:

    Mrs Charlotte McKinnon Dilly of 16 High Street, Arbroath.

  • Father:

    Mr Stewart Dilly

  • Siblings:
  • Spouse:
  • Children:

More about Thomas McKinnon Dilly

Thomas McKinnon Dilly was the son of Mr Stewart Dilly and Mrs Charlotte McKinnon Dilly of 16 High Street, Arbroath. He was employed as a Grocer by the High Street Co-Operative Society when in June 1917 he started training in wireless telegraphy at the North British Wireless School in Dundee. In December, he gained the Postmaster General’s Certificate of Proficiency. He passed all the Marconi tests in London, and made his first voyage to Bergen and Christiania on H.M.T. Carperby. In April 1918 he was appointed to H.M.T.  Cyrene. The vessel sailed from Glasgow on the 5th of April, and was torpedoed the same night off Holyhead. As the electric installation had been destroyed, the S.O.S signal could not be given. It was presumed that Operator Dilly had been amongst those who were drowned. The Marconi Wireless Company, in a letter to his parents, wrote :- “You will be proud to know that your son gave his life for his country as truly and as bravely as those young men who have laid down their lives in actual combatant service”

 

Information supplied by Iain Stewart and Iain Birnie, additional image courtesy of Arbroath and District Roll of Honour.

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