Samuel Dabell
Samuel joined the Royal Navy when he was 16 years old (about 1936).
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Samuel was the son of Arthur Dabell and his wife Annie Elizabeth (née Hampson).
His parents were married in 1903 and had at least 11 children: Arthur (1904), Florence Elizabeth (1907), Gertrude Caroline (1910), John Percival (1911), Winifred A (1914), who were probably born in Cropwell Bishop (reg. Bingham), and Frank (1916), William H (1918), Samuel (1920), Joseph (1925) and Mary (1927) who were born in Nottingham.
Arthur, a general labourer (gypsum mine), Annie and their three children, Arthur, Florence and Gertrude, were living on Wests Row, Cropwell Bishop, Nottinghamshire, in 1911. Their second son, John, was born later that year.
The family had probably moved to Nottingham by 1916 when the sixth child, Frank, was born and was recorded on the 1921 Census at 14 Freeth Street, Meadow Lane, Nottingham.
It is likely they later lived at 9 Kirke White Street which was probably Samuel's last home address before joining the Royal Navy in 1936. His older brother Frank had been involved in a cycling accident in August 1934 and a report in a local paper also gave Kirke White Street as his address.
Arthur's wife, Annie Elizabeth, died in 1934 and in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled, the widowed Arthur, a general labourer, was living at 20 Gladstone Street, Nottingham, with his youngest son, Joseph, who was an engineer's apprentice.
Arthur's married daughter Gertrude Gilbert, her husband Leslie and their son, were living in Woodthorpe, together with Gertrude's younger sister, Winifred, who was a cardboard box maker. Their brother John, a breadmaker, was married and he and his wife Annie were living on Randolph Street, Nottingham.
Samuel's father died in 1947.
Samuel probably joined the Royal Navy in 1936 when he was 16 years old and he may have already been serving in HMS Glorious on the outbreak of war.
HMS Glorious was the second of the three Courageous-class battle cruisers built for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Glorious was completed in late 1916 and spent the war patrolling the North Sea. She participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917 and was present when the German High Seas Fleet surrendered a year later. Glorious was paid off after the war, but was rebuilt as an aircraft carrier during the late 1920s. After re-commissioning in 1930, she spent most of her career operating in the Mediterranean Sea. After the start of the Second World War, Glorious spent the rest of the year unsuccessfully hunting for the commerce-raiding German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee in the Indian Ocean before returning to the Mediterranean. She was recalled home in April 1940 to support operations in Norway.
Late in the afternoon of June 8th, the Royal Navy suffered one of its most devastating defeats of the Second World War. HMS Glorious was sunk by German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau along with her escorting destroyers HMS Ardent and HMS Acasta. The three British warships were taking part in Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of Allied forces and aircraft from Norway that had been taking place simultaneously with the better known and remembered evacuation at Dunkirk.
The death toll of 1,519 exceeded any other British naval disasters of the war. Among the dead were Glorious' Captain, Guy D'Oyly-Hughes, a highly decorated First World War submariner, and five Nottinghamshire men – Ordinary Seaman Fred Corps from Bulwell, Air Mechanic 2 Jack Grimmer from Mansfield, Telegraphist Cyril Mewse from Nottingham, Chief Petty Officer John Roberts and Stoker 1 George Robinson from Nottingham. One of the Royal Navy's precious few large aircraft carriers had been sunk, along with two destroyers and, with the Battle of Britain in the offing, two RAF fighter squadrons. (Wikipedia & History Today 8/6/1915)
Samuel's body was not recovered and he is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial (Panel 37, Column 2).
Samuel's brother, 840167 Bombardier Frank Dabell (b. 1916), served with 3 Field Regiment Royal Artillery and died on 12 June 1942 while serving in the Western Desert, Middle East. He is buried in Knightsbridge War Cemetery Acroma (grave ref. 3.E.13). CWGC addtional information: 'Son of Mr and Mrs Arthur Dabell of Nottingham'.
'Glorious Ardent Acasta'. From crew list. ‘Son of Arthur and Annie Elizabeth Dabell, of Nottingham’, photograph. (www.glarac.co.uk/node/334)
Nottingham Evening Post, 24 July 1940. Report with photograph: ‘More Nottingham Men Missing. Two Soldiers And A Sailor ... Among the crew of HMS Glorious reported missing is AB Sam Dabell whose home was formerly at 9 Kirke White-street East, Nottingham. Able Seaman Dabell who is 20 years of age, joined the Navy when he was 16 [abt 1936].’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Samuel Dabell
Nottingham Evening Post 24/7/1940
Photo of Samuel Dabell
Commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial (www.cwgc.org)