Frank Henley
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
In 1911 Frank was recorded as an inmate in the Training Ship Wellesley at Tynemouth. The Captain Superintendent of the Training Ship was Lieutenant Percy de Winton Kitcat, Royal Navy. Frank's Naval record shows that his sister Bertha of 67 Sneinton Dale, Sneinton, Nottingham, was notified of his death in 1914. Bertha's surname was not given on the RN record suggesting that it was also 'Henley'; she has not yet been traced on any other records.
HMS Hawke. Frank was 16 years old when he joined the Royal Navy on 29 March 1913 from the Training Ship Wellesley. He served in the following ships and shore establishments: HMS Ganges 29 March 1913-14 April 1914 (Boy Second Class, Boy 1st Class 29 October 1913); HMS Hawke, 15 April 1914-15 October 1914. Naval record annotated ‘NP 2493/14. DD 15 October 1914. Lost when HMS Hawke was sunk by German submarine.’ His body was not recovered for burial and he is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial. Hawke was part of 10th Cruiser Squadron deployed in October 1914 as part of efforts to stop German warships from attacking a troop convoy from Canada. On 15th October, the squadron was on patrol off Aberdeen, deployed in line abreast at intervals of about 10 miles. Hawke stopped at 9:30 am to pick up mail from sister ship Endymion. After recovering her boat with the mail, Hawke proceeded at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) without zig-zagging to regain her station, and was out of sight of the rest of the Squadron when at 10:30 a single torpedo from the German submarine U-9 (which had sunk three British cruisers on 22 September), struck Hawke, which quickly capsized. The remainder of the squadron only realised anything was amiss, when, after a further, unsuccessful attack on Theseus, the squadron was ordered to retreat at high speed to the northwest, and no response to the order was received from Hawke. The destroyer Swift was dispatched from Scapa Flow to search for Hawke and found a raft carrying one officer and twenty-one men, while a boat with a further forty-nine survivors was rescued by a Norwegian steamer. 524 officers and men died, including the ship's captain, Hugh P. E. T. Williams, with only 70 survivors (one man died of his wounds on 16th October). Wikipedia
Nottingham Evening Post, 21 October 1914, photograph with caption: 'Reported Missing. Frank Henley, aged 17 of Mapperley, Nottingham, was probably drowned when the Hawke went down It was his first ship.' The Training Ship Wellesley (formerly HMS Boscawen) was an industrial training ship in Tyneside set up by James Hall, a local shipowner and social reformer, and other business men to 'provide shelter for Tyneside waifs and train young men for service in both the Royal and Merchant Navies.' Boys between the ages of 11 and 14 were accepted for training; younger boys (7 upwards) could be accommodated in an auxiliary shore estblishment in Tyneside. From the early 1900s the Training Ship also accepted boys from other areas including London, Manchester, Liverpool and Yorkshire. Boys could be sent for training either by their parents or by a magistrate under the Industrial Schools Act of 1866 although the boys did not necessarily have to have committed a crime but simply be destitute. TS Wellesley was destroyed by fire on 11 March 1914. The institution continued as the Wellesley Nautical School, which moved to Blyth, Sunderland, and was closed in November 2006.
