Samuel Raynor

His last ship was HMS Conquest, a C-Class (Caroline-Class) light cruiser which was attached to the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron. Samuel joined the Royal Navy as a stoker on a 12 year engagement on 11 May 1901 when he was 18 years old. His first ship was Pembroke II. On 18 May1907 while serving in HMS Kent he was sentenced to to 6 months imprisonment for 'striking his superior officer being in the execution of his office' He was released on 17 November 1907 and joined Vivid II on 18 November. He transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve (Chatham, B9684) on 11 May 1913 on completion of his 12 year engagement. After just six months ashore he rejoined the Royal Navy on 3 November 1913 and served continuously until his death in March 1916. Samuel was sentenced to 36 days detention from 16 November to 16 December 1914 for 'absence.' He drowned on 28 March 1916 when the liberty boat in which he was returning to HMS Conquest off Harwich foundered in a blizzard. His body was recovered and he is buried in the Gillingham (Woodlands) Cemetery (formerly New Cemetery), Kent (grave ref: Naval 21.1086). His service document was annotated, ‘NP 2241/16 drowned as a result of the capsizing of a ship’s cutter in a blizzard on the 28th March 1916.'

Nottingham Evening Post, Saturday 1 April 1916: ‘Naval boat wrecked in blizzard. Forty men drowned. Yesterday evening the Secretary of the Admiralty issued the following announcement: ‘On Tuesday evening, March 28th, a cutter belonging to his Majesty’s ship Conquest, which was taking forty liberty men off to the ship, was caught in the blizzard, and nothing was seen or heard of her again till the morning, when she was found cast up on shore many miles away. All hands were drowned.’ The casualties are as under: Missing (believed drowned) ... Raynor Samuel Stoker 1st Cl … An Exchange Telegraph correspondent states that just before the blizzard was at its height the naval liberty men went off to their respective boats, and all arrived safely, with the exception of a large cutter belonging to his Majesty’s ship Conquest, which was towed by a steam launch. Unfortunately, her hawser broke, and the boat drifted away. It is said that thirty-seven of the men were married.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)