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This data is related to World War 1
Able Seaman

Lewis Herbert Kerry

Service Number SS/6320
Military Unit HMS Redoubtable Royal Navy
Date of birth 15 Sep 1896
Date of Death 10 Feb 1918 (21 Years Old)
Place of Birth Bulwell Nottingham
Employment, Education or Hobbies In 1911 he was a mill hand but his occupation when he joined the Royal Navy in 1915 was given as miner.
Family History

Lewis Herbert was the son of Frank and Violet Rosetta Kerry (nee Bolderow). Frank was born in Brampton, Derbyshire, in 1874 while Violet was born in Castle Acre, Norfolk, birth registered 1876 (J/F/M Freebridge Lynn). In 1891 Violet Rosetta was living in Bulwell with her stepfather, Henry Briggs, and her mother Mary A Briggs formerly Bolderow (b. Norfolk). Violet and Frank were married in 1894 (reg. Chesterfield) and according to the 1911 Census they had had nine children of whom seven had survived: Catherine Mary b. Bulwell 1895, Lewis Herbert b. Bulwell 15 September 1896, Lily b. Creswell Derbyshire 1898, Maggie b. Shirebrook March 1900, Gertrude b. Mansfield Woodhouse February 1902, William b. Mansfield Woodhouse (either 1904 J/A/S or 1905 O/N/D) and Violet b. Mansfield Woodhouse November 1907. It is probable that Frank and Violet had at least two children after 1911: John D. birth registered 1914 (J/F/M Mansfield), who died aged 7 in 1921, and Wilfred Spencer b. 1918. In 1901 Frank a coal miner hewer, and Violet were living at 18 Thoresby Road, Mansfield Woodhouse, with their four children Catherine Mary (5), Lewis Herbert (4), Lily (2) and Maggie (1). Also in the household was a boarder, John Spencer, a miner. The family was still living at the same address in 1911. Only five of Frank and Violet's seven surviving children were in the home on the night of the census: Lewis a mill hand 'cobbing carrier', Lily, Gertrude, William and (3). Their eldest daughter, Catherine Mary, was a general servant in the household of William Hodson, a manager (grocery), who lived at West Hill, Skegby, Nottinghamshire, with his wife and two children, while their third daughter, Maggie (11), was in Creswell with her grandmother, Mary Briggs and her husband Henry Briggs. Frank and Violet were still living at 31 Thoresby Road when their son Lewis died in 1916. Violet died in 1947 aged 71 and her husband in 1950 aged 76; both deaths were registered in Mansfield.

Military History

HMS Redoubtable (CWGC/Registers of Seamen's Services - HMS Redoubt) formerly HMS Revenge, was a Royal Sovereign class pre-Dreadnought battleship commissioned in the 1890s. She was renamed Redoubtable c.1915 so that the name 'Revenge' could be allocated to a Dreadnought battleship. Redoubtable was then refitted as an accommodation ship (Portsmouth) and used as such until 1919 when she was scrapped. Lewis joined the Royal Navy on 17 August 1915 and served in the following ships and shore establishments: Victory I, 17 August 1915-13 October 1915 (Ordinary Seaman); HMS Dido, 14 October 1915; HMS Dido (Lance) 1 December 1915; HMS Dido (-) to 27 May 1917; HMS Dido (Redoubt), 28 May 1917-10 February 1918 (Able Seaman, 1 October 1917). His service record was annotated, ‘NP1415/18. DD 10th Feby 18. Enteric fever, Shotley Sick (-).’ According to his service record, Lewis died from enteric fever [typhoid fever] at Shotley, near Harwich, Suffolk, and was buried in Shotley (St Mary) Churchyard (RN Plot. 136). He qualified for the 1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

Extra Information

Probate: Kerry Violet Rosetta of 11 Harcourt-street Mansfield Nottinghamshire (wife of Frank Kerry) died 3 February 1947 Probate London 1 March to Wilfred Spencer Kerry [son] coal miner. Effects £52 4s. 6d

Photographs

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