| Description | Work completed by volunteer includes the following information:
Bertie Porter was born in Beverley the 2 Jan 1896. He was one of six children born to Richard Porter and Elizabeth (nee Langdale). Richard was originally from Foston, whilst Elizabeth came from Newbald. Richard was a waterman in the “canal barge trade” and took keels from Beverley Beck into Yorkshire. The family lived at 9 Sparkmill Terrace, Beverley. Bertie became a tanner’s labourer.
On 2 Jan 1914 Bertie joined the Royal Navy and became an able-bodied sailor and served until Feb 1922. He spent two years on HMS Liberty, a destroyer built in 1913. Initially part of the Third Destroyer Flotilla it became part of Harwich Force. HMS Liberty took part in, and was damaged in, the Battle of Heligo Bight on 28 Aug 1914. At the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 it was one of six Harwich Force destroyers used to screen the 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron. In Feb 1917 it rammed and sank German U Boat UC43 at Goodwin Sands. Bertie later served on HMS Carnarvon from 1919-21, an armoured cruiser. Bertie was awarded the War and Victory Medal as well as the 1914-15 Star.
Bertie did not return to Beverley. In 1923 he married Hilda Farris at Bermondsey in south London. The 1939 Register indicates they were living in the area at Rotherhithe New Road, Bermondsey. They had two children, Bernard born 1924 and Joyce born 1928. Bertie worked as a maintenance electrician labourer. He died at the age of 89 in 1985 in Haringey, north London.
Includes photograph, information taken from census, military records, Commonwealth War Graves, newspapers |