Deck Hand William Bruford
Royal Naval Reserve, H.M. Trawler Lord Roberts.
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1878
Place of Birth: Watchet, Somerset
Date of Death: 26th October 1916, off Harwich aged 38.
Buried: Remembered on Plymouth Naval Memorial; Seafront Memorial and St James’ Memorial Window, Teignmouth.
Awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal
Deckhand William Bruford age 38.
Born in March 1878 in Watchet, Somerset, the son of Henry and Jane Bruford.
In 1881 he was shown with his mother and sister and they were living at the home of his aunt in Williton, his father was at sea. In 1890 he was shown on the crew list of the sailing boat 'Argo' as cook/AB; by 1901 he was sailing as Mate.
The 1911 census shows him serving as Mate on the vessel 'Thistle' at Plymouth. William was the husband of Mary Bruford (neé Pile), 5 Brookdale Terrace, Teignmouth, whom he married in 1906, they had one daughter.
William was serving with Royal Naval Reserve when he died as a result of a mine laid by submarine UC11 six miles off the Shipwash Light Vessel, which sank HM Naval Trawler ‘Lord Roberts’ in the North Sea on 26 October 1916.
Remembered on Plymouth Naval Memorial; Seafront Memorial and St James’ Memorial Window, Teignmouth.
HM Lord Roberts, Naval Trawler
A Steam Trawler built by Earle's shipbuilding in 1907, during her long career of patrol work in the Harwich area Lord Roberts went to the assistance of many mined ships and rescued a very large percentage of their crews.
HM Naval Trawler Lord Roberts
At the outbreak of the First World War many civilian steam fishing trawlers were put into military service (manned by their fisherman crews).
They cleared mines from sea routes, and attacked enemy submarines.
This was vitally important work, the Maritime Archeology Trust estimate that in 1918 alone, enemy U-boats sank 5896 British vessels.
Fishing vessels on Admiralty service played a role in something in the region of 20 per cent of all allied U-boat sinkings during 1918.
Fishermen, the Fishing Industry and the Great War at Sea: A Forgotten History.
By Robb Robinson page 161
A mine exploded by rifle shots fired by sailors on a minesweeper off Harwich, Essex. © IWM (Q 18836)
William was serving on the Lord Roberts on the 26 October 1916.
She sank as a result of a mine laid by submarine UC11 six miles off the Shipwash Light Vessel.
There were only two survivors, nine people were lost.
HM Lord Roberts Casualites list
William Bruford of Teignmouth, aged 38 was one of those who died that day.
