Stoker (1st Class) John Driscoll
HMS Triumph, Royal Navy
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 26 May 1866
Place of Birth: Myross, County Cork
Date of Death: 25 May 1915 aged 47
Buried: Buried at sea.
Remembered on Plymouth Naval Memorial.
Awarded the China Medal, the 1914 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal
Stoker (1st Class) John Driscoll, age 47.
He was born in Myross, County Cork on 26 May 1866, the son of Patrick (retired coastguard) and Margaret Driscoll. Patrick was a coastguard stationed in Teignmouth for 18 years before retiring to live at 16, Strand in Shaldon in 1891.
In the 1881 census he was shown living with his parents and siblings at 5 Coastguard Houses, Teignmouth.
His wife, Lucy was living with her daughter in East Stonehouse on 1901 census, presumably John was at sea.
China War Medal
He was living with his wife and daughter at Stonehouse, Plymouth and working as a labourer on 1911 census.
His full naval record is missing, but he was awarded the China Medal in 1900. John was serving on HMS Triumph, RN, with the Royal Fleet Reserve (Devonport), service number 118248, when he was killed in action on 25 May 1915 and buried at sea. HMS Triumph was sunk by a torpedo fired by submarine U-21 near Anzac cove off Gallipoli.
Remembered on Plymouth Naval Memorial.
HMS Triumph
HMS TRIUMPH. Torpedoed and sunk off Gaba Tepe in the Dardanelles by U-21, 25 May 1915.
© IWM (Q 40369)
In 1914 HMS Triumph saw service in the South Atalantic in the search for the German East Asia Squadron and in the campaign against the German naval base at Tsingtaoat Tsingtao, China.
She was transferred to the Mediterranean in early 1915 to participate in the Gallipoli Campaign Campaign.
HMS Triumph was torpedoed and sunk off Gaba Tepe by the German submarine U-21 on 25 May 1915.
I saw what was happening. The Triumph was starying to keel over. Men were scrambling over her side like flies and leaping into the water.
Otto Hersing, Commander U-21
This was the day that John Driscoll died aged 47.
