TEIGNMOUTH & SHALDON

Stoker Petty Officer Albert Victor Bailey was born on 27^th September 1891 in Teignmouth, Devon. He was Christened  on 7th February 1894 in Poole, Dorset.

Albert Medal (Liverpool Medals)

Albert was the son of William and Emma Bailey, the third of four children. Frederick Thomas Bailey was the oldest, born in 1886, then came a sister, Emily Amelia Bailey in 1889, then Albert and finally another sister, Kate in 1895.

At the age of 15  (18^th April 1907) he joined the Great Western Railway, working in Plymouth as an Engine Cleaner until 1^st April 1910, leaving to join the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2^nd Class. His service commenced on 2^nd April 1910 and in the 1911 census his residence is recorded as ‘Ship, Mediterranean, Grand Harbour, Malta’.

He joined the newly commissioned HMS Tiger, one of a compliment of 1,112 men on a 29,000 ton Royal Navy Battlecruiser built by John Brown and Company in Scotland in 1914. Tiger was at the time the most heavily armoured battlecruiser of the fleet and was assigned to the 1^st Battlecruiser Squadron where it remained for the duration of the Great War. Tiger saw service in the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915 and in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. At Jutland the ship was hit by 18 German shells, (including hits from six shells in the first seven minutes of the battle) but sustained only light damage, however 24 men were killed and 46 wounded. She fired 303 shells from her main guns hitting German Navy ships Moltke and Von der Tann and fired another 136 rounds from her 6inch guns at the light cruiser Weisbaden and other German destroyers.

Following the conclusion of the battle, she returned with the fleet to Rosyth Dockyard on 2^nd June 1916 for repairs. Returning to service, Tiger was limited to providing distant cover at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917 and for the remainder of the war, she carried out patrol duties in the North Sea.

Albert served on HMS Tiger throughout the war and into the 1920’s, and he was awarded the Albert Medal for Gallantry in Saving Life at Sea on 27^th August 1919.  The citation (a joint award with Mate Henry Buckle, R.N.) was announced in the London Gazette on 27^th April 1920 and read: “While H.M.S. Tiger was undergoing repairs at Invergordon, on the 27th August, 1919, two dockyard fitters and an able seaman were overcome by noxious gas in the hold of the ship, and Stoker Petty Officer Bailey, accompanied by a sick berth attendant, made an unsuccessful attempt at rescue. Both he and his companion had put on respirators but found them useless. Mr. Buckle, the officer of the watch, then arrived on the scene, and in spite of the grave risk to life, which it was not evident would be incurred by further attempts at rescue, immediately went down and succeeded in passing a rope round one of the men. This man was got out, but Mr. Buckle was considerably affected by the gas, and could do nothing further.

Stoker Petty Officer Bailey, though suffering from the effects of his previous attempts, repeated the operation, and succeeded in getting the other two men out, but all efforts to restore them were futile.“

Albert married in Plymouth 1925 to Edwarda Alice Crabb and they later had one child. He remained at sea in the Navy until 30th November 1928 but remained ‘in service’ at Portland Dockyard, retaining his rank and he subsequently served in the Merchant Navy throughout World War II.

https://www.liverpoolmedals.com/product/albert-medal-7

Albert Victor Bailey died in the 2^nd Quarter of 1963 in Plymouth, Devon.