Able Seaman Thomas Henry Bramwell 233784

Thomas Henry Bramwell

 

There was only one result for T H Bramwell in the CWGC database and as it showed that his mother lived on Upper Stanhope St, I am happy that it is the correct man.

Family Information

Thomas Henry Bramwell was born on 21^st May 1888 in Liverpool and baptised in St Peter’s Church on 2^nd July that year. His parents were Louisa Charlotte Bramwell and Thomas Bramwell, a plumber, of Great Newton Street.

The 1891 census shows that the Bramwell family were living at 6 Great Newton Street and the head of the household was Louisa’s father, John Royle. The complete household was:

John Royle, head, married, 58, Booker on the L&NW Railway, born Manchester

Catherine Royle, wife, aged 50, born Liverpool

Charles Royle, son, married, aged 27, unemployed, born Liverpool

Thomas Bramwell, son in law, married,  23, loader on L&NW railway, born Liverpool

Louisa C Bramwell, wife, married, 22, born Liverpool

Thomas Bramwel, son, aged 2, born Liverpool

John Bramwell, son, aged 10 months, born Liverpool.

Thomas Bramwell attended St Bride's School, Toxteth. This school was opened in 1834 on Upper Stanhope St but by the time Thomas attended it was in Grey St, Toxteth very close to Fletcher St where the Bramwell family were living in the 1901 census:

11 Fletcher Street,

Thomas Bramwell, head, married, 32, Scales porter

Louisa Bramwell, wife, married, 30,

Thomas Bramwell, son, single, 12

Louisa Bramwell, daughter, single, 8

John Bramwell, son, single, 6

Ethel Bramwell, daughter, single, 3

George Bramwell, son, single, 3

Thomas Crebbin,visitor, single, 28, boiler maker

Ellen Royle, visitor, married, 33

Thomas Henry Bramwell joined the Navy when he was 15 (in 1903) so he wasn't enumerated with his family in the 1911 census. For this census Louisa was head of the household at 21 Upper Stanhope St with 8 of her 10 children, her husband wasn't there but she listed herself as married.

Naval Service.

I have a copy of Thomas Henry Bramwell’s record  of service. He engaged  for 12 years C.S. (continuous service) in the Navy which came into effect on his 18^th birthday,  21^st May 1906. His number was 233784 and port division Portsmouth. He was 5ft 3inches tall with brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion.

His occupation when he signed up was ‘shed boy & general labourer’ and by the time the form was filled out in 1906 he had quite a few distinguishing marks:- scar right eyebrow, heart cross J.B. heart left forearm, anchor cross & star right forearm, star & dot back of right hand, 3 dots back of left hand. 

[in traditional sailor's tattoos the stars are to guide you home, anchors denote the merchant marine and/or crossing the Atlantic, crosses are to ensure you get a christian burial, three dots in a triangle on the hand was the traditional tattoo after your first voyage.]

Thomas H Bramwell’s record of service gives the date of his 18^th birthday as the date of his engagement but he actually joined the Navy when he was 15 and the  list the ships etc that he served on, with dates, shows that aged 17 he served as a  “Boy second class” and “Boy first class” on HMS Boscawen (a shore establishment) HMS Hawke, HMS Victory I (Shore establishment) and HMS Good Hope. When he turned 18 he automatically became an “Ordinary Seaman” and was subject to naval discipline as an adult and I will have to check whether this is the point that  the 12 years engagement was reckoned from.

As an Ordinary Seaman (O.S.) Thomas H Bramwell served on :

HMS Good Hope, (Drake-class armoured cruiser) 21/05/1906 – 31/12/1906, character VG.

He was then promoted to Able Seaman (A.B.) and served on the following ships or shore establishments:

HMS Good Hope, (Drake-class armoured cruiser) 01/01/1907 – 15/07/1907, character VG

HMS Vernon (Shore: torpedo school),                      16/07/1907 – 31/03/1908, char V.G

HMS Victory I (shore establishment),                         01/04/1908 – 01/08/1908, char V.G.-V.G.

HMS Argonaut (Diadem-class cruiser),                     02/08/1908 – 17/08/1908, char V.G.-G

HMS Venus (Eclipse-class cruiser),                           18/08/1908 – 04/12/1910, char V.G. –SAT

HMS Excellent (shore: gunnery school),                     05/12/1901 – 06/05/1911, char F-SAT

HMS Victory I(shore establishment),                           07/05/1911 – 15/05/1911, char MOD

HMS Invincible  (Invincible-class battlecruiser),         16/05/1911 – 07/08/1912, char V.G. –

                                                                                    10 DAYS CELLS

HMS Invincible (Invincible-class battlecruiser)         18/08/1912 – 30/10/1912, char FAIR – SAT

                                                                                    30 DAYS DETENTION (ABSENCE)

HMS Victory I(shore establishment),                         27/11/1912 – 27/11/1912

HMS Invincible (Invincible-class battlecruiser)         28/11/1912 – 09/05/1913

                                                                                    14 DAYS CELLS

HMS Invincible (Invincible-class battlecruiser)                      24/05/1913 – 05/11/1913

                                                                                    21 DAYS DETENTION (ABSENCE)

HMS Invincible (Invincible-class battlecruiser)                      26/11/1913 – 23/12/1913

HMS Victory I(shore establishment),                         24/12/1913 – 17/01/1914

 HMS Vindictive (Arrogant-class light cruiser,).                     18/01/1914 – 29/07/1914

HMS Victory I(shore establishment),                         30/07/1914 – 02/08/1914

HMS Invincible (Invincible-class battlecruiser)                   03/08/1914 – 31/05/1916

                                                                                    D.D. [Discharged Deceased]

                                                                                    CLASS FOR CONDUCT: 2^nd

N.P. 4060/1916 D.D. 31^st May 1916 KILLED IN ACTION

HMS Invincible (source: Wikipedia commons)

We can see from this record that Thomas Henry Bramwell’s war service took place on the HMS Invincible. The H.M.S. Invincible was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class of three, and the first battlecruiser to be built by any country. After an initial period of near-continual modification she became an active unit of the Battlecruiser Force. Thomas Henry Bramwell was serving on this ship when she participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight (28^th August 1914), the Battle of the Falkland Islands (8^th December 1914) and the Battle of Jutland, where she was sunk in action at 6:34pm on 31 May, 1916. The total number of officers and men on board at the time was 1,031. Of these only six survived. Thomas Henry Bramwell was not one of the lucky six.

HMS Invincible being destroyed (source: Wikipedia)

Click here to view a list of all casualties of the HMS Invincible. (external website)

Commemoration

Entry in “UK, Royal Navy and Royal Marine War Graves Roll, 1914-1919”

Name:             Thomas Henry Bramwell

Rank:              AB

Birth Date:       21 May 1888

Birth Place:     Liverpool, Lancashire

Branch of Service:      Royal Navy

Cause of Death:          Killed or died as a direct result of enemy action

Official Number Port Division:            233784. (Po)

Death Date:     31 May 1916

Ship or Unit:    HMS Invincible

Location of Grave:      Not recorded

Name and Address of Cemetery:      Body Not Recovered For Burial

Relatives Notified and Address:         Mother: Louise Bramwell, 21, Upper Stanhope Street, Liverpool

Thomas Henry Bramwell, as well as being commemorated on the St James Memorial, has two entries in the Hall of Remembrance at Liverpool Town Hall.

PANEL 12, RIGHT	(A.B.)	T.	BRAMWELL		H.M.S. "INVINCIBLE."
PANEL 14 LEFT	GUNNER	T. H.	BRAMWELL		H.M.S. "INVINCIBLE."

They must both be for the same man as there are no records of a second T Bramwell being killed on the Invincible. This is not unusual in the Hall of Remembrance as family members may have duplicated entries, or confusion about rank may have led to two entries being made.

Local newspapers

On 12^th June 1916, an article in the Liverpool Echo contained information about T.H. Bramwell, with a photograph. The article was entitled “More Local Naval Men Who Fell” and gave details of 8 sailors. I have reproduced only the part about Thomas Bramwell.

Thomas Henry Bramwell, seaman-gunner, whose mother resides at 21, Upper Stanhope Street, Liverpool, was on board H.M.S. Invincible. He was educated at St Bride’s School. He joined the Navy at fifteen years of age and had been in the Venus, Good Hope, Boscowan as well as the Invincible where he met his death. He was just finishing his time. He fought in the Heligoland, Falkland Islands and the Lowestoft battles.

Thomas Henry Bramwell has no known grave but his name is inscribed on Panel 12 of the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Portsmouth Naval Memorial (Copyright CWGC)

 Click here for more information about this memorial.

Click here toview the CWGC entry for Thomas Henry Bramwell.

The Battle of Jutland 31st May - 1st June 1916

Today is the 97th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland, two men from the memorial were killed 97 years ago today during this battle, the largest naval engagement of WW1.

The Battle of Jutland was the major Naval Battle of WW1 between the battle fleets of Britain and Germany In this battle the British lost 6094 seamen, the Germans 2,551.

Able Seaman Thomas Henry Bramwell killed when the HMS Invincible was sunk

HMS Invincible (source Wikipedia Commons, public domain photo)

The website British Losses at Jutland 31st May - 1st June 1916 has a casualty list for the sinking of the HMS invincible. Click here to open the webpage in a new window.

Leading Stoker James Dennis Wilding killed when the HMS Indefatigable was sunk 

HMS Indefatigable (source Wikipedia Commons, public domain photo)

The website British Losses at Jutland 31st May - 1st June 1916 has a casualty list for the sinking of the HMS Indefatigable. Click here to open the webpage in a new window. 

The Battle of Jutland 31st May 1916 - 1 June 1916

Background

Before 1916 there had been no major sea battles between the world's largest naval powers, Germany and Britain. The British Grand Fleet kept to the safety of Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands while the Germany High Seas Fleet stayed anchored in their own ports. In January 1916, the Germans had a new Naval Commander, Admiral Von Scheer, and he was eager for action. Von Scheer planned to lure the British Fleet into battle and trap them. The British found out what he was planning and prepared to meet the German fleet.

Just before 6pm on 31 May, the great fleets of Britain and Germany, totalling some 250 ships, came into contact off the coast of Jutland. Fierce fighting went on all evening with high explosive shells ripping into thick armour plating. Sailors burned to death or were drowned in the icy-cold sea. As darkness came Von Scheer headed back to port and the British fleet concerned about enemy submarines and minefields refused to give chase.

Both sides claimed victory. The Germans said they sank more ships but the British claimed Von Scheer had given up first and fled the scene of the battle. However, when losses were counted Britain seemed to have lost more. Britain lost 14 battleships to Germany's 11. While Germany lost 2,551 men, Britain lost 6,077.

The German High Seas Fleet stayed at home for the rest of the war. They chose to rely on U-boats (submarines). German U-boats caused great problems for the British as they sunk an enormous amount of shipping. The British eventually defeated the menace of the U-boats by employing a convoy system where anti-submarine ships protected other ships in a group.

(source, www.NationalArchives.gov.uk)

Details of the battle

Click here for the Wikipedia page on the Battle of Jutland which contains detailed information on the movements of the individual ships during the battle.

The Battle of Jutland Wrecksites

The 14 British vessels lost in this battle were designated as protected places under the Protection of Military Remains Act in 2006 on the 90th anniversary of the battle.  The Act makes it an offence to interfere with a protected place, to disturb the site or to remove anything from the site. Divers may visit the site but the rule is look, don't touch and don't penetrate. 

Unfortunately, several of the wrecks had already been subjected to commercial salvage operations.  The following extract is from an account by Innes McCartney, the diver who found the wrecks from the Battle of Jutland in 1991. (full text here )

In the case of HMS Invincible, the Royal Navy located the wreck in 1919, in order to help facilitate a post-war investigation into the Battle of Jutland. It seemed strange that such a large wreck could remain unknown. In fact, the ship’s remains are not even charted as a fisherman’s fastener or an unknown sea bed anomaly. However, several local sources in Denmark suggested a possible position. When we dived the wreck, the reason why its position was not so well known quickly became apparent – it has been heavily commercially salvaged. In fact, there is little of this wreck that is instantly recognisable and hardly any of the wreckage stood higher that 6–7m off the sea bed. Sadly, this means we will never be able to assess how HMS Indefatigable came to her end. It was difficult to identitify the wreck and it was only after studying our video footage that we could confirm that we had found the final resting place of HMS Indefatigable. The video showed the presence of both 12in and 4in guns, placing the identity beyond doubt. This wreck, which is scattered over a massive area, has been systematically blown to pieces to extract non-ferrous metal. A very thorough job has been carried out. In fact, so successful was the demolition that we had quite a difficult time being able to navigate around the wreck from dive to dive. 

Click here to visit an account of diving on the wrecks from the Battle of Jutland, by Innes McCartney.

Click here to see a video of a dive around HMS Indefatigable (youtube)

Click here to see a video of a dive around HMS Invincible (youtube)

Naval casualties on St James' Memorial

The table below details the men on the St James Memorial who died serving with the Merchant Navy, the Royal Navy or the Naval Reserve. The information given is the service they were in, their service number (if applicable) the ship or base they were on when they died and ther date of death.

Name	Surname		Service number	Ship/base	Date of death
Herbert Loyd	Hill	Merchant Navy		SS ARABIC	19/08/1915
Samuel J	Tonkies	Merchant Navy		SS ARTIST	27/01/1917
Owen	Owen	Merchant Navy		SS STUART PRINCE	22/03/1917
William	Elliott	Merchant Navy		SS HUNTSTRICK	08/06/1917
Ernest C	Benn	Merchant Navy		SS OLYMPIC	20/03/1918
James	Tonkies	Merchant Navy		SS BURUTU	03/10/1918
Richard W	Longmaid	Merchant Navy Reserve	763081	HMS ALCANTARA	29/02/1916
William	Beattie	Royal Navy	SS/107737	HOWE BN	04/06/1915
Thomas H	Bramwell	Royal Navy	233784	HMS INVINCIBLE	31/05/1916
James	Wilding	Royal Navy	SS/110409	HMS INDEFATIGABLE	31/05/1916
Matthew	Chisam	Royal Naval Reserve	2062D	HMS PRESIDENT III	24/09/1917