Ernest Geoffrey Cadle (1898-1915)
Boy from Durham City who served as a midshipman in the Royal Navy and died aged 16
Ernest Geoffrey Cadle was born on 17 March 1898. His father was Charles Ernest Cadle (1854-1926) from Stockton-on-Tees. His father was a solicitor and coroner for the Easington ward of Durham County. His mother was Elizabeth Rebecca Cadle, nee Thwaites (1863-1933) from Lastingham, Yorkshire who worked as a pupil teacher in her youth.
Ernest’s parents married in 1884 in Middlesbrough and had six children in total, three girls and three boys. In 1901 they lived at 1 Pimlico, Crossgate, Durham and in later years lived at 26 North Bailey, Durham, close to the cathedral. His eldest brother, Lawrence Miles Cadle, died on the Somme during the First World War leading his men across No Man’s Land.
Ernest embarked on an education that would prepare him for a career in the Royal Navy. He was a cadet at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, Isle of Wight, Hampshire at the time of the 1911 census. By the outbreak of war in 1914 he was at the Britannia Naval College, Dartmouth, Devon. He would have started his naval education at the age of 12 to spend two years at each of the colleges. Cadets were not actually in the Navy but wore naval officers’ uniforms and the colleges ran along naval lines with naval officers in command. The bulk of the teaching was the responsibility of a civilian headmaster and teachers, and pupils’ parents paid fees at the level of a good public school for this education.
On Monday 27 July 1914, with war looking increasingly likely, Dartmouth College was sent a telegram requiring it to stand by to mobilise. On Wednesday of that week cadets were allocated to ships that they would join on the outbreak of hostilities. On Saturday 1 August 1914, the College received the order to mobilise. Cadets went to the gunner’s office to send a telegram to their homes to inform their families that they were ordered away on active service.
Ernest was posted to HMS Formidable in August 1914 and appointed midshipman on 1 September 1914. Formidable was part of the fleet that patrolled and protected the English Channel. On 1 January 1915, while on exercise off the South Devon coast, HMS Formidable was struck by two torpedoes in a submarine attack. Survivors faced darkness and bad weather and over 500 crew were lost. Ernest was amongst those lost, along with five other cadets who had left Dartmouth with him at the start of the war and had also been commissioned as midshipmen.
Ernest is honoured on the Chatham Naval Memorial and a number of memorials in his home city of Durham. He is also remembered more personally on a tablet to his friend John Slingsby who he went through college with and who also died in the sinking. Erected by John’s mother in St Oswald’s Church, Farnham, Yorkshire the tablet is of marble. It is surmounted by the Union Jack under which is a model in relief of HMS Formidable. The tablet bears the following inscription: “In loving memory of Midshipman John Slingsby, born July 11, 1898, youngest son of the Rev. Charles and Susan A Slingsby. He lost his life on HMS Formidable, in the war against Germany, on 1st January 1915; also his great friend, Geoffrey Ernest Cadle, born March 17, 1898. They both went through the rough sea together to another land. Remember O Lord, the souls of the faithful departed.”
Civil Parish: Durham Crossgate
Birth date: 17-Mar-1898
Death date: 01-Jan-1915
Armed force/civilian: Navy
Residence: 1 Pimlico, Crossgate, Durham (1901 census)
Royal Naval College, Osborne, Whippingham, Isle of Wight, Hampshire (1911 census)
Education: Royal Naval College, Osborne, Isle of Wight, Hampshire (1911-13)
Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Devon (1913-14)
Employment: Midshipman, Royal Navy
Family: Parents: Charles Ernest Cadle (1854-1926), Elizabeth Rebecca Cadle nee Thwaites (1863-1933)
Siblings: Lawrence Miles Cadle (1885-1918), Muriel Cadle (1887-1973), Lesley Cadle (1889-1977), Edith Cadle (1894-1981), Arthur Frank Cadle (1901-1980)
Military service:
Naval Cadet (1911-1914)
HMS Formidable (August 1914)
Midshipman (1 September 1914)
Medal(s): Star
Victory Medal
British War Medal
Memorial(s): Chatham Naval Memorial
Plaque, St Margaret of Antioch Church, Durham
Screen Repair, St Mary-le-Bow Church, Durham
Plaque, Town Hall, Durham
Tablet, St Oswald’s Church, Farnham, Yorkshire
Gender: Male
Contributed by David D, Stanley, Co Durham
