John Alfred Roch (1903-1917)
Boy from Sunderland served in the Merchant Marine on SS Lady Ann sunk off Scarborough
John Alfred Roch was born in Sunderland in 1903. He was the son of Johann Karl Koch (1876-1947) who was originally from Russia. His father was naturalised as a British citizen on 6 July 1909 as John Roch. Records indicate that he worked as a mariner and as a crane driver when on shore. John’s mother was Mary Isabel Roch nee Young (1879-1965), a mariner’s daughter from Sunderland. The family had four children in total, all boys. John was the eldest son. At the 1911 census the family lived in 18 North Hedley Street, Sunderland.
With a tradition of serving at sea on both sides of his family it was perhaps inevitable that John would follow his forebears footsteps into the merchant marine. There were few rules about age of entry into merchant seagoing service which perhaps explains John serving as a deck boy on the SS Lady Ann at the age of 14. The Lady Ann was a locally built steam cargo ship. On 16 February 1917 she was carrying a cargo of coal from Sunderland to Rochester in Kent. She was approximately 3 nautical miles east by south of Scarborough when it is believed she was torpedoed without warning by a German submarine. Eleven crew perished with the loss of the ship including John.
John was 14 years old when he died. He was one of only a few boys of this age to die in the war and perhaps the youngest casualty from Durham. His body was not recovered for burial and he is honoured on the Tower Hill Memorial, London. This memorial commemorates men and women of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who died in the war and who have no known grave. It stands on the south side of the garden of Trinity Square, London close to The Tower of London. John is also remembered in his home town in a Book of Remembrance in Holy Trinity Church, Sunderland.
John Alfred Roch was awarded the Mercantile Marine Medal and British War Medal for his service in World War One.
Civil Parish: Sunderland
Birth date: 1903
Death date: 16-Feb-1917
Armed force/civilian: Merchant Navy
Residence: 18 North Hedley Street, Sunderland (1911 census)
Employment: Deck Boy
Family: Parents: Johan Karl Koch “John Roch”, Mary Isabel Young nee Roch
Siblings: Norman Roch, Frederick Roch, George Roch
Military service:
Deck Boy
Merchant Marine
SS Lady Ann
Medal(s): Mercantile Marine Medal
British War Medal
Memorial(s): Tower Hill Memorial
Book of Remembrance, Holy Trinity Church, Sunderland
Gender: Male
Contributed by David D, Stanley, Co Durham