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George Marlborough (1896-1917)


Sunderland man served as a stoker in the Royal Naval Reserve on HMS Vanguard


George Marlborough was born in Sunderland on 24 September 1896. His father George Marlborough (1863-1914), was a shipyard riveter from Southwick, Sunderland. His mother was Mary Anne Marlborough nee Angus (1863-1940), a labourer’s daughter also from Southwick. His parents married on 23 April 1882. They had ten children and of the nine who survived infancy six were boys and three were girls. By the time of the 1901 census the Marlborough family had moved to Thornaby-on-Tees and lived at 8 Wellington Street. In 1911 they were living at 6 Cuthbert Street, Thornaby and George was working as a riveter’s heater in a shipyard.

George was a stoker in the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) with the service number 5598/S. In 1917 he served on board HMS Vanguard, a St Vincent-class dreadnought battleship launched in February 1909. The ship was involved in action throughout its service but was generally on routine patrol and training in the North Sea.

Just before midnight on 9 July 1917 at Scapa Flow, Vanguard suffered an explosion, probably caused by an unnoticed fire heating cordite in one of the two magazines which served the midships gun turrets. The ship sank almost instantly and there were only two survivors. In terms of loss of life, the destruction of the Vanguard remains the most catastrophic accidental explosion in the history of the UK and one of the worst accidental losses of the Royal Navy.

George was one of the 804 men killed in the explosion. The bodies that could be recovered now lie in Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery, Hoy, Orkney, Scotland, where there is also a memorial. The wreck site is a designated war grave under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. George and the other crew who perished and whose bodies were not recovered are remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

George Marlborough was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal for his service during the First World War.

Civil Parish: Southwick

Birth date: 24-Sep-1896

Death date: 09-Jul-1917

Armed force/civilian: Navy

Residence: Parents: George Marlborough (1863-1914), Mary Anne Marlborough nee Angus (1863-1940)
Siblings: James Hilary Marlborough (1883), Isabella Marlborough (1886), Margaret Jane Marlborough (1888), Ethel Marlborough (1892), Thomas Marlborough (1894), Foster Angus Marlborough (1899), John Robert Newick Marlborough (1902), William Angus Marlborough (1905)

Military service:

6641/S
Stoker
Royal Naval Reserve
HMS Vanguard

Medal(s): 1914-15 Star
Victory Medal
British War Medal

Memorial(s): Chatham Naval Memorial
Book of Remembrance 1914-18, Holly Trinity Church, Sunderland

Gender: Male

Contributed by David D, Stanley, Co Durham

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