Albert Edward Reed (1899-1918)
Gateshead shop assistant served as a seaman in the Royal Navy and was lost when HMS Louvain was sunk
Albert Edward Reed was born on 1 July 1899. His father was brass finisher Thomas Reed (1874-1958) from Sunderland. His mother was Isabella Reed nee Nixon (1874-1929), a coal miner’s daughter from East Holywell, Northumberland. His parents married around 1897 and Albert was the second born of nine children, with four sisters and four brothers. In 1891 the Reed family lived at 17 Ashton Street, Gateshead. By 1911 they had moved to 20 Cato Street, Gateshead.
Albert joined the Royal Navy on 4 July 1917, three days after his eighteenth birthday. He was initially rated as an ordinary seaman with the service number J73041. In January 1918 Albert was onboard HMS Louvain. This was originally the steamship SS Dresden in peacetime when it operated as a passenger and goods ferry between Harwich, England and Antwerp, Belgium. It was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1915 when it was renamed HMS Louvain.
HMS Louvain was based in the Aegean Sea and carried troops and supplies between the various Allied bases in the region. She left Malta on 15 January 1918 headed for Mudros, Lemnos, Greece. She was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on 20 January 1918. A total of 224 people were lost in the sinking. Of the casualties 24 were part of Louvain’s crew the remainder were passengers. Many of them were naval ratings on their way to take up postings with other ships.
Albert’s body was not recovered for burial and he was honoured on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. He was remembered in his home town on the Plaque 1914-18, St Cuthbert’s Church, Bensham, Gateshead. He was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal for his service in World War One.
Civil Parish: Gateshead
Birth date: 01-Jul-1899
Death date: 20-Jan-1918
Armed force/civilian: Navy
Residence: 17 Ashton Street, Gateshead (1901 census)
20 Cato Street, Gateshead (1911 census)
Employment: Shop assistant (1917 service record)
Family: Parents: Thomas Reed (1874-1958), Isabella Reed nee Nixon (1874-1929)
Siblings: Ernest Nixon Reed (1897), Robert William Reed (1902), Edith Stephenson Reed (1904), Elizabeth Reed (1906), Thomas Reed (1908), Margaret Ethel Reed (1910), David Reed (1912), Alice Reed (1914)
Military service:
J73041
Royal Navy
Medal(s): Victory Medal
British War Medal
Memorial(s): Portsmouth Naval Memorial
Plaque 1914-18, St Cuthbert’s Church, Bensham, Gateshead
Gender: Male
Contributed by David D, Stanley, Co Durham
