The Sinking of Llandovery Castle in the Great War

A preliminary report on the Sinking of H.M.H.S. Llandovery Castle issued by authority of Director of Public Information, Ottawa. The Honourable the Minister of Overseas Military Forces of Canada, Sir Edward Kemp, K.C.M.G., having made careful inquiries into the sinking of H.M.H.S. Llandovery Castle on 27 June 1918, has authorized publication of the follow­ing article. The information contained therein has been obtained and verified by personal interviews with the survivors and affords convincing evidence of the deliberate intent and foul motive of this latest German outrage on non-combatants.)

How the Nurses Died

“Unflinchingly and calmly, as steady and collected as if on parade, without a complaint or a single sign of emotion, our fourteen devoted nursing sisters faced the terrible ordeal of certain death—only a matter of minutes—as our lifeboat neared that mad whirlpool of waters where all human power was helpless.” —Extract from Sergeant A. Knight’s story of the destruction of the Llandovery Castle.

Official verification of the facts surrounding the sinking of H.M.H.S. Llandovery Castle confirm two main points—the supreme devotion and valiant
sacrifice of the medical personnel and the ship’s company, whose courage and resignation were in keeping with the proudest traditions of the British Army and Merchant Marine Service; and the utter blackness and dastardly character of the enemy outrage on this defenceless institution of mercy—a crime surpassing in savagery the already formidable array of murders of non-combatants by the Germans.

Departure from Halifax

On June 17 the Llandovery Castle had arrived at Halifax with six hundred and forty-four military patients. She started on her return voyage on June 20, carrying her crew and hospital unit establishment of eight officers, fourteen nursing sisters, and seventy-four other ranks.

Ideal summer weather prevailed. All went well and uneventfully until Thursday evening, 27 June 1918.

Captain Edward Arthur Sylvester

1863, Master (Cert. 010260), (no. RS2 24435), Mercantile Marine, Born at Melksham, Wiltshire.

Captain Sylvester died in 1920. His widow, Mrs. Georgina Augusta Sylvester (nee Cobbold) lived at Lynwood, Tonbridge, Kent.

Deliberate Murders

Deliberate in its conception, every circumstance connected with the incident reveals the German in the light of the cunning murderer who
employs every foul means of destroying all traces of his despicable crime.

No other explanation can be attached to the systematic attempts of the submarine to ram, shell and sink the life-boats and wreckage floating helplessly with their two hundred and fifty-eight unfortunate victims, one hundred and sixteen miles from land’—a work of destruction so successfully performed that only one boat, containing twenty-four survivors, escaped.

This list of survivors includes only one officer and five other ranks of the hospital personnel of ninety-seven, and the official story of Major
T. Lyon, Sergt. A. Knight, Private F. W. Cooper, Private G. R. Hickman, Private S. A. Taylor, and Private W. Pilot, all of the Canadian Army Medical C-OTps, is a stirring record of the perfect discipline of all ranks and the loading and floating of the lifeboats in the face of every possible obstacle.

Isolated survivor and 24 in one life raft

Only one lifeboat survived the attack. It was picked up by the destroyer Lysander on the morning of 29 June, 36 hours after the attack. 

Through it all nothing stands out more brilliantly than the coolness and courage of the fourteen Canadian nursing sisters, every one of whom
lost, and whose sacrifice under the conditions about, to be described will serve to inspire throughout the manhood and womanhood of the whole Empire a yet fuller sense of appreciation of the deep debt of gratitude, this nation owes to the nursing service.

At the outset it is well to consider the circumstances under which these fourteen nurses engaged on hospital ship duty.

The majority of these volunteered for service at the very outbreak of hostilities in 1914, came to England and France with the First Canadian Division. Had seen active service, chiefly in casualty clearing stations in France throughout the intervening period. And, recently had been transferred to transport duty by way of change, and what would under ordinary condi­tions prove a rest.

France

For many months, and, in some cases, two years, these sisters had endured-the hazards of the shelled areas in France, splendidly contributing to the efficiency of our Medical Service.

How magnificently they faced the final ordeal on that awful evening of June 27 is simply, yet graphically, related in the story of Sergt. A. Knight, the non-commissioned officer of the C.A.M.C., who took charge of life-boat No. 5, into which the fourteen nurses placed.

Our boat, said Sergt. Knight, was quickly loaded and lowered to the surface of the water. Then the crew of eight men and myself faced the difficulty of getting free from the ropes holding us to the ship’s side broke two axes trying to cut ourselves away, but was unsuccessful.

With the forward motion and choppy sea the boat all the time was pounding against the ship’s side. To save the boat we tried to keep ourselves away by using the oars, and soon every one of the latter broken.

Finally the ropes became loose at the top and we commenced to drift away. Carried towards the stern of the ship, when suddenly the poop-deck seemed to break away and sink. The suction drew us quickly into the vacuum, the boat tipped over sideways, and every occupant went under.

Not a single complaint made

“I estimate we were together in the boat about eight minutes. In that whole time I did not hear a complaint or a murmur from one of the sisters.
They were supremely calm and collected. Every one was perfectly conscious. There was not a cry for help or any outward evidence of fear. In the entire , time I overheard only one remark, when the matron, Nursing Sister M. M. Fraser, turned to me as we drifted helplessly towards the stern of the ship and asked:

Sergeant, do you think there is any hope for us?

I replied, ‘ No,’ seeing myself our helplessness without oars and the sinking condition of the stern of the ship.

A few seconds later we were drawn into the whirlpool of the submerged afterdeck, and the last I saw of the nursing sisters was as they were thrown over the side of the boat. All were wearing life-belts, and of the fourteen two were in their nightdress, the others in uniform.

It was, concluded Sergt. Knight, doubtful if any of them came to the surface again, although I myself sank and came up three times, finally clinging to a piece of wreckage and being eventually picked up by the captain’s boat.

To hundreds of officers and men of the Canadian Overseas Forces the name of Nursing Sister Miss Margaret Marjorie (” Pearl ”) Fraser will recall
a record of unselfish effort, a fitting tribute to this nation’s womanhood.

Margaret Marjorie Fraser

Volunteering for active service in the C.A.M.C. on September 29, 1914, Miss Fraser went to France with the First Canadian Division, and for almost three years had been on duty in casualty clearing stations. In that time not a few of her patients had been German wounded. Many times had she been the first to give a drink of water to these parched enemy casualties. Many a time had she written down the dying statements of enemy officers and men, transmitting them to their relatives through the Red Cross organization.

Her faithfulness was only typical, however, of that service for humanity exhibited by every one of these precious fourteen lives sacrificed in this latest act of Hunnish barbarity.

Survivors

Major Lyon, Sergt. Knight, and the other four survivors of the hospital ship, Pte. T. W. Cooper, Pte. G. R. Hickman, Pte. S. A. Taylor, and Pte. W. Pilot are agreed that the Llandovery Cattle was torpedoed without warning, was displaying the regulation hospital ship lights, went down within ten minutes after being struck, and that for upwards of two hours the German submarine repeatedly attempted to blot out all trace of the crime by rushing to and fro among the wreckage and firing twenty shells or more from its large gun into the area where the life-boats were supposed to be afloat.

That one boat survived is not the fault of the enemy, for at least three efforts were made to run it down, in addition to shell fire directed towards it.

9:30 PM

At 9.30 p.m. the night was clear, states Major Lyon, all lights were burning, with the large Red Cross signal prominently displayed amidships. Most of the medical personnel had not yet retired. Without previous warning or sight of any submarine the ship was struck just abaft the engines at No. 4 hold. “ There was a terrific explosion, badly wrecking the afterpart of the ship. Immediately all lights went out. The signal to stop and reverse the engines was without response, all the engine-room crew evidently being killed or wounded. Consequently the ship forged forward, but was gradually forced down by the head.

PARADED IN PERFECT ORDER

Quickly the captain found by investigation that No. 4 hold was completely blown in, and the ship could not remain afloat. The order was given to lower the lifeboats on either side. In perfect order the officer commanding, Lt.-Col. T. H. MacDonald, paraded his personnel at the various boat stations. The extreme slope of the decks by this time, and the continued forward movement of the ship, made the launching of the lifeboats a matter of great difficulty.

According to the survivors, at least two boats were swamped in this operation. With reasonable certainty, however, it can be stated that in the brief
ten minutes before the ship submerged every one had been taken off save those killed by the explosion.

Major Lyon

Major Lyon one of the last to leave the ship. He had gone to his cabin to obtain a torchlight. Approaching the deck he met the captain and
the second officer. They discovered a boat hanging in the falls, with its after-end in the water. Launched it successfully, pushed away with the captain, the second officer, the fourth officer, Major Lyon, one C.A.M.C. other rank and a few of the ship’s company on board. They had moved on but thirty or forty feet when the Llandovery Castle disappeared.

The boat at once proceeded to rescue work, cruising about in the midst of the floating wreckage and picking up survivors. Living eye-witnesses of the tragedy assert that at least two other life­ boats got clear of the sinking ship, and it is possible that others were successfully launched on the other side. The appalling scene in the water in the two hours following the dis­appearance of the Llandovery Castle baffles description, and the mind is stupefied by the exhibition in that period of savagery and callousness on the part of the commander and crew of the submarine.

On all sides survivors were crying for help. Many were clinging to pieces of wreckage floating about the area of the disaster. Within twenty minutes
the captain’s boat had picked up eleven from the water, including three other ranks of the C.A.M.C. They were going to the rescue of two others when the submarine appeared, and according to Major Lyon ordered them to leave these drowning men and come alongside, threatening to fire with the submarine naval gun in case of refusal.

NO SURPRISE THAT IT WAS A HOSPITAL SHIP

“Come alongside,” was the order given in English, and emphasized by a revolver shot across the bows. The second officer shouted, “We are picking up men from the water. Come alongside at once,” repeated the voice from the submarine, and when the lifeboat held on its way another revolver shot was fired at it, coupled with the threat that next the big gun would be brought into operation. The captain’s boat thereupon left the drowning men and pulled alongside the submarine.

The latter’s commander seemingly expressed no surprise when the captain stated it was the hospital ship Llandovery Castle that had been sunk. The accusation was then made that the ship was carrying eight American flying officers. On hearing there was a C.A.M.C. officer in the boat, the submarine commander ordered him to be brought on board. The order was executed very roughly, and with such plain intention to cause an injury that a small bone in Major Lyon’s leg was broken.

American Flying Officer

Major Lyon was accused of being an American flying officer. He denied the charge, and gave his rank and corps. He was then taken to the conning
tower, the accusation of being a flying officer repeated, and asked how much ammunition the ship was carrying. “I replied,” states Major Lyon, “that it was purely a hospital ship, and that we had never carried ammunition at any time. I was then ordered back to the lifeboat, and we pushed off.

We had gone only about fifty yards when they headed for us again and asked for me. They then took on board the second and fourth officers, questioned them, and placed them back in the lifeboat. Then we got the sail up and made some way.

Suddenly we saw the submarine coming at us at full speed. There was no doubt of their intention to ram us. She missed us by less than two feet. Had we been stationary we certainly would have been submerged. We continued on our way and were distant probably half a mile when we heard shell fire. I can recall at least twelve shots presumably in the area where the lifeboats and survivors were supposed to be. One shell came very close to our own boat.

After thirty-six hours afloat we were rescued by a torpedo-boat destroyer about forty-one miles from the Irish coast, and taken to Queenstown, coming on to Plymouth on Sunday, June 30.

MAJOR LYON’S STATEMENT

“I can emphatically state,” concluded Major Lyon, “that the submarine made no attempt to rescue any one, but on the contrary did everything in
its power to destroy every trace of the ship and its personnel and crew. All I can say on behalf of the submarine crew is that they were cooly polite in their questions to us.”

Pte. George Robert Hickman

Another survivor, Pte. G. R. Hickman, left the sinking ship in No. 7 lifeboat, which was sighted by the submarine about one and a half hours after the Llandovery Castle disappeared. This boat was brought alongside and Pte. Hickman taken on board the enemy vessel. He was asked in English to give the name of the ship, and was taken below to write the name in a book. When he had done so the German officer checked the name in a book which he produced from a desk.

Pte. Hickman was asked if there had been any American flying officers on board. He replied “No,” and gave particulars of its being a hospital
ship with only the medical personnel on board. Later Pte. Hickman was put off the submarine into the captain’s life-boat when the latter came
alongside.

Sgt Knight

Sergt. Knight bears further testimony to the persistent efforts of the submarine to blot out its crime by cruising many times a zig-zag course
through the area filled with wreckage and lifeboats at a speed of probably sixteen knots an hour. He himself was swimming towards lifeboat believed to be No. 19, which had got safely away, when he noticed this boat being shelled.

There was a fairly heavy swell on the water at the time, and he was carried into a trough. When he came to the crest again the boat he had seen being shelled had disappeared. Eventually while floating on a piece of wreckage he was picked up by the captain’s boat. Sergt. Knight’s opinion is that at least twenty shells were fired by the submarine into the vicinity of the wreckage.

THROWN OFF SUBMARINE

When he first saw the submarine approach the captain’s lifeboat, in his dazed condition, he mistook it for a British rescue boat. He dived alongside it, gripped a rope and pulled himself aboard. Four or five members of the crew asked him what he wanted, speaking in English. He was promptly thrown back into the lifeboat by four of these men. The evidence of Ptes. Pilot, Cooper and Taylor only serves to emphasize the career of wanton destruction engaged in by the submarine following the disappearance of the Llandovery Castle. They were in the water about an hour, floating on wreckage until taken into the captain’s boat. They verify the statement that the medical personnel and ship’s crew, except those killed by the explosion, succeeded in getting off the ship.

H M Lysander

They witnessed the efforts of the submarine to smash or sink the lifeboats in the water, ar.d later the shelling of the entire area. They are agreed there could be only one motive for this—to run down every survivor and destroy every possible evidence of the ship and its equipment. For two hours there were cries from all directions for help, none of which received any response from the crew of the submarine. From eleven o’clock Thursday night, all through Friday and Friday night, until Saturday morning at nine-thirty, this one surviving lifeboat kept on its way towards the Irish coast, covering some seventy miles by alternately sailing or rowing until piked up by H. M. destroyer LySander.

The Llandovery Castle had been in the service of the Canadian Govern­ment as a hospital ship since March of this year. She had made four voyages
to Halifax, and with a tonnage of 11,200, afforded special facilities for the transport and care of wounded soldiers.

LtCol T H MacDonald

The Officer Commanding, Lieut-Col. T. H. MacDonald, C.A.M.C., of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, had seen considerable service with the Embarkation and Discharge Depot, was for some time on the Standing Medical Board of the Office of the A.D.M.S., London Area, and later served with No. 2 Canadian Stationary Hospital, France. On her last outward voyage to Halifax, the Llandovery Castle carried six hundred and forty-four military patients, one officer and twenty-six other ranks being stretcher cases, fourteen officers and six hundred and three other ranks of a less serious nature. Fourteen of the cases were tubercular and thirty-seven mental.

On the return voyage there were, of course, no military patients nor any passengers, save her crew, and the regular hospital unit establishment. It seems unnecessary to assert that the accusation of the German sub­marine commander, that the Llandovery Castle had on board American flying
officers or munitions of war, is pure fiction. The regulations covering the control of hospital ships were being observed, both in spirit and the letter.
Further, it is clear there was no ground whatever for mistaking the ship for anything other than what she was—a ship immune by every law or war
and peace from attack or molestation.

Medical Personnel

The list of medical personnel given herewith is as the Llandovery Castle left England on her outward voyage to Halifax. Captain W. A. Hutton, Pte. B. Bonner and Pte. J. F. La Fontaine were taken off the strength. With these three exceptions and the six survivors—Major Lyon, Sergt. Knight, Privates Hickman, Pilot, Cooper, and Taylor—the list of casualties is believed to include the entire medical personnel, though there is still hope, very remote, that some others may have escaped death by having been left at Halifax, either through illness or by reason of having been granted leave of absence. Concerning this, however, there is no official record from Canada.

Surviving Ranks

• 69 Pilot, William Robert (survivor)
  • Formerly of the Corps Cyclists Battalion, GSW right leg in October 1916 while a stretcher bearer.
  • Gassed twice in 1918. Assigned to the C.A.M.C. in March 1918.
  • Died 16-4-73 in Pembroke Hospital, Ontario.
• 522907 Cooper, Frederick William W. (survivor)
  • Cooper joined the CAMC at Sandgate, Kent on 25 February 1916.
  • Served with No. 16 Canadian Field Ambulance.
  • Was his first voyage serving on HMHS Llandovery Castle.
  • No. 8 CFA at Rhyl until, discharged 15 May 1919.
• 536288 Hickman, George Robert (survivor)
  • 8 months Field Ambulance in Canada,
  • 17 months with No. 16 CFA in France
  • 8 months with No. 11 CFA in France
• 528654 A/Sgt. Knight, A. (survivor)
• 536437 Taylor, Shirley Kitchner (survivor)
  • Pte Taylor continued serving on hospital ships until September of 1919.

Officers with H.M.H.S. Llandovery Castle

• Lt.-Col. MacDonald, Thomas Howard
  • Major Army Canadian Army Medical Corps Bearwood Convalescent Hospital, Wokingham
  • Lieutenant Colonel Army Canadian Army Medical Corps Llandovery Castle (Hospital Ship)
• Major Davis, Gustavus Mitchell
  • Physician and Surgeon
• Major Lyon, Thomas (survivor)
  • Physician and Surgeon
• Captain Enwright, William James
  • Brought to notice of Secretary of State for War for valuable Services rendered in connection with the War. (War office 7 August 1917).
  • He served at the front as doctor of the 22nd Battalion from 11 to 28 September 1915, when he was severely wounded to a leg. His unit had just finished its first time in the trenches and he had just met his replacement. After a long convalescence in England, he then served with 8 General Hospital, from 17 May to 27 June 1918, the day he died when the hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle was torpedoed on a return trip from Halifax to England.
  • Father of Third Mate James Gerald Enright, who died on November 23, 1941, while serving with the Canadian Merchant Navy.
  • Buried at LES BARAQUES MILITARY CEMETERY, V. G. 8.
• Captain Hutton, Willis Abrum
  • No. 10 General Hospital
  • No. 2 Field Ambulance
  • No. 10 Field Ambulance
  • Medical Officer Captain Army Canadian Army Medical Corps 123rd Battalion
  • Medical Corps 43rd Battalion Attached Captain
  • Posted to H.M.H.S. Llandovery Castle
• Captain Leonard, Arthur Vincent
  • M.O. 2nd Brigade, CFA
  • No. 2 Field Ambulance
  • No. 16 Canadian General Hospital, Orpington
  • H.M.H.S. ARAGUAYA
• Captain Sills, George Luther (erroneously reported as a survivor)
  • physician
  • Lieutenant Army Canadian Army Medical Corps No 5 Stationary Hospital
    • “An unofficial cable has been received by the Director of Medical Service, Canadian Contingents, from an American Atlantic port, stating that Captain George Luthor Sills has been landed safely there, having been picked up at sea by a west-bound ship.”
• Hon. Capt. and Chaplain MacPhail D.G. (attached)
  • Canadian Army Chaplains Department attached to 72 Bn. Canadian Infantry
  • Buried at LAMPAUL CHURCHYARD, ILE D’OUESSANT, FRANCE
    • His headstone bears the inscription “We Fall To Rise Are Baffled To Fight Better Sleep To Wake”

The body of Captain W J Enright one of the few recovered from the sinking of Llandovery Castle. His body recovered four months after the sinking on the west coast of France, near Calais.

Reverend Donald George MacPhail

During the Great War, of 447 Canadian chaplains serving overseas, 11 died on active service, but only five were killed in action – Georges Étienne Rosario Crochetière, William Henry Davis, Joseph Elliott, Webster Henry Fanning Harris, and Donald George MacPhail.

At the age of 52, MacPhail enlisted, at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the Chaplains Service of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. (CEF). During his time at Cayuga, he had been Chaplain to the 37th Haldimand Rifles militia regiment, a unit in which two companies were comprised entirely of Six Nations Iroquois from the Grand River community south of Brantford. At Halifax he was assigned to the 72nd (Seaforth Highlanders) Battalion, Canadian Infantry. On June 5, 1918, he was assigned to duty aboard HMHS Llandovery Castle. Three weeks later he was drowned when the ship was sunk by German submarine U-86.

On October 12, 1918, more than three months after the sinking, MacPhail’s body found washed ashore on Ile d’Ouessant, 40 kilometers off the coast of Brittany, France. MacPhail buried on the island, in the south-east corner of Lampaul Communal Cemetery.

Nursing Sisters with H.M.H.S. Llandovery Castle

1. Christina Campbell, N/S 27/8/1915 Angus Campbell P.O. Box 707, Victoria, Christine (Brother). B.C.
2. Carola Josephine Douglas N/S 8/2/1915 Mrs. H. V. Morse Swan River, Manitoba, Carola Josephine (Sister). Canada.
3. Alexina Dussault, N/S 29/9/1914 M. Dussault 673, Cadieu St., Alexina (Father), Montreal, Canada.
4. Minnie Asenath Follette N/S 29/9/1914 Mrs. O. A. Follette Ward’s Brook, Minnie (Mother). Cumberland Co., N.S.
5. Margaret Jane Fortescue, N/S 6/5/1915 Miss G. Fortescue c/o Manager, Bank of Margaret Jane (Sister). Montreal (West End ranch, Montreal), Canada.
6. Margaret Marjory Fraser, N/S 29/9/1914 Mrs. D. C. Fraser 122, Athabasca St. E., Margaret Marjory (Mother). Moosejaw, Sask.
7. Minnie Katherine Gallaher, N/S 25/9/1915 Mrs. M. E. Gallaher Regent St., Ottawa, Minnie Katherine (Mother). Ontario, Canada.
8. Jessie Mabel McDiarmid, N/S 27/8/1915 J. McDiarmid Ashton, Ontario, Jessie Mabel (Uncle). Canada.
   • Born in 1880 at Ashton, Beckwith Township, Jessie ‘Mabel’ McDiarmid was the daughter of Peter H. McDiarmid (1818-1892) and Jane Bridget Brady (1821-1910)19. She received her primary and secondary education at Ashton and Carleton Place and was a graduate of the Royal Jubilee Nursing School, Victoria, British Columbia
   • McDiarmid worked as a nurse in the United States for a number of years and was living at San Francisco when WW1 broke out in 1914. She returned to Canada and, on July 30, 1915, at Esquimalt, British Columbia20, enlisted as a Nursing Sister with the CAMC, attached to No.5 General Hospital, a medical team organized that summer at Victoria. No.5 Hospital reached the England on September 7th.
   • After a temporary assignment to the Red Cross Hospital at Taplow, Buckinghamshire, in December 1915, McDiarmid and No.5 Hospital travelled via Cairo, Egypt, to Salonika, Greece. There, in extremes of heat and cold, they established a 1,240-bed field hospital treating casualties from the ill-fated allied defence of Serbia. In September 1917 the hospital transferred back to England and reestablished at Liverpool.
   • On October 25, 1917, Nursing Sister McDiarmid mentioned in dispatches by Lieutenant General21 George Francis Milne (1866-1948), Commander-in-Chief of the British Army at Salonika, for “gallant and distinguished service in the field”, in recognition of her work under the brutally difficult conditions at Salonika.
   • In December 1917 McDiarmid transferred to No.4 Canadian General Hospital at Liverpool and six months later, on June 5, 1918, she was assigned to the nursing contingent aboard HMHS Llandovery Castle. Twenty-two days later, at age 38, drowned when her ship was torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-86. Her body was never recovered.
9. Mary Agnes McKenzie, N/S 1/4/1916 T. C. McKenzie 290, McPherson Ave., Mary Agnes (Father). Toronto* Canada.
10. Rena Maud McLean, N/S 29/9/1914 Senator J. McLean Souris, Prince Edward Rena (Father). Island.
11. Mary Bell Sampson MiD, : N/S 29/9/1914 H. A. Sampson Duntroon, Ont., MacBelle (Father). Canada.
12. Gladys Irene Sare, N/S 1/4/1916 Mrs. A. G. Sare 101, Chomedy St., Gladys Irene (Mother). Montreal, Canada.
13. Anna Irene Stamers, N/.S 4/6/1915 Mrs. S. L. Stamers 171, Waterloo St., New Anna Irene (Mother). Brunswick, Canada.
14. Jean Templeman, N/S 4/6/1915 J. Templeman 218, Strathcona Ave., Jean (Father). Ottawa, Canada.
    • Walker Cowie’s first cousin, CAMC Nursing Sister Jean ‘Jennie’ Templeman (1885-1918), also died in the sinking of HMHS Llandovery Castle. She was was born at Ottawa in 1885, the daughter of John Templeman (1856-1928), a native of Fife, Scotland, and Elizabeth Caroline Cowie (1856-1896). Her mother had been born on the same North Burgess Township farm as Walter Cowie – she and Walter’s father William Adams Cowie were siblings.
    • Templeman enlisted with the CAMC at Montreal on June 3, 1915, and sailed from Halifax with the first contingent of the CEF, arriving at Moore Barracks, Shorncliffe, in the first week of January 1916. She crossed the channel to France on February 19th and joined the medical staff at No.1 Canadian General Hospital, Étaples, south of Boulogne. During the month of July, temporarily attached to No.21 Casualty Clearing Station and then returned to work at No.1 General Hospital until January 24,1917 when granted 14 days leave, during which she made a hurried visit to her father back in Ottawa.
    • She reported for duty again on January 25th and continued to work at Étaples until ordered to England at the end of May 1917. Reassigned to the 1,000-bed Ontario Military Hospital18 at Orpington, south of London, Templeman worked there until June 4, 1917, when assigned to the Canadian hospital ship Llandovery Castle. Three weeks later, 33-year-old Jean Templeman died with 13 other CAMC nurses when the lifeboat in which she had sought refuge sucked into the vortex of the sinking ship and smashed to kindling by the still rotating propellers.

Other Ranks with H.M.H.S. Llandovery Castle

Three casualties commemorated on the HOLLYBROOOK MEMORIAL, the remainder on HALIFAX MEMORIAL. Peculiar why the O’Neil brothers are not commemorated together. Only a year’s difference between the boys, their service records nearly identical. Both had been gassed on the Somme, and following their (partial) recoveries, they joined the C.A.M.C.

Burgess Bloomfield had been a Guard on a Prison Farm in Canada prior to joining No. 16 Canadian Field Ambulance and later posted to Llandovery Castle in March of 1918. Born in Fort William, Ontario, unknown why not commemorated on HALIFAX MEMORIAL. Harry Sutherland had been wounded as a stretcher bearer with the C.A.M.C., and also posted to Llandovery the same day as Bloomfield. Harry born in Scotland, the third casualty of Llandovery named on the HOLLYBROOK MEMORIAL.

Note the list at CGWP contains all but the three soldiers named on the HOLLYBROOK MEMORIAL.

1. 536451 Private John Anderson
2. 421053 Private Hubert Tyndall Angus
3. 536234 Private Albert Baker
4. 33281 Private Frank Barker
5. 2568 Private John Arthur Bentley
6. 524309 Bloomfield, B. (HOLLYBROOK MEMORIAL, SOUTHAMPTON)
7. 50972 Lance Corporal Hugh Bonnell
8. 524507 Private James Frederick William Bristow
9. 2098951 Sergeant Daniel Brown
10. 526511 Private Neville Raymond Stevenson Carter
11. 962 Private William Frederick Cates
12. 536231 Private Frederick Clark
13. 536448 Private William Clark
14. 522907 Cooper, Frederick William W. (survivor)
15. 536023 Private Walter Cowie
    • Walter MacKenzie Cowie born December 5, 1896, on a Scotch Line farm in North Burgess Township, the youngest child of William Adams Cowie (1840-1918) and Kathleen Blanche ‘Kate’ MacKenzie (1870-1941). He had two full sisters and a brother, as well as seven half-siblings, born to his father’s first wife, Margaret Kemp (1837-1886).
    • Assigned to the 9th (Queen’s University) Field Ambulance Company of the CAMC, Private Cowie arrived in England via the S.S. Grampian in the first week of November 1916 and sent for further training at Dibgate, a part of the massive Shorncliffe Camp in Kent. However, he soon fell ill, and spent most of the following year in hospital as a patient rather than a staff member.
    • During February and March 1917, confined to the Canadian Hospital at Moore Barracks with a mild case of mumps. He returned to service in April and shipped to France on May 31, 1917, but soon fell ill again at Le Havre Army Depot. Diagnosed with diphtheria, his service record lists him as “dangerously ill” between June 4th and 16th at 46th Stationary Hospital, Étaples, France. Removed from the ‘dangerous’ list, but still seriously ill, evacuated to England and spent four months at the Military Hospital, Richmond, Surrey, and the Canadian Convalescent Hospital, Hillingdon. Returned to duty in October, he spent the following six months serving as an orderly at the Canadian Army’s Westhanger Hospital facility in Kent.
    • On March 21, 1918, Private Cowie reassigned to the Canadian hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle and during April and May made three trips conveying Canadian wounded from Liverpool to Halifax. He drowned on June 27, 1918, at age 2217, when the Llandovery Castle torpedoed and sunk.
    • Walker Cowie’s first cousin, CAMC Nursing Sister Jean ‘Jennie’ Templeman (1885-1918), also died in the sinking of HMHS Llandovery Castle.
16. 526671 Private John Henry Curtis
17. 536282 Private Kenneth Daley
18. 823269 Lance Corporal William Albert Dawson
19. 536338 Private David William Duffie
20. 418883 Private Alexander Livingstone Dunlop
21. 50379 Private John Eaton
22. 523837 Private Harley Clifton Elsley
23. 34408 Staff Sergeant Herbert Harold Evans
24. 645609 Private Robert Douglas Falconer
25. 50946 Private James Benedict Foley
26. 522922 Private Wilfred Howie Gemmel
27. 535505 Private Myer Philip Goldberg
28. 770053 Private James Hannah
29. 33354 Private Matthew Henry Harlock
30. 33079 Private Bertram D Harris
31. 536276 Private Harry Harrison
32. 524248 Private George Edward Harvey
33. 536288 Hickman, George Robert (survivor)
34. 40310 Private Clifford Hugh Hoskins
35. T/815 Private Sidney Isaac
36. 33653 Corporal William Jackson
37. 535449 Private Wilfred Lawrence James
38. 195880 Private Robert Carman Kelly
39. 528654 A/Sgt. Knight, A. (survivor)
40. 536277 Private Edward Moore Macpherson
41. 27150 Private Frederick Leo McAnally
42. 526600 Private James Henry Murray McDermott (ALIAS James Murray)
43. 2098858 Private Leonard Hugh McDonald
44. 525169 Private John McGarry
45. 644511 Private George Edward Nash
46. 213383 Private Norman Robert O’Neil
47. 213382 O’Neil, Russell. (HOLLYBROOK MEMORIAL, SOUTHAMPTON)
48. 467562 Private John Cooper Pateman
49. 81693 Private Herbert Arthur Patton
50. 69 Pilot, William Robert (survivor)
51. 1390 Private Frederick Davis Pollard
52. 525545 Private John Porter
53. 50089 Private John Arthur Purcell
54. 524579 Private Alfred Renyard
55. 523324 Private Percy Richards
56. 910940 Private Kelby Roseboro
57. 536477 Private Walter Bramwell Sacre
58. 644708 Private Victor Sanders
59. 527999 Private Walter Harry Sanders
60. 536403 Private Robert Andrew Sanderson
61. 862726 Private Frederick Jacob Sayyae
62. 536249 Private Clement George Scribner
63. 524307 Private Lewis Shipman
64. 527654 Private Ernest Crosby Smith
65. 3676 Private David Radcliffe Smuck
66. 536315 Private John Spittal
67. 400171 Private Robert Alexander Steen
68. 51098 Sutherland, Harry (HOLLYBROOK MEMORIAL, SOUTHAMPTON)
69. 536437 Taylor, Shirley Kitchner (survivor)
70. 536236 Private Frank Chandler Williams
71. 530063 Private Robert Williams
72. 527674 Private Andrew Wilson

Crew with H.M.H.S. Llandovery Castle

On board, the crew consisted of one hundred and sixty-four men, eighty officers and men of the Canadian Medical Corps, and fourteen nurses, a total of two hundred and fifty-eight persons (Macphail 236). The list includes 15 survivors of the crew, less Captain Sylvester. Sixteen crew, and six Canadian survivors, leaves only two survivors unaccounted for.

1. Abrahams, Wardroom Attendant, Mercantile Marine (survivor)
2. Admans, Frederick Charles, Linen Steward
3. Allan, Thomas, 3rd Engineer
4. Allen, John, Fireman
5. Anderson, Allan John, 4th Engineer
6. Anderson, Thomas, Assistant Cook
7. Baker, Alfred James, Ward Attendant
8. Barker, Frederick Victor, Assistant Laundryman
9. Barton, Andrew, Fireman
10. Batsford, William Arthur, Assistant Steward
11. Beddows, Thomas, Trimmer
12. Bracken, George, Able Seaman
13. Bradley, Bruce, Trimmer
14. Bray, Albert, Able Seaman
15. Brennan, Michael, Trimmer
16. Broadbent, George, Trimmer
17. Brown, Frederick Donkeyman
18. Campbell, Harry, Captain’s Steward
19. Carey, George McLacklin, Able Seaman
20. Clarke, Clifford Hartley, Assistant Steward
21. Clements, William Joseph, Deck Boy
22. Cocks, Harry Robert, Assistant Steward
23. Coe, Ernest P., Chief Steward
24. Collier, William John, Ordinary Seaman
25. Cook, Ernest, Able Seaman
26. Coulson, Robert, 7th Engineer
27. Crellin, Willie Elliott, Sailor
28. Cumiskey, John, Trimmer
29. Curry, William John, Assistant Steward
30. Curtis, George, Sailor
31. Davey, William Stephen, Greaser
32. Davies, Edgar Allan, WO
33. Doyle, Patrick, Sailor
34. Earl, Percy Lionel, Fireman
35. Edwards, Edward James, Assistant Steward
36. Evans, H. M., Purser, MM, (survivor)
37. Farley, Algie Victor, Deck Boy
38. Findlay, William, Watch
39. Ferguson, William Greaser MM served as McCANN
40. Fox, William John, Sailor
41. Franklin, George, Fireman
42. Fry, William Richard, Trimmer
43. Fullbrook, George, Fireman & Trimmer
44. Fulton, Charles William Allison, Ass. Ship’s Cook
45. Gard, Charles Edward, Greaser
46. Giogis, Gioranni, Chef
47. Goodridge, Able Seaman, MM, (survivor)
48. Grima, Angelo, Trimmer
49. Hagan, Thomas Fireman
50. Hawker, Albert John, Butcher
51. Hawkes, George Ernest, WO
52. Heath, Alfred James, Assistant Butcher
53. Heath, George, Fireman
54. Heather, Deck Steward, MM, (survivor)
55. Heney, William, Fireman
56. Hill William Ernest, Able Seaman
57. Hitchens, John, Quartermaster
58. Hobbs, Benjamin, Deck Boy
59. Hodge, Arthur, Greaser
60. Hogan, Martin, Assistant Baker
61. Hooper, Frederick, Fireman
62. Hopley, John Holland, Deck Boy
63. Hunt, Able Seaman, MM, (survivor)
64. Johnson, Burton Thomas, Electrician
65. Johnson, Francis William, Assistant Steward
66. Jones, Edwin John, Fireman
67. Jones, John, Able Seaman
68. Joseph, Harry, Fireman
69. Justice, James, Fireman
70. Kadrewell, Martin Alexander Walter, 2nd Cook
71. Kelly, John Frederick, Sailor
72. Kelly, William, Fireman
73. Kentfield, William, Assistant Bed Steward
74. King, Thomas Inman, Able Seaman
75. Kinloch, John Frederick, Branch Carpenter’s Mate
76. Lacey, Raymond Edgar, Assistant Steward
77. Lamb, Henry, Assistant Steward
78. Lane, B., 2nd Baker
79. Lee, Lawrence, Fireman
80. Leighton, William, 2nd Engineer
81. Lemarechal, Alfred William, 2nd Waiter
82. Lodge, Alfred Thomas, Fireman
83. Long, James Gilbert, Deck Boy
84. Mackenzie, John, Able Seaman
85. Manley, Frederick Leonard, (WC) Kitchen Ptr.
86. Matthews, Sydney, Pantry Boy
87. Mayes, T. Able Seaman
88. Maynard, Samuel John, Head Waiter
89. McAllen, Sidney, Assistant Steward
90. McAllister, William, Ship’s Cook
91. McCombe, Charles, Ward Attendant
92. McInerny, Edmond, Fireman
93. McIver, James Murdock, Carpenter
94. McMahon, I., Trimmer
95. McVey, Fireman, MM, (survivor)
96. Mills, Albert James, Scullion
97. Moir, William, Greaser
98. Morey, Herbert Joseph, Baker & Confectionary
99. Morgan, Francis John, Assistant Cook
100. Mounsey, Trimmer, MM, (survivor)
101. Mulcahy, James, Able Seaman
102. Murphy, Robert Henry George, Assistant Pantryman
103. Murphy, Able Seaman, MM, (survivor)
104. Nicholson, James, Quartermaster
105. Obee, Richard, Able Seaman
106. Ogden, James Fireman MM
107. Owen, John, Able Seaman
108. Owens, William, Able Seaman
109. Paines, Thomas William Job, Able Seaman
110. Parsons, Walter Henry, Lascelles Attendant
111. Pay, Leonard John, 1st Assistant Cook
112. Pearce, Arthur Charles, Ward Attendant
113. Powell, Edgar Atheling,, 2nd Assistant Cook
114. Purcell, Thomas James, Fireman & Trimmer
115. Record, A, Lamp Trimmer, MM, (survivor)
116. Richardson, John Henry, Stoker/Kpr
117. Robinson, Leslie, Second Officer, MM, (survivor)
118. Rolston, Thomas, Fireman Steward
119. Rowland, Joseph, Chief Mate
120. Savage, Assistant Steward, MM, (survivor)
121. Schroeder, Able Seaman, MM, (survivor)
122. Scott, Ordinary Seaman, MM, (survivor)
123. Sharp, Robert, Boatswain
124. Sharrock, George Francis, Trimmer
125. Shead, Clara Harriett Stewardess MM
     • 59 year old daughter of the late William and Harriett Shead (nee Cowling). Born at Shoreditch, London.
126. Short, Raymond Cyril, Able Seaman
127. Sills, George Luther Canadian Captain
128. Sinden, F., Ward, Attendant
129. Slater, Harry Glenco, Baker’s Boy
130. Smith, Alfred James, Fireman
131. Smith, George Henry, 1st Pantryman
132. Sneddon, John, Assistant Stoker/Kpr
133. Starmer, Ernest, Assistant Bath
134. Start, Reuben Henry, Sailor
135. Strachan, H. W. Bathman MM
136. Summers, Owen Edward, Ass. Engineer’s Steward
137. Sumner, Harold, 6th Engineer
138. Sutton, William George, Chief Engineer
139. Sweet, Thomas, Trimmer
140. Taylor, Charles, Fireman
141. Taylor, Murray Christopher, 5th Engineer
142. Thomas, George, Trimmer
143. Thomas, Kenneth Albert, Able Seaman
144. Tredigan, Fireman, MM, (survivor)
145. Tunks-Clarke, Victor George, Assistant Steward
146. Turner, Benjamin Harold, 3rd Mate
147. Vance, Walter French, Assistant Str/Kpr
148. Vincent, Walter Henry, Officer’s Steward
149. Walker, Thomas, Trimmer
150. Walsh, Francis Charles, Trimmer
151. Ward, Able Seaman, MM, (survivor)
152. Watkins, John, Laundryman
153. Watson, W., Able Seaman
154. Way, Arthur, Ward Attendant
155. Weedon, Thomas, Assistant Bed Steward
156. Weller, Archibald Arthur, 1st Bed Steward
157. White, Ernest Evelyn, Assistant Cook
158. Whitty, Percy John, 2nd Steward
159. Wyatt, James Ward, Attendant
160. Yeeles, or Yeetes, Frederick, Thomas Fireman
161. Zahra, Emmanuele, Assistant Steward

Total Commemorations

• 151 Tower Hill Memorial
• 3 HOLLYBROOK MEMORIAL, SOUTHAMPTON
• 84 HALIFAX MEMORIAL
• 1 LES BARAQUES MILITARY CEMETERY
• 1 LAMPAUL CHURCHYARD, ILE D’OUESSANT

239 Total Commemorations

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