On Portsmouth Naval Memorial is the name of P/JX 282301 Able Seaman Norman Walton, serving on H.M.S. Beverley with the Royal Navy who died 11/04/1943.
He was the son of Alexander and C. M. Walton, of West Boldon, County Durham.
Christine Davison has submitted the following:-
Norman Walton was the son of Alexander and Caroline Mabel Walton nee Tulip.
Norman’s father was an Estonian native; Estonia was part of Russia at the time of his birth, and he anglicised his name from Aleksander Valton sometime after he arrived in Britain.
His father had been a seaman, so he followed in the family tradition. Alexander arrived in England about 1905 as a seaman. He married Caroline Mabel Tulip, born in Haswell, Durham, in July 1919, she was daughter of John Tulip.
Alexander had been involved in the First World War and is said to have been torpedoed twice.
Norman was born on 6th June 1919. According to the 1921 census, they were living at 69 Back Cambridge Street, South Shields by that time, Norman’s Brother, Albert, had been born. The family later moved to 10, Addison Road, West Boldon.
There were seven children, four boys and three girls; many of the family served in World War II. Norman was involved with St. Nicholas Church, West Boldon, and according to family information, was training to be a priest at the outbreak of the war.
He joined the Royal Navy as an Able Seaman; his first ship was H.M.S. Chelston, later joining H.M.S. Beverley. Norman’s father was serving in the Merchant Navy; a newspaper report says he was torpedoed another three times. The article was written when he was on sick leave in 1944, having received serious injuries. They had just been informed that Norman’s brother, Albert, who had joined the RAF, was a prisoner of war.
In June 1944, Alexander was awarded the British Empire Medal for services at sea. The article reporting on Alexander’s BEM also mentions that apart from Norman and Albert, another son was serving in the Navy and a daughter in the WAAF.
Norman died on 11th April 1943. On 9th April 1943, the ship had been seriously damaged after a collision with a steam vessel, Cairnvalona, and was at the back of the convoy. At 05.49 a.m., U-188 fired a torpedo at the convoy south west of Iceland, which hit a tanker at 5.50 a.m. Two more torpedoes were fired and two more at 5.52 a.m., although four ships were reported as hit, only the Beverley was hit and sank at that time. There were five survivors, though one died on board HMS Clover, which rescued them. There were 152 crew on board HMS Beverley.
St. Nicholas’ Church held a memorial service for Norman.
Norman’s great nieces have written a book about Norman’s brother Albert and make mention of Norman.
Norman Walton is remembered at East Boldon on E46.01, at West Boldon on W99.04 and W99.07, at Westoe in W101.08 page 93 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.
