Photo: Julian Harrop
Font dedication
1 Thinford Street Metal Bridge
De Ruvigney Roll of Honour Vol 2 page 162
Harvey, Walter William, Private No. 20668, 1st Battalion, The Essex Regiment. Son of William Harvey: born Newton Saint Faith's, Co. Norfolk, 18 June 1891: enlisted in the 1st Norfolk Regt. 3 July 1900: served eight years with the Colours, being seven years and 16 days abroad and for 15 months was employed as Cook in the sergeants' mess in South Africa: was four years on the reserve and was employed in Tursdale Colliery Coke yard: re-enlisted in the Norfolks 5 Nov. 1914, later transferring to the Essex Regt.: served at the Dardanelles and was lost on the Royal Edward, when that transport was torpedoed on the way to the Dardanelles 13 Aug. following. He had three Good Conduct Badges. He married at Ferry Hill Village 10 June 1911, Edith Mary (The Blocks, Metal Bridge, Ferry Hill) daughter of Ralph Wood and had a daughter Mary Jane, born 11 April 1912
Note his date of birth was more likely 1880 –Enlistment Records state he was 20 years old in 1900. He served in the East Indies 1901-4, then in South Africa 1904-8.
In the 1911 census Walter was boarding at No. 5 The Blocks Metal Bridge aged 29 years, with the Baker family. Edith Mary Wood was living at No. 3 The Blocks, with her parents.
The Royal Edward was used to bring Canadian troops to Europe before being used as an internment ship anchored of Southend-on-Sea. On 28 July 1915, Royal Edward embarked 1,367 officers and men at Avonmouth. The majority were reinforcements for the British 29th Infantry Division, with members of the Royal Army Medical Corps. All were destined for Gallipoli. Royal Edward was reported off the Lizard on the evening of 28 July, and had arrived at Alexandria on 10 August, a day after sister ship Royal George had sailed from Devonport. Royal Edward sailed for Moudros on the island of Lemnos, a staging point for the Dardanelles.
On the morning of 13 August, Royal Edward passed the British hospital ship Soudan, heading in the opposite direction. Oberleutnant zur See Heino von Heimburg in the German submarine UB-14 was off the island of Kandeloussa and saw both ships. He allowed Soudan to pass unmolested, and focused his attention on the un-escorted Royal Edward some 6 nautical miles (11 km) off Kandelioussa. He launched one of UB-14's two torpedoes from about 1 mile (1.6 km) away and hit Royal Edward in the stern. She sank by the stern within six minutes.
Royal Edward was able to get off an SOS before losing power, and Soudan arrived on the scene at 10:00 after making a 180 degree turn and rescued 440 men in six hours. Two French destroyers and some trawlers rescued another 221. According to authors James Wise and Scott Baron, Royal Edward's death toll was 935 and was high because Royal Edward had just completed a boat drill and the majority of the men were below decks re-stowing their equipment. Other sources report different numbers of casualties, from 132 to 1,386 or 1,865. An Admiralty casualty list, published in The Times in September 1915, named 13 officers and 851 troops as missing believed drowned, a total of 864 lost, including posthumous Victoria Cross recipient Cuthbert Bromley and footballer Walter Miller.
Edith Mary (born 19 June 1889) remained in Metal Bridge. In 1939 she was living at 1 Thinford Street with her mother Mary J Wood (born 17 April 1861), son in law John Richardson (born 19 January 1911) a foreman at CWS Grocery Department, daughter Mary J and grandson Walter Richardson (born July 1935).
Edith never remarried and died in late 1947.
This small marble font has been found in Beamish Museum Stores (1990 345.26)
It reads:-
This Font
Was placed here by
Mrs W.W. Harvey
In affectionate remembrance
Of her dear husband
Who fell in the Great War
August 13th 1915
Beamish's records state that the font was from the Primitive Methodist Chrurch, Tursdale.
Durham Record Office has a collection of Records of the families of Wood and Harvey (Ref. D/X 1145/30-37) and photographs (Ref. D/X 1145/38-42) and Papers (D/x 1145/43-46). These include baptism certificates for Edith May Wood 1889 and Mary Jane Harvey 1912. There is a photograph of the wedding of Edith Mary Wood and Walter William Harvey c 1910. The papers refer to the building of two houses in Front Street Metal Bridge in 1915 for Ralph Wood.
Walter William Harvey is remembered at Tursdale on T62.01
