Linda Gowans has submitted the following:-
Henry Valentine was born on October 11th 1871 in Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, the son of John and Elizabeth Adams. Records show that he served as Ordinary Seaman on several different ships from 1888 onwards. Between 1895 and 1899 (during which years he received his Certificate of Competency as Second, then First, Mate) he served overseas on various Glasgow- and London-registered square-riggers and, from 1897, steamships. His Master’s Certificate was issued at Aberdeen on August 25th 1899. We do not have a photograph of him, but the application form for his Master’s examination indicates that he was 5’ 5˝” tall, of dark complexion, with black hair and brown eyes, and had ‘Faith, Hope & Charity’ tattooed on his left arm.
He married Gertrude Alice Goodwin in Chorlton, Lancashire (now part of Manchester) December 27th 1900. In the 1911 census he was probably away at sea. His family was at 24 Barnard Street, Sunderland, where the household consists of his wife Gertrude, born Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, 1870, their son Henry John, born Barry, South Wales, 1903, and Henry’s widowed mother Elizabeth, born Stonehaven 1846.
By January 1918 he was Master of ‘Birtley’, a 1,438 Gross Registered Tonnage steam cargo ship completed in 1906 by Wood, Skinner and Company of Bill Quay, Gateshead, and operated by the Burnett Shipping Company of Newcastle. During WW1 she was chartered by the Admiralty and defensively armed.
The Birtley left Dunkirk bound for the Tyne in ballast and was last seen on January 3rd 1918 in Yarmouth Roads. She is presumed to have been torpedoed by a submarine, possibly U-boat 38, and sank eight miles north of Flamborough Head. Eighteen lives were lost, including that of Henry Valentine Adams.
Following the Great War Gertrude Alice Adams, lived at 21 Guisborough Street, Chester Road, Sunderland.
Henry Valentine Adams is remembered in Sunderland on S140.009, S140.010 and S140.048 part 08
