W. Bro. Revd. David T. Youngson, PPAG Chaplain, Northumberland offers the following:
The information given below in respect of some of the brethren is the best possible conclusions from Lodge records, Grand Lodge records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission and data in respect of merchant ship losses during the First World War
1970 Hadrian Lodge
Year of Warrant 1882
Freemasons Hall South Shields
George McHUGH
Mercantile Marine First Engineer S.S. Thornaby
The son of James McHugh and the late Isabella McHugh, he was born at South Shields. A Marine Engineer, he was Initiated 2nd December 1913; Passed 6th January 1914 and Raised 17th February 1914.
He died 28th February 1916 aged 41 and was the husband of Margaret Hopper McHugh (nee Hindmarch) of 10 Romilly Street, South Shields. He is Remembered on the Tower Hill Memorial, London.
The S.S. Thornaby (1782 GRT) was owned by Sir Robert Ropner & Co. of West Hartlepool and was mined and sunk 2 miles NE of Shipwash Lightship on a voyage from Marbella to West Hartlepool with the loss of 19 lives.
George McHugh is listed in the Roll of Honour in Freemasons' Hall, London County Durham Notes, in South Shields on S86.102 and on our List of Ships’ crews
