Colin McMillan has provided the following:
In 1901 William Arthur Graham was 3 and the only child of 32 year old Felton-born Joseph Graham, a “carter of gardens”, and 27 year old Hannah E. Graham who was also born in Felton. William was born in Morpeth on 19th April 1897 and the family were living at 12 Howard Terrace, Morpeth at the time of the census.
Records show that by 1911 Joseph had remarried. What had happened to Hannah is unclear, but the census document shows that his second marriage had lasted four years up to that time. His new wife was Elizabeth Graham (nee Collins) who was 35. Also shown on the census return was that there had been four children born to the couple. William was 13, as was Newcastle born Jane Collins Graham who, presumably, was Elizabeth’s child from a previous relationship. Two other children were also shown on the form: 9 year old Hannah A. Graham who was born in Morpeth and 2 year old Anna Collins Graham who was born in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, which is where the family were living at the time. It is probable that Hannah junior was the daughter of Hannah senior while it is almost certain that Anna was the product of this latest marriage. Their address was 16 Melrose Terrace, Newbiggin.
William worked as a pit boy before he enlisted in the Royal Navy. He was short in stature being only 5 feet 2˝ inches tall with light brown hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. He served on HMS Ganges as Boy 2nd Class from 17th August 1912 till 10th February 1913 when he was appointed Boy First Class. On February 11th, the day after his promotion, he was transferred to HMS Hawke, serving on that ship till 9th June 1913. As he worked his way up the ranks so he was transferred to various ships and land based establishments, among which were HMS Vengeance, HMS Orvieto and HMS Victory X.
His final posting was to HMS Ettrick, one of a number of “river” class boats. This vessel was torpedoed by the German submarine UC61 on 7th July 1917, 15 miles south-west of Beachy Head in the English Chanel. Of her crew of 70 officers and men 49 lost their lives, among who was William.
William Arthur Graham is remembered in Morpeth on M17.01, M17.02, M17.09 and M17.29 and on our List of Ships’ crews
