On the Plymouth Naval Memorial is the name of Sub-Lieutenant David Charles Barrett, serving on H.M.S. Cromarty with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve who died 23/10/1943.
Colin Cresswell has submitted the following:-
David was born in Seaton Burn Northumberland 12th February 1920 the son of a Consultant Mining Engineer Rollo Samuel Barrett (1883–1963) and his wife Freda Ethel Louisa (1889) nee Wilson.
David’s siblings were April Freda Claire (1930) Eve Georgina May (1922) John Rollo (1918-2009) Nicholas Ancotts Samuel (1927-1998) and Lindsay Ancotts (1916-1925).
He attended Sherborne School in Dorset 1933-38 and was studying Law at Cambridge University when war broke out. In September 1939 he was a student living at his parent’s house Heddon Hall.
David was a Sub Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve. He served aboard HMS Cromarty.
This was a Bangor Class Minesweeper built at Blyth in 1941 operating out of Malta it was mined and sunk in the Straits of Bonifacio, between Corsica and Sardina on 23 October 1943.
David was one of the 25 Officers and ratings who died during this action.
He is Remembered with Honour at the Plymouth Naval Memorial.
The Newcastle Journal 08/11/1943 reports with a photo:
An official notification: Missing presumed killed on active service in the Mediterranean, has been received by Mr. and Mrs. Rollo Barrett, Heddon Hall, concerning their son Sub-Lieut. David Charles Barrett (23) R.N.V.R. He was a Cambridge University man and was studying for the law before the war. His elder brother John, an officer in the Northumberland Hussars, is now a prisoner of war in Germany.
A Newcastle Diocesan Faculty 1615 16/05/1947 was raised to erect a silver plaque in an unnamed church in Gosforth which was to read:
“To the glory of God and in memory of David Charles Barrett, R.N.V.R. who gave his life for his country 23rd Oct. 1943 23 years. Given by Rollo, Freda, John, Eva, Nicholson and April.”
Whether this was ever implemented is not known. In 2017 a search in St. Columba’s Church and in St. Aidan’s Church showed that there was no such memorial is either church.
Acknowledgments Rev. G. Short, Rev. M. Dalliston and Dorothy Procter.
David Charles Barrett is remembered at Heddon on the Wall on H35.01 and H35.03 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.
