On the Chatham Naval Memorial is the name of Engineer Lieutenant George Barlow, serving on H.M.S. Natal with the Royal Navy who died 30/12/1915.

In Mere Knolls Cemetery, Sunderland is a family headstone which reads:

In loving memory of
Thomas James
beloved son of
Peter & Graeme Yule
who died Jan. 18 1885,
aged 29 years.

Also
Elizabeth Jane Blumer Barlow
dearly loved wife of the above
who died Jany. 28th 1885,
aged 28 years.

And with the morn those angel faces
smile,
which we have loved long since but
lost awhile.
“Blessed are the dead which die in
the Lord.”

In loving memory of
Eng-Lieut. George Barlow R.N.
only son of
Robert Stobart
and Mary Frances Barlow
and grandson of
Peter and Graeme Yule,
who lost his life in the service
of his country, on H.M.S. Natal,
Decr. 30th 1915, aged 28 years.

George Barlow was born on the 9th September 1887 at 16 Whitburn Street, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, the only son of three children of Robert Stobart Barlow, born 23rd April 1856, died 15th February 194], and his wife Mary Frances, nee Yule, Barlow, the daughter of Peter Yule and his wife Graeme Yule, born 1860, died 28th June 1941. They were married in 1884.

The other children were:-

• Doris Barlow, born 1887.
• Marjorie, ‘Madge’ Barlow, born 1889.

George was educated at the Bede School for boys from 1900 and left in 1903. He went to Armstrong College for three years in 1903 where he gained a B. Sc., in Mechanical Engineering. His father was a School  Master who was employed by the Borough Council.

By 1901, the family resided at 29 Dundas Street, Sunderland. This was the residence of Mary Frances Yule, who resided in this house since 1871. She was a Shoe Dealer, and there were advertisements in the local papers advertising her shoes, including her shoe warehouse at 29 Dundas Street, Sunderland. She married in 1884, Robert Stobart Barlow. The family attended the Dock Street United Methodist Church which is now demolished. George’s sister Doris played the Organ at the church on occasions.

Robert Stobart Barlow was also a member of the Sunderland Volunteer Lifeboat Brigade, Roker Division where he became Honorary Secretary.

George then worked for Messrs George Dickinson, ship repairers, for three years and received his Board of Trade certificate as an extra Chief Engineer after spending three years at sea. He returned to Messrs Dickinson.

On the outbreak of war, George Barlow volunteered for the Royal Navy and enlisted on the 22nd January 1915 for temporary service. He was at the shore base ‘Victory’  as a Engineering Lieutenant then based at Portsmouth. HMS Victory was normally referred to as “the barracks” in Queen Street, Portsmouth. This is where he was allocated until his ship assignment arrived. Whilst here, he took two courses Turbine engine course and an Oil line course.

On the 24th February 1915 he was assigned to HMS Natal.  He was then commissioned as Lieutenant Engineering officer.

HMS Natal was a Warrior-class armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She escorted the royal yacht in 1911–1912 for the newly crowned King George V‘s trip to India to attend the Delhi Durbar. During World War I the ship was assigned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet, but did not participate in any battles. Natal was sunk by an internal explosion near Cromarty on the 30th December 1915 with the loss of at least 390 crewmen and civilians. Most of her wreck was slowly salvaged over the decades until the remnants were demolished in the 1970s so they were no longer a hazard to navigation. The remains of her wreck are designated as a controlled site under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 as a war grave.

At the outbreak of war, she joined the Grand Fleet and in January 1915 was refitted at Cromarty. Natal spent much of 1915 uneventfully patrolling the North Sea until she began a brief refit at the Birkenhead shipyard of Cammell Laird on the 22nd November. On the 5th December the ship rejoined the 2nd Cruiser Squadron at Scapa Flow. Twelve days later the squadron sailed to Cromarty Firth.

On the 30th December 1915, Natal was lying in the Cromarty Firth with her squadron, under the command of Captain Eric Back. The captain was hosting a film party aboard and had invited the wives and children of his officers, one civilian friend and his family, and nurses from the nearby hospital ship Drina to attend. A total of seven women, one civilian male, and three children were in attendance that afternoon.

Shortly after 15.25, and without warning, a series of violent explosions tore through the rear part of the ship. She capsized five minutes later. Some thought that she had been torpedoed by a German U-boat or detonated a submarine-laid mine, but examination of the wreckage revealed that the explosions were internal. The divers sent to investigate the ship reported that the explosions began in either the rear 9.2-inch shell room or the 3-pounder and small arms magazine. The Admiralty court-martial into the causes of her loss concluded that it was caused by an internal ammunition explosion, possibly due to faulty cordite. The Admiralty issued a revised list of the dead and missing that totalled 390 in January 1916, but did not list the women and children on board that day. Losses are listed from 390 to 421.

With her hull still visible at low water, it was Royal Navy practice on entering and leaving Cromarty right up to World War II for every warship to sound “Still”, and for officers and men to come to attention as they passed the wreck. After numerous attempts, much of the ship was salvaged. The remainder was blown up in the 1970s to level the wreck so that it would not be a hazard to navigation. The wreck itself is now designated as a controlled site under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986

A memorial to the ship was erected in Durban in 1927.  A garden known as Natal Gardens was opened on the 15th July 2000 by celebrity gardener Charlie Dimmock, at Invergordon which contains a commemorative plaque remembering Natal. The plaque itself was unveiled in June 1992.

In his will, George Barlow left effects of £615 19 shillings 11 pence to his father Robert Stobart Barlow.

By 1939, his parents had retired and were residing at Garth’s Head at Appleby where they died.

The Newcastle Daily Chronicle 18 Jan 1916 reports a meeting of the Council of Armstrong College in which Eng. Lt. Barlow was mentioned as a former student who had fallen in the war.

Sources; British Newspaper Archive

George Barlow is remembered at Durham in D47.151, at Newcastle on NUT063 and NUT263,  at Sunderland on S140.017, in S140.48 Part 8 page 153, S140.134,  in the Bedan Magazines (See Index below) and in our List of Ships’ Crews.