On Tower Hill Memorial is the name of First Engineer George McHugh, serving on Thornaby (West Hartlepool) with the Mercantile Marine who died 28/02/1916.

The son of James McHugh and the late Isabella McHugh and the husband of Margaret Hopper McHugh (nee Hindmarch), of 10, Romilly Street, South Shields. He was born at South Shields.

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.

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. 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 remembered at South Shields on S86.102, in the Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-18 (London)  and in our List of Ships’ Crews.