On Portsmouth Naval Memorial is the name of Chaplain and Naval Instructor the Rev. George Stanley Kewney, serving on H.M.S. Queen Mary with the Royal Navy who died 31/05/1916.
In Tynemouth (Preston) cemetery is a family headstone which reads:
Here rests
Annie Simona Kewney
wife of
Stanley Kewney
who died
at Tynemouth
on the 17th Day of January
1881
and was interred on the
20th day of the same month
being the 24th
anniversary of her
birthday.
Also Stanley Kewney who died
on the 25th of April 1892
in his 49th year.
Selina, wife of Stanley Kewney
died 22nd of January 1934
in her 75th year.
George Stanley Kewney, R.N.
Eldest son of the above
Chaplain to H.M.S. Queen Mary, killed in Battle of Jutland
May 31st 1916 his 42nd birthday.
Kewney was the son of Stanley Kewney (Solicitor), and Annie Simona Kewney, of Tynemouth. He was the husband of Catherine Margaret Kewney, of Splatton Cottage, South Brent, Devon. B.A.
The Lincoln Leader and County Advertiser 10/06/1916 reports:-
Chaplain of the “Queen Mary.”
THE REV. G.S. KHWNEY LOST A DISTINGUISHED NAVAL CAREER,
HIS FORTY-SECOND BIRTHDAY.
We extend our sincerest sympathy to Mrs Wild and Miss Kewney, of Dunholme Vicarage, in the loss of their nephew, The Rev. George Stanley Kewney, B.A., R.N., Chaplain and Naval Instructor to H.M.S. Queen Mary fell in the great action. He was the eldest son of the late Mr Staney Kewney of the well-known firm of Messrs Lietch, Kewney, and Dodd, North Shields.
He was connected with Lincolnshire his Great Grandfather (the Rev. T. Stanley, D.D.) having been sometime Rector of Long Bennington, while his Grandfather (Mr, George Kewney, solicitor), formerly at Grantham was many years one of the Coroners for Lincolnshire, and, it is interesting to note, was Mayor of Grantham in the year 1841, when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle.
The Rev. G. S, Kewney was a fine cricketer and won his blue at the University. Upon leaving Pembroke College, Cambridge, he studied theology with the late Dean Vaughan at Llandaff. He had a very successful career in the Navy, and was much sought after as “Navy coach.” He was on H.M.S. Dreadnought” (flag ship) with Admiral Sir Wm. May and was one of the Instructors of H.R.H. Prince Albert on board H.M.S. “Cumberland.” When war broke out Mr. Kewney was on the “Highflyer,” when that cruiser earned the nation’s gratitude as the first battleship to sink a German cruiser (Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse). His other ships were the “Cambrian,” the “Commonwealth” and the “Formidable.”
It is a sad coincidence that May 31st was his birthday. He will long be remembered by those who knew him. His fine presence and kindliness of manner won for him many friends, and his loss is deeply deplored.
Rev. George Stanley is remembered at Barnard Castle on B135.04 and B135.20 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.
