On Portsmouth Naval Memorial is the name of Commander Henry Cecil Carr, serving on H.M.S. Bayano with the Royal Navy who died 11/03/1915.

Pauline Priano has submitted the following:-

A plaque within St. Nicholas’ Church, Gosforth, dedicated to Commander Henry Cecil Carr, Royal Navy, states he was the fourth son of the late John Carr of Gosforth, he was in fact one of 14 known children, the offspring of John Carr and Charlotte Agnes Dixon Fair.

His father John Carr was born in 1830 at Walker, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne and baptised at Long Benton, September 15th. At the age of 20 he was living with his family in the township of Coxlodge, parish of Gosforth. His farther also named John Carr was Alderman of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne and a coal owner. His mother Charlotte Agnes Dixon Fair was born at Lytham, Lancashire, she was the daughter of James and Elizabeth Fair. Her father was a land/estate agent and farmer.

John and Charlotte were married at St. John’s Church in the parish of Lytham, February 10th 1858 but settled in Gosforth, a suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1861 they were living at Bulman’s Villas, in the township of Coxlodge, where John Carr was a coal fitter and timber merchant. They had two daughters, Charlotte Edith (2) born in the parish of St. John, Newcastle upon Tyne and Emily Constance (10-months) at Gosforth. They employed 3 servants, a cook, a nurse and a housemaid. 

Charlotte gave birth almost every year for the next 9 years. Katherine Eleanor was born in 1861, Lucy Austin 1863, John Gray 1864 who died January 14th 1866, James Leonard 1865, Rosalyn M. 1866, Charles Edward, August 2nd 1868, Millicent 1869 and John Evelyn, February 21st 1871 at Roseworth, Coxlodge. With so many children to be cared for John and his wife now employed a variety of servants including, a manservant, governess, cook, 2 housemaids, a nurse and 2 general servants. 

A further 4 pregnancies completed the Carr family. Henry Cecil was born at Roseworth, Coxlodge, August 28th 1872, Reginald Ernest, February 4th 1874, George Deleval 1875 and Hubert Martin 1877. As their family increased so did the number of staff. In 1881 they employed a governess, a cook, 2 nurses and a waiting nurse, a housemaid, kitchen maid, coachman George Hilberk (51) a married man, lodge keeper Jane Stevenson (66), also her 3 sons a clerk, a joiner and a gardener. John Carr in 1881 was not only a merchant but also Justice of the Peace.

July 15th 1885, Henry Cecil Carr joined the Royal Navy and as a Midshipman, July 30th 1887 spent 5 months on the training ship Britannia. He served in the East Indies punitive expedition against the Sultan of Virtu, having transferred to the flagship, “Boadicea” in 1890 and was raised to the rank of Acting Sub Lieutenant and Sub Lieutenant in 1892 and to the rank of Lieutenant in 1894. Lieutenant Carr served in Hong Kong, where, February 7th 1901, he was  initiated as a member of the Lodge of Perseverance. June 30th 1905 he was promoted to the rank of Commander.

Commander Henry Cecil Carr was married in 1905 at Portsmouth, Hampshire, to Cicely Maud Irvin Day, born circa 1887, at Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo. She was the daughter of Major Frederick Hugh Irvin Day, H.M. Army and his second wife Florence Marjory Banks, a British Citizen born in Paris, France. Only Henry Cecil’s mother could have attended their wedding as John Carr had died, September 2nd 1894 at Berwick upon Tweed. Charlotte Agnes Dixon Carr nee Fair died, January 13th 1908.

Henry and Cicely were living in a 10 roomed residence at Belsize Park, Rochester, Kent in 1911 but had no children. They employed 3 domestic servants, a parlour maid, a housemaid and a cook.

When war was declared with Germany, August 4th 1914, Commander Carr was transferred to War Staff and joined R.M.S. “Bayano” November 23rd 1914. Built in 1913 as a banana boat for Elders & Fyffes, she had been drafted into the Royal Navy as H.M.S. Bayano, November 21st 1914, part of the 10th Cruiser Squadron.

The Admiralty had begun to use experimental indicator nets which in theory if hit by a submerged submarine would wrap around the vessel indicating its position using the buoys attached to the net which would rise to the surface. One of these experimental nets was in the North Channel through which H.M.S. Bayano was passing at a reduced speed, under the cover of darkness, en-route to Liverpool for coaling. 

At 05:15, March 11th 1915, the ship was attacked by German U-boat, SM U-27 under the command of Bernhard Wegener, about 10 nautical miles west of Corsewall Lighthouse, Corsewall Point, Galloway, Scotland and sank in about five minutes. Only 25 men were rescued from the sea as most of the crew were asleep below decks when the torpedo hit. The fortunate few were picked up by the British steamer Castlereagh. Bayano’s Lieutenant Commander Guy afterwards described how Commander Henry Cecil Carr had gone down with his ship, standing fearlessly on the bridge, waving goodbye while shouting, “Good luck to you boys,” before the ship sank, taking with her not only Commander Carr but 194 members of his crew. 

A number of bodies were later washed up on the Isle of Man where they were buried and accompanied to their graves by thousands of the islanders. SM U-27 was later sunk in the Western Approach by gunfire from H.M.S. Baralong, there were no survivors.

The sacrifice of Commander Henry Cecil Carr is commemorated as one of 24,660 names inscribed on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Southsea Common, Hampshire, commemorating members of the Royal Navy from the First & Second World War who have no known grave, the majority of whom perished at sea where no permanent memorial could be raised. Commander Carr was 42 years of age. A memorial service was held at St. Nicholas’ Church, Gosforth, April 29th 1915.

His widow received all monies due to her late husband and his awards of the Africa Medal Vitu with clasp, Ashanti Medal, WW1 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. The personal effects of Commander Carr, given residence, Elmsidale, Elmsworth, Hampshire, in the sum of £2728 10 shillings 4 pence were assigned to his brother, timber agent, Charles Edward Carr, August 28th 1915, which ironically would have been his brother Henry Cecil’s 43rd birthday.

Henry’s brother John Evelyn Carr served during WW1 with the Notts & Derby Regiment and survived the conflict as did Reginald Carr, in peacetime in command of the coast guard in Berwick upon Tweed, during WW1 he was a Commander in the Royal Navy.

Cicely Maud Irvin Carr remarried in 1919 at St. George’s Hanover Square, London to 2nd Lieutenant Victor Henry Sherwood Smith, a soldier serving with the 13th Duke of Connaught’s Own Lancers, Indian Army since January 24th 1906 and was a member of Wahabor Benevolent Lodge, Sialkot, Punjab, India. Cecily sailed to Bombay, in 1922, to join him in India.

Cicely Maud Irvin Sherwood-Smith-Carr nee Day, living at The Orchards, West Lambrook, South Petherton, Somersetshire, died, January 20th 1938, at the Hospital for Epilepsy and Paralysis, Maida Vale, Middlesex. Effects in the sum of £6121 9 shillings 6 pence were assigned to Victor Henry Sherwood-Smith, retired Lieutenant-Colonel H.M. Army and Edward John Dibdin, solicitor.

Victor Henry Sherwood-Smith remarried at Honirton, Devon in 1939 to widow and mother of two, Joyce Elizabeth Grace Wilson, born December 10th 1898, they remained at West Lambrook. Victor Henry of The Copse, Seaton, Devonshire, died, October 23rd 1944 at The Royal Devonshire and Exeter Hospital, Exeter. Effects in the sum of £2671 11 shillings 3 pence were assigned to his widow, December 18th 1944. 

His obituary reads as follows,
SHERWOOD-SMITH-On Oct. 23. 1944, at Exeter, Lt-Col. Victor H. Sherwood-Smith, late 13th D.C.O. Lancers, of the Copse, Seaton, Devon, aged 57; deeply loved husband of Jay, stepfather to John and Gordon Wilson, and son of the late Major Henry Sherwood-Smith, The Manchester Regiment. Cremation after Memorial Service, Seaton Parish Church, Saturday, Oct 28, 2.30 p.m.

Joyce Elizabeth Grace Sherwood-Smith nee Wilson, residing at 61, Ottways Lane Ashtead, Surrey, died, March 31st 1987, her demise registered at Surrey Mid-eastern. 

In God’s safe keeping. Rest In Peace.

Henry Cecil Carr is remembered at Berwick on B25.08,  at Gosforth on G9.13 and G9.21,  at Scremerston on S5.01, S5.03 (S5.05) and in our List of Ships’ Crews.