On Tower Hill Memorial, Trinity Square, London is the name of Fireman and Trimmer James Viney serving on S.S. Thornaby with the Mercantile Marine who died 28/02/1916.

He was the son of Margaret Ann and the late William Viney and the husband of Margaret Ann Viney (nee Penn), of 1, Mordey Street, Sunderland. He was born at Sunderland.

Pauline Priano has submitted the following;

James Viney was one of 10 children of whom only 6 survived to adulthood and are known by name.

His father William Henry Viney was born at 22, Philip Street, Clifton, Bristol, Gloucestershire in 1851. He was the son of labourer William Turner Viney and Emma Acland. By the time William was 9 years old his parents had transferred the entire family to South Shields, where his father was a labourer at the water works. In 1861 the Viney family was ;living at Victoria Road, South Shields but had moved to Deptford, Sunderland, historically in County Durham, where December 25th 1876 William Viney was married to Margaret Ann Greenwell Russell.

Margaret Ann was the daughter of Jacob Russell and Ann Jewson, both natives of Yorkshire but she was born at Sunderland in 1852. Prior to her marriage she was living with the family of draper Charles Blackshaw and his wife Dorothy at 7, Thornhill Crescent, Sunderland, working for them as a domestic servant. 

William and Margaret Ann’s daughter Margaret Ann was born at Seaham Harbour in 1880, James at Sunderland in 1884, George, April 12th 1887, Emma May, December 26th 1888 and Beatrice in 1891 at East Street, Sunderland, where William was a sea-going fireman. None of his children in the 1891 census are listed as scholars. The last of their surviving children, Frederick, was born, April 4th 1894. 

By 1901 William no longer went to sea, he was listed in the census as working from home as a preserve maker (sweets), his daughter Margaret Ann (21) was a shirt maker, James (16) worked at the brewery, George (14) was an apprentice house painter. Emma May (13), Beatrice (10) and Frederick (6) remained at home with their mother.

William’s father, William Turner Viney died in 1891, his mother Emma Viney nee Acland in 1903. William Viney, who was only 54 years of age, died in 1904.

His widow Margaret Ann in 1911 was living in 3 rooms at 34, Ward Street, Sunderland. Plater’s helper James (26) supported his mother, with the help of his sister Margaret Ann (19) employed as a ironer at a laundry and his brother Frederick (16) a holder up at the shipyard. To increment the family income Margaret Ann had taken in a lodger, grocer’s warehouseman, Henry Hume (40).

October 13th 1912 at St Ignatius, Hendon, Sunderland, James Viney was married to Margaret Ann Penn. The couple settled at 1, Morden Street, Sunderland, 

A local girl, she was born, April 26th 1885, her parents were both deceased. Her late father Palmer Lacey Penn, who originated from Deal, Kent, had migrated to the north-east, settling in Sunderland where he married Mary Lucy Young. At the time of his demise his family was living at 27, Hedworth Street, Sunderland. Palmer Macey Penn was 53 years of age and serving as an Able Seaman aboard the “F. Stobart” (Sunderland) when he died of heart failure, October 5th 1907, in the vicinity of Cowes, Isle of Wight. His widow Mary Lucy Penn nee Young died at Sunderland, February 26th 1908.

As early as 1911 there were already rumblings of a possibility of war with Germany which was declared within hours of Germany, as part of a massive attack on France, invaded Belgium violating Belgian neutrality. After a request to Britain by the Belgians for help, London gave Berlin an ultimatum which expired August 4th 1914 at 11 p.m. London time. When this was ignored, King George V then declared war on Germany that same evening. In answer to Kitchener’s call to arms and the order that all regiments raise new battalions, men from all walks of life volunteered to serve their Country. 

James Viney during WW1 joined the Mercantile Marine as Fireman and Trimmer. In the absence of a military record it is impossible to know his exact movements. In 1916 he was serving aboard the S.S. Thornaby registered at West Hartlepool, built by Ropner & Sons, Stockton in 1889.

En-route from Marbella to West Hartlepool with a cargo of iron ore she was sunk at 53 degrees 04” N, 1 degree 43”E., February 28th 1916, when she hit a mine, one of several laid December 27th 1915 by U-boat UC 3 (Erwin Waßer). Fireman & Trimmer James Viney was one of 19 souls lost, deemed to have drowned and not recovered for burial. 

His sacrifice is recorded as one of 36,065 names inscribed on Tower Hill Memorial which stands in Trinity Square Gardens, Tower Hill, London, commemorating men and women of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who died in both World Wars and who have no known grave. He was 32 years of age.. Awards Mercantile Marine Medal and British War Medal.

James Viney not only left a widow but also a 3 year old son James William, born March 30th 1913.

In 1921 Margaret Ann and her son James William (8) were sharing her home at 1, Monday Street, with 3 of her sisters. Mary Penn (25) and Ethel Penn (24) tended to home duties while Eva Penn (28) was unemployed having previously been employed as a wire winder by Gelholm & Robson Sunderland Ropemakers. Margaret Ann supported them all employed by the Sunderland Board Guardian as an assistant seamstress, working at the Poor Law Institution, Hylton Road, Sunderland.

Margaret Ann Viney remarried at Sunderland in 1926 to widower Isaac Paxton, born at Easington, County Durham, July 27th 1883. His late wife Mary Ann Lake had died in June 1921 either during childbirth or soon after their son Walter was born, June 2nd 1921. In 1939, retail upholsterer Isaac and Margaret Ann were living at 2, East Street, Sunderland with Isaac’s mother Isabella and his son Walter, an apprentice shipyard driller.

Margaret Ann Paxton-Viney nee Penn died, December 28th 1950, at Sunderland, historically in County Durham until 1974, Isaac Paxton in 1966.

Details of James and Margaret Ann’s son;

James Willian Viney, a joiner by trade, was married in 1937 to May Hurst, who was born May 13th 1911. In 1939 they were  living at 19, Nora Street, Sunderland, and the following year his wife gave birth to their only child.

James William Viney died August 27th 1989 at Fulwell, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear since 1974, his demise was preceded by that of his wife May Viney nee Hurst in 1979.

In God’s safe keeping. Rest In Peace.

James Viney is remembered at Hendon on H123.02, at Sunderland in S140.48 Part 8 page 180 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.