In Gillingham (Woodlands) Cemetery, Kent is the Commonwealth War Grave of K/26183 Stoker 1st Class Robert Knight serving on H.M.S. Glatton with the Royal Navy who died 16/09/1918.
He was the husband of Mary Jane Knight of 23 Front Street, Burnopfield, Co. Durham.
Brenda McMahon has submitted the following:-
Very little is known about the early life of this sailor except that he was born August 26th 1888 at Durham. He worked as a carter.
He married Mary Jane Lawther in 1911, the marriage being registered at Gateshead. The couple went on to have 2 children namely John Roderick and on October 27th 1918 Mary Robertina who sadly was born only a month after her father had been killed whilst on active service.
Robert originally served with the Royal Scots Regiment but a note on his records suggests he was a deserter so was dismissed from the army. However the Royal Navy accepted him as a Stoker 1st Class on August 14th 1915. His navy records show Robert to be of very good character throughout his service with them except for a couple of occasions when he got himself into trouble. Although the records do not show details his offences, they resulted in him being imprisoned in cells for 14 days in May 1918 then again for 7 days in August 1918.
He was 5 feet 1 inch tall with brown hair and eyes and a fresh complexion. He had a tattoo on left forearm with letters RKML (apparently the initials of himself and his sweetheart). In addition he had 2 large scars and a brown birth mark on his back.
Robert joined the crew of H.M.S. Glatton on August 31st 1918. By September 11th 1918 H.M.S. Glatton was en-route to patrol the waters around Dover Harbour in advance of a military offensive.
At 17 minutes past six on the fateful day of September 16th 1918 a small explosion occurred igniting a store of cordite starting a fire. Despite trying to put out the fire by flooding the compartment it was impossible to contain. Vice Admiral Roger Keyes decided to take cover aboard the nearby H.M.S. Cossack. He was concerned about the danger to other munition ships close by and also the town of Dover. However his next decision seemed counter-productive as he ordered Glatton to be blown up whilst the crew was still aboard. H.M.S. Cossack launched two torpedoes to sink Glatton but these failed. Keyes subsequently ordered the H.M.S Myng to fire its turrets at the ruptured hull and quell any concerns of triggering H.M.S. Gransha. Sixty crew men were killed by this manoeuvre, with a further nineteen dying of burns.
Robert’s wife, Mary Jane Knight of 23 Front Street, Burnopfield was informed of his death as his next of kin. She was allocated a pension 25 shillings 5d weekly from March 20th 1919.
She later remarried and became Mrs Walker.
Medals: 1915 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.
The wreck of H.M.S. Glatton remained in Dover Harbour for many years as salvage was delayed due to the expense of the exercise. However the Glatton proved to be very dangerous to other ships in the Channel so on March 16th 1926 the ship was moved to a safer location. Its current site is buried under a car park ferry terminal out of danger to other sea traffic.
Information from Website Maritime Archaeology Trust
The remains of the 58 sailors who sank with H.M.S. Glatton in Dover Harbour were placed in a single grave in Gillingham Cemetery on 4 April 1930 having been brought from Chatham’s Naval Hospital with full military honours. A further 21 men were also lost, and these were men who sadly died of their injuries following their rescue.
Information from A belated burial – The crew of H.M.S. Glatton
Robert Knight is remembered at Burnopfield on B155.01, at Byermoor on B158.01 and on our List of Ships’ Crews.
