On Tower Hill Memorial, Trinity Square, London is the name of Carpenter William Powell Boulton serving on S.S. Waziristan (Newcastle upon Tyne) with the Merchant Navy who died 02/01/1942.

He was the husband of Dorothy Boulton, of East Boldon, County Durham.

Christine Davison has submitted he following:

William Powell was the son of John Quick and Mary Boulton.

William’s parents were both born in Cornwall, and their eldest daughter, Harriet, was baptised at Suny Lelaut in 1887, with their address listed as Carbis Water. John is a carpenter.

By 1891, they were living in Wales. They had 7 living children.

William was born on 17th September 1900, and the family was living at 9 Ansel Street, Penarth.

According to a report of his death, he went to Australia in 1920 with his family, but returned while his parents and siblings remained.

William married Dorothy Louisa Davison in 1924. Dorothy was born on 3rd September in Leytonstone, London. Her parents were Francis and Amy Davison.  In 1930, William and his wife Dorothy were living at West Boldon, at 3 Avondale Terrace.

The 1939 register showed them living at 22 Front Street, East Boldon. He started a haulage and coal business and seemed quite modern in his thinking; he had advertising postcards produced, which could also be used to order coal deliveries.

He is also mentioned in the Sunderland Echo, as being fined twice within two years for having defective tyres on his lorry.

William had served in the Merchant Navy during WW.1 and at the time of his demise was a carpenter on S.S. Waziristan (Newcastle upon Tyne

Waziristan was the first British ship to load military supplies in the USA for Russia and was carrying 3700 tons of military supplies, including 1000 tons of copper and 410 Ford trucks.

It was reported missing after the last sighting on the afternoon of 1st January. It was thought that the ship was lost in the thick ice or had been attacked by German aircraft. She was en route from New York to Murmansk via Sydney and Reykjavik, which she visited on 26th December 1941.

The report of the ship’s sinking says that at 06.48 hours, U-134 hit an unescorted freighter with one torpedo about 20 miles south of Bear Island, which is the southernmost island of the Norwegian archipelago and observed how the crew had abandoned ship before it sank. There were no survivors.

Carpenter Boulton died on 2nd January 1942 at sea. The reverse of his death record card said that medals were to be sent to an address in Glasgow; this may have been because Dorothy died on 14th March 1945 at East Boldon.

William Powell Boulton is remembered at East Boldon on E46.01 and in our List of Ships’ Crews.