Part of the
Acorn Archive
Hearts of Oak
Charles Lewis
Royal Navy [1891-1905]
and
Coastguard [1906-1945]
Introduction
I
was entrusted with these documents by a neighbour,
who
had mentioned that these were stuffed away in the attic
and
they did not know what to do with them.
There
are also photographs of Devonport Signal School members 1910
and
HMS PRESIDENT signals seamen, Cullercoats
c1916.
Charles Lewis born 3rd
December 1875, Fremington, near Barnstaple, Devon.
He was an errand boy before
joining the Navy.
Charles Lewis joined the Navy
from Barnstaple, Devon on 4th August 1891.
Service
1891-1900 HMS IMPREGNABLE, HMS
GANGES, HMS VIVID, HMS BELLEISLE, HMS MELAMPUS, HMS UNDAUNTED, HMS CAMBRIDGE,
HMS DEFIANCE, HMS BRITTANIA.
1900-1903 HMS BLANCHE West
Coast of Africa Station.
1904-1906 HMS BARFLEUR, HMS
VIVID, HMS DEFIANCE,
HMS VICTORY.
1906 Joined Coastguard
Service. Tol-Pedn, Lundy Island, Rame Head.
1915-1922 Joined Admiralty W/T London, Eastern
Cullercoats, Sheerness, Tranmore South (Ireland), Dunmore, Roches Point,
Renmore (Petty Officer),
St Mawes.
1922-1947 Croyde (BoT) Chief Officer.
Qualified Gunnery and Torpedo;
Oct 1898; HMS CAMBRIDGE.
Other qualifications in
Gunnery and Torpedo
Jan 1899; Nov 1900; Oct 1904; Jan 1905
December 2nd 1900
Charles Lewis, Nr1 Mess, HMS
BLANCHE
Home address : 26, Newington Street,
Barnstaple, Devon
Passed Leading Telegraphist
1916 on Lundy Island.
Passed at Whitehall W/T
Station Petty Officer Telegraphist 1916.
Received
South Africa Medal 1903
LS & GC Medal September
1917
British War Medal April 1922
In
August of 1944, adding to his original diary,
which
he had kept in a notebook
given
to him by his mother on the 3rd December 1900,
Charles
Lewis sat down and recorded more of his life and career.
If
you want a way to define Charles Lewis, I suppose it is represented in a
newspaper clipping he has kept in the Diary, well in the front pages;
he
took this with him from England, took it through the remainder of his time
in
the RN, and kept it all through his time as a Coastguard,
and
it is still here today, over a hundred years later.
It
is as much a part of his story as his own records;
This
story touched his heart; I transcribe it here now …..
“The
instinct of the gentleman survives under queer exteriors. In one instance the disguise
is that of a bootblack, who all day long cries “Shine, sir, Shine”, near The
Elephant and Castle. Some little time ago, near his pitch, there appeared a
decrepit and tottery old woman, deformed, and not pleasant to look upon. She
stood upon the kerbstone, and gazed bewildered at the kaleidoscopic traffic.
She badly needed a pilot. One appeared. It was the bootblack. Raising his cap
with a blackinged fist, he whispered something to her; he wiped his grimy hands
upon his trousers, and gently led her over the crossing, saw her safely on to
the path, raised his cap once more, and the next minute was down on his knees
at his blacking box, crying, “Shine ‘em, sir, shine”.
One
could not but feel that there would be many men whose boots
he
would black that day, unworthy to perform that office for him.”
Raymond Forward