GRIMSBY TRAWLERS
and
HMS LYNX
How my family
came to Grimsby
My great grandfather, Isaac Forward, was a tailor from
Pitminster in Somerset.
He married there, and moved up through the country; first
Weston-Super-Mare and ending up in Salford. Business was good for a while, but
gradually the effects of industrialisation meant that there was very little
work for him.
He set off for America, leaving his wife and children
behind,
planning to bring them over when he had settled.
Unfortunately a giant wave swamped the ship, and he was
drowned.
SS GLAMORGAN
Warren
Line
Built
1872 W. Simons & Co
2,397
tons; 320 ft x 36.5 ft x 28.7 ft
11 knots;
compound inverted engines.
8th
February 1883 On voyage from Liverpool to Boston, she set off in bad weather.
At 1.20 am on the 14th she was struck by a tremendous wave. When she
emerged, the foremast, bridge and the deck had been stripped. The main hatches
were stove in and the engine room was flooded. The captain and seven men on
deck at the time were swept overboard, one of these men was my great
grandfather. Fortunately the weather moderated and the ship remained afloat.
On
the 16th she was sighted by the steamship REPUBLIC which took off the remaining
44 survivors, just before the GLAMORGAN finally sank.
His wife, Hannah was left destitute, and two of her
children were placed in the workhouse. One was my grandfather, Edward. He was
an accomplished cornet player and played in the silver band for the opening of
the Manchester Ship Canal. When the insurance settlement came for the death of
Isaac, she took two of her sons to Kingston-on-Hull, leaving two daughters, now
married, in Manchester. A younger son had died in Salford. She also left Edward
behind, as he had run away from the workhouse, to take up work on ships. Edward
worked all manner of ships, sail and steam, taking him from Liverpool to London
and Hull, calling at Penzance, which he liked so much he stayed there, and he
met and married my grandmother. Edward’s brothers were George and Charles
Forward. George was a fisherman and lived in Sculcoates; Charles, also a
fisherman, moved to Grimsby.
Edward was the only surviving male, as both George and
Charles were killed in the First World War. I have no details of just how Great
Uncle George died. Great Uncle Charles died on the THEBAN in 1919. Edward went
on to become a Merchant Navy officer, receiving a commendation for his actions
on convoy.
I have not yet discovered which ship or what convoy; but
there was a framed inscribed brass plate with photographs of the ship and the
convoy,
together with his potrtait as an officer.
When young, making notes of such things does not seem
important.
But that is one thing that I wish I had written down.
My grandmother was so proud of it that she hung it,
in pride of place, over the fireplace wherever she lived.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Men of Grimsby : A Record of Their War Services 1914 - 1918
Forward, Charles - Back 37 Kent Street; Minesweeping
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From CWGC
CHARLES FORWARD; Age: 45
Mercantile Marine; Fourth Hand
Steam Trawler "Theban" (Grimsby)
Died: 14th November 1919
Son of the late Mr and Mrs. Forward;
Husband of Emily Wilkinson (formerly Forward, nee Rowan),
of Back 37, Kent Street, Grimsby.
Born at Manchester
(a bit of an insult to a Salford man –
a different place, so my father used to say).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Men of Grimsby : A Record of Their War Services 1914 - 1918
Forward, Walter (Son of Charles Forward)- Back 37 Kent
Street.
22608DA - D.H. - HMT TRIBUNE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FORWARD, Charles (Son of Charles Forward) - Back 37 Kent
Street
Trained HMS ACTAEON [Shore base]; 1240 D A (Deck. Hand)
He died in August 1918; HMS LYNX.
Charles Forward junior died as a result of
wounds sustained, three years previously,
when the Destroyer HMS LYNX sank
when she struck a
mine on the 9th August 1915.
HMS
LYNX
Built
1912 London & Glasgow Shipbuilding
Co
950
tons L-class Destroyer; oil engines; 31 knots
9th
August 1915 The destroyer, under Cdr.
J.F.H. Cole, was serving in North Scottish waters; She struck a mine,
previously laid down by German raider METEOR, and sank off the Moray Firth.
73
officers and ratings, including Cdr. Cole, were drowned.
Four
officers and 22 ratings survived.
HMS Lynx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Grimsby St James Church
Memorial
Charles
Forward (junior) on Roll 7
Roll of honour 1914-1918
Charles
Forward (junior) on HMS Lynx; Calendar 81
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks to John
Readman for taking the photographs.
For more on Grimsby trawlers visit …
homepage.ntlworld.com/grimsby.trawlers/
There is also an excellent Grimsby thread on
www.shipsnostalgia.com
Raymond Forward