SS Elswick Lodge (Newcastle upon Tyne, 3558 gross registered tonnage, defensively armed), Mercantile Marine.
Former Unit(s):
Place Enlisted:
Place of Residence:
Ryton on Tyne, Co. Durham.
Home Address:
Woodbine Cottages, Ryton on Tyne, Co. Durham.
Previous Address:
Civilian Employment:
How Died:
Lost at sea.
Date of Death:
Monday 20th August 1917
Place of Death:
Battle/Campaign:
Locally Commemorated:
Ryton War Memorial, Station Bank, Ryton on Tyne, Co. Durham.
Ryton Holy Cross Church Shrine, Ryton on Tyne, Co. Durham.
UK Commemorated:
Tower Hill Memorial, London.
Overseas Commemorated:
-
Buried:
Decoration and Medals:
Photographs:
4
Service Records:
No
Death Notice/Obituary:
Blaydon Courier, page 8, 15th September 1917.
Family Details:
Son of Jonathan and Mary Wordingham, of Ryton on Tyne, Co. Durham. Husband of Ruth Louisa Wordingham, of Woodbine Cottage, Ryton on Tyne, Co. Durham.
Sixteen children in the family.
Notes :
Albert's father, Jonathan, was born in Warham, Norfolk, 12th August 1843. He moved to Middlesbrough during the agricultural depression. There he met and married Mary Ann Fincham. The first child was born in 1873, and there continued to be a child born every eighteen months or so for the next twenty six years. Around 1900 Albert's elder brother Jonathan went to South Africa to fight in the war. He eventually achieved notoriety as a leader in the Rand Rebellion of the 1920's. Another brother, James, also went to South Africa, although he died in 1910. Albert too went to South Africa and there he met and married his wife who was of Dutch descent. They returned to England to settle back in the North East.
Albert Victor lost his life when the Elswick Lodge was blown up. The ship was returning from the West Indies with a cargo of sugar and was in sight of the English coast when she was attacked and torpedoed by a German submarine; four lives were lost.
Sources Used:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register.
Information from family member.
