Arthur Soanes

A Deck Hand with H.M. Smack Ethel and Millie, Arthur died on 16th of August 1917 at the age of 38. 

Arthur was born at Burgh St. Peter, Norfolk, on 6 January 1879, a son of George and Sarah Soanes. He was baptised at Aldeby, Suffolk, on 20 July 1879. In 1881 his family lived at Beccles Road, Burgh St. Peter. 

In 1900 Arthur married Florence Humphreys, this registered in the Hackney district. In 1901 they lived at 32 Franklin Street, Tottenham, London, and Arthur worked as a waiter at the Cocoa Rooms a temperance establishment. By 1911 they were living at 67 Lealand Road, Tottenham, and Arthur was an insurance agent. They were still living at Lealand Road in May 1916. By March 1918 Florence was living at 97 Carlton Road, Lowestoft.  

Arthur joined the Royal Naval Reserve on 22 May 1916. He served on the trawler North King before joining the Ethel and Millie. The Ethel and Millie, LT 200, was a decoy or Q Ship that was also known as the Boy Alfred and the Ledger. 

On 15 August 1917 the Ethel and Millie, in the company of the trawler Nelson, under Skipper Thomas Crisp, was fishing off the Humber. About 2.45 p.m. a submarine engaged the Nelson at long range and the skipper brought the Ethel and Millie into the engagement and attempted to bring fire on the submarine. However, the Ethel and Millie was severely damaged by shellfire from the submarine. Arthur, and the other crew, were forced to take to a lifeboat while the trawler sank.

Official records show that initially it was assumed that Arthur, and the other crew, had been taken prisoner. This notion was perhaps instigated by reports from the crew of the Nelson who stated that they had seen the Ethel and Millie’s crew on the deck of the German submarine. In September 1917 Arthur was officially declared as missing and in March 1918 the admiralty concluded that he had been killed on 16 August 1917. The Royal Navy War Graves register lists Arthur and four other crew of the Ethel and Millie and states ‘Presumed to have lost their lives on 16th August 1917 when H.M. Smack Ethel and Millie was sunk by an enemy submarine.’