Thomas William Holland

An Ordinary Seaman with S. S. Oriole (London). Thomas died on 30th of January 1915 at the age of 23. 

Thomas was born at Lowestoft on 3 May 1891, a son of Robert and Ann Elizabeth Holland. He was baptised at Saint Margaret's Church, Lowestoft, on 29 May 1891 and his family lived at Maltsters Score. In 1901 their address was 9 Maltsters Score and by 1911 they were living at 15 Dove Street, and Thomas was a herring fisherman. 

On 29 January 1915 the S.S. Oriole set sail from London to take its cargo to Le Havre. The ship was last seen, off Dungeness, on 30th January 1915. The ship had been torpedoed by a German submarine. In February 1915 two life buoys from the ship washed up in Sussex. In March 1915 a bottle was found by a Guernsey fisherman containing a note written by the ship's carpenter saying 'Oriole torpedoed - sinking'. All 21 crew were lost.

See: SS Oriole and the blockade of the UK | Great War London (wordpress.com)