William George Barber

A Third Hand with Steam Trawler Newhaven (Lowestoft), William died on 15th of January 1940 at the age of 45. 

William was born at Broome, Norfolk, on 14 December 1895, a son of Robert and Anna Barber, and was baptised at Saint Michale’s Church, Broome, on 12 January 1896. By 1901 William’s father had died and his family lived at Yarmouth Road, Broome. In 1911 they lived, with William’s uncle, at 10 The Street, Oulton, and William was a farm labourer. 

William was living at Kemps Heath when he joined the Royal Naval Reserve, number 8279/DA, on 27 July 1915 and served as a Deck Hand on the requisitioned trawler Victor and Mary. He joined the drifter Eglise on 3 September 1915 and joined the trawler Coltman on 12 November 1918. He was demobilized on 10 March 1919 and gave his address as The Street, Oulton. By 1922 he was living at Wood Farm, Gunton. 

William married Ethel Green, of Scole, at Lowestoft on 18 January 1926. In 1939, when William was a fisherman (weekly articles) they lived at 20 Crown Street and by 1942 Ethel had returned to Scole. 

William sailed with Consolidated Fisheries for around twenty years, but only joined the Newhaven about a month before the trawler was presumed to have been lost, around 18 miles south south-east of Lowestoft, due to a mine explosion.