William Thomas Patterson

A Rigger with R.F.A. Hughli, William died on 26th of April 1919 at the age of 29. 

William was born at Oulton, Lowestoft, on 4 August 1888, a son of John and Adelaide Patterson. In 1891 his family lived at Commodore Road, Oulton, and by 1901 they were living at Trinity Cottages, Commodore Road, Oulton, Lowestoft. The 1911 Census shows them at 5 Trinity Cottages, while Commonwealth War Graves records give their address as 1 Trinity Cottages.

William joined the Royal Naval Reserve on 2 November 1916, to serve as a Deck Hand, number DA 12821. he served on the trawler Strathlochy. On 25 January 1917 William transferred to the Salvage Service, as a Rigger in the Mercantile Marine Reserve. 

William married Ella May Boyce at Southampton in 1918 (note that the marriage index gives his first names as Thomas William). Ella lived at 21 Stanford Street, Lowestoft.

The Hughli was a tug that had been converted to a salvage vessel. On 26 April 1919 the Hughli was sailing from Dover to Ostend with stores and explosives. The ship was lost off Nieupoort, Belgium. There is some ambiguity about the cause of the Hughli's sinking, but, generally, it is felt that the ship was lost in a storm. Twenty-nine, of the thirty-seven crew, were drowned.   

William's sister Adelaide Parnell, and her husband William, were killed in an air raid in 1942.