Samuel George Edmunds

A Deck Hand with H.M.P.M.S. Ascot. Samuel died on 10th of November 1918 at the age of 22. 

Samuel was born at Lowestoft on 31 October 1896, a son of James and Maud Edmunds. By 1901 Samuel's father had died and his mother married Charles Forwood and they lived at 8 Gun Lane, Lowestoft. Later they lived at 82 Queens Road.  

At Lowestoft Petty Sessions on 21 November 1910 Samuel was found guilty of stealing 31 herring worth 9d (9 pence). He was sentenced to four years detention: until he was 19 years of age. In 1911 he was at the Kerrison Reformatory School, Thorndon, Suffolk. 

Samuel joined the Royal Naval Reserve on 19 December 1916. On 1 December 1917 he joined H.M.S. Pekin and on 6 June 1918 he was drafted to H.M. Paddle Mine Sweeper Ascot.  

The Ascot was the last ship to be sunk before the Armistice. The ship was torpedoed by U-67 off the Farne Isles. Thirty men died in the loss of the ship.