Arthur Reeve Jarvis

A Petty Officer 1st Class with H.M.S. Vanguard, Arthur died on 9th of July 1917 at the age of 40. 

Arthur was born at Ipswich on 10 February 1876, a son of Samuel John and Maria Jarvis. Note, some records give his year of birth as 1878, but his birth was registered in 1876. By 1881 Arthur’s father had died and his mother married William Keeble, and the family lived at California, Wickham Market, Suffolk, and this was still their address in 1901. 

On 27 May 1911 Arthur married Mildred Burley at Saint Margaret’s Church, Lowestoft. Arthur was a Petty Officer serving on H.M.S. Hyacinth and Mildred lived at 23 Lothing Street. Mildred had lived at Wickham Market. Later Mildred lived at 5 St. Ann's Terrace, Oulton Broad.

Arthur was working as a labourer when he joined the Royal Navy, as a Boy 2nd Class, on 25 September 1893 and served continuously until his death in 1917. Arthur was serving on H.M.S. Vanguard when the First World War began and served on the ship at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

On 9 July 1917 H.M.S. Vanguard was moored at Scapa Flow. Late that day an internal explosion of cordite in the ship’s main magazine triggered other explosions and caused catastrophic damage destroying the ship, which sank immediately. Three men survived and another 843, including Arthur, were killed.