Name
Sidney Wodehouse Upcher
3 Nov 1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
09/07/1917
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Royal Navy
H.M.S. "Vanguard."
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL
20
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Not Applicable
UK & Other Memorials
Aldenham School Memorial, Aldenham, St Andrews Church Memorial, Hingham, Norfolk
Pre War
Sidney Wodehouse Upcher born Nov 189 was the second son of Canon Upcher & Margaret Ada Barham. He entered the Royal Navy as Midshipman Sep 1 1905 becoming Sub/Lt 30 Jan 1909 and Lieutenant on 1 Oct 1911. He served on varied ships until being posted to HMS Superb, Battleship ‘Bellerophon’ Class. In Feb 1914 he was on HMS Vanguard, of the same class. The ship was part of the Grand Fleet and took part in the Battle of Jutland (May 1916). Following a minor skirmish later that summer the Grand Fleet retired to Scapa Flow.
Wartime Service
On the afternoon of 9 July 1917, the ship's crew had been exercising, practising the routine for abandoning ship. She anchored in the northern part of Scapa Flow at about 18.30. There is no record of anyone detecting anything amiss until the moment of the explosion at 23:20.A court of inquiry heard accounts from many witnesses on nearby ships.
They accepted the consensus that there had been a small explosion with a white glare between the foremast and "A" turret, followed after a brief interval by two much larger explosions. It was decided, on the balance of the available evidence, that the main detonations were in either "P" magazine, "Q" magazine, or both. ‘P’ and ‘Q’ were Port & Starboard Wing Turrets. A great deal of debris thrown out by the explosion landed on nearby ships; a section of plating measuring five feet by six feet landed on board ‘Bellerophon’. It was matched with a sister ship, and was found to be from the central dynamo room, which reinforced the evidence suggesting that the explosion was seated in the Magazines. It was further suggested that some of the cordite was beyond its useful life and that heat from nearby boiler rooms may have contributing to overheating of the cordite in these magazines.
A total of 843 Officers and Men were lost from a complement of 845.
Biography
Additional Information
Sidney’s Brother was Cecil Upcher who served as Captain in The Norfolk Regiment. He was invalided home in 1916 and used his architectural skills to design Cottages for Norfolk War Disabled veterans. Many of his drawings of the trench life are in the Norfolk Regiment Museum’s Great War display.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Tony James
