Name
Albert Richard Alexander Cathery
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
26/11/1914
38
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Engine Room Artificer 1st Class
269862
Royal Navy
H.M.S. Bulwark
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL
Panel 3.
United Kingdom
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary's Parish Church Memorial, Watford
Pre War
Son of the late Charles [James] and Mary (nee MARTIN) CATHERY; husband of Phoebe Elizabeth (nee STEPHENS) CATHERY.
His parents married 15 August 1861 at St Mark’s, St Pancras, London. Mary died 1892 in the Christchurch, Hants, district aged 49. Charles remarried 21 September 1895 at West Hackney Parish Church, London, to Fanny Edith COCKERTON. Charles died 26 February 1898 in London aged 57; Fanny died 1916 in the Shoreditch, London, district aged 67.
Albert was born 6 or 16 January 1876 in Hackney, and baptised 23 April 1876 at St John’s, Hackney. He married 9 June 1901 at St Mary’s, Watford; they had three children. Phoebe never remarried and died 1946 in the Watford district aged 65.
On the 1881 Census, aged 5 he lived in West Ham, Essex, with his parents and three siblings. On the 1891 Census, at school aged 15, he lived in Hackney, with his parents and one sibling. On the 1901 Census, an acting Engine Room Artificer 4th Class aged 25, he was serving aboard H.M.S. Prince George, Gibraltar Bay. On the 1911 Census, an Engine Room Artificer aged 35, he lived in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, with his wife and two children.
Wartime Service
He originally enlisted 20 September 1899 for a period of 12 years, and re-enlisted 20 September 1911: a fitter and turner, 5’11½” tall.
Whilst anchored near Sheerness, Bulwark was destroyed by a large internal explosion with the loss of 736 men.
The explosion was likely to have been caused by the overheating of cordite charges that had been placed adjacent to a boiler room bulkhead. His body was not recovered for burial; his widow of Southsea, Hants, was notified of his death.
He was entitled to the Victory, British War and 1914 Star medals.
Additional Information
There is an article about Albert in the West Herts and Watford Observer dated 5 December 1914; and In Memoriam in the issues dated 27 November 1915, 25 November 1916, 8 December 1917, and 30 November 1918.
Acknowledgments
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
