Name
William Francis Chelley
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
05/01/1941
17
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Fireman's Boy
Netherlands Merchant Navy
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Not yet known
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St. Saviour's Church Memorial, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin
Biography
For a long time this man was something of a mystery and to add to the problems he is shown as ‘John’ on the St. Saviour's Church War Memorial. However, help from his twin brother solved the mystery.
They attended St. Mary's and Wilshere Dacre Schools in Hitchin and also schools in Lancing and Brighton. Before becoming a merchant sailor, William was employed by the outfitters, Montagu Burton, in their Hitchin Branch. He was also an active member of the St. John's Ambulance Brigade.
He volunteered for the Merchant Service about September 1940, and his ship was reported to have gone down in the North Atlantic on the 5th January 1941.
At the time of his death he was serving on the Dutch steamship ‘Soemba’ as a fireman 's boy. This vessel was owned by N. V. Stoomv. Maats. of the Netherlands and had been built by N.V. Werf Conrad in 1924. It was a vessel of 6,718 tons and used turbine engines. It left Halifax on the 3rd January 1941 for the Tees with a cargo of steel. On the 5th January, about 300 miles southeast of Cape Race, the cargo shifted and the ship capsized and sank. Thirty-four of the crew were lost and 24 survivors were picked up.
The information concerning his death was given by the Consul General of the Netherlands in Singapore to the London based Consulaat General der Nederlanden in Declaration No. 5706 dated 1st September 1941 following a deposition by the former first mate of the ‘Soemba’. This is especially interesting as the Netherlands Government was in exile in London at the time, but the information was made available before the Japanese invasion of Singapore. The first mate was probably on another Dutch vessel calling at Singapore when the deposition was made.
His name does not appear in the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the National Registry of Shipping and Seamen, the Merchant Navy Memorial to the Missing at Trinity Square in London or the civil, marine or service death registers for England or Scotland. Examination of the Merchant Navy Memorial to the Missing at Trinity Square in London shows no similar name or initials on the lists of casualties. As he was serving on a Dutch vessel this is to be expected.
His parents were William Francis and Vera Roberta Chelley of 31, Bearton Rd, Hitchin and he was the twin brother of Robert Quinton Chelley. Robert at one time was a motorcycle rider at the famous Vincent H.R.D. Motorcycle factory in Stevenage.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Mr R.Q. Chelley, his twin brother, Mr J. Tuffield, neighbour at the time, Certificate No. 5706 of 1.9.41 from the Netherlands Consul General, Paul Johnson - local historian, Mr S.T.J. Wright, professional researcher, Chelmsford, Mrs M. Dignall, professional researcher, Edinburgh, Guildhall Library, London, Registrar of Shipping & Seamen, Cardiff, National Maritime Museum & Library, Greenwich, Lloyds's War Losses W.W.2. Volumes I & II., ‘Axis Submarine Successes 1939-45’ by J. Rohwer, British Vessels lost at Sea 1939-45, ‘Dictionary of Disasters at Sea’ by C. Hocking, ‘U-Boat Operations in the 2nd World War’ by K. Wynn, Herts Pictorial dated 4th Feb 1941
