Name
Alexander James Hyde
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
14/10/1939
20
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Leading Supply Assistant
P/MX 54623
Royal Navy
H.M.S. Royal Oak
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL
Panel 35, Column 3.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, Royal British Legion Plaque, Payne's Park, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin, Letchworth Town Memorial
Biography
He had been born in Portsmouth and attended Pixmore School in Letchworth until he was aged 15, then he joined the staff of Kosmos Photographies Ltd. He was keen on billiards, swimming, cycling and was interested in the Scout movement and became an Assistant Cubmaster and was a member of a Rover Group. He joined the Royal Navy in 1937 at which time the Rovers gave him an inscribed fountain pen. His Service Number was P/MX54623.
He was in the Stores Department of the old 29,150 ton battleship ‘Royal Oak’ and his death coincides with the battleship being torpedoed in Scapa Flow between 01.30hrs and 01.45hrs by the German Submarine U-47 under Captain Prien. To give the impression that U-47 had left Scapa Flow, U-18 transmitted radio signals from just outside. The Royal Navy casualties numbered 786 deaths and Winston Churchill, recently appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, gave due expression of his displeasure that the Admiralty should have permitted such an attack to take place.
His name is recorded on the Portsmouth Memorial to the Missing on Panel 35, Column 3.
His parents were Charles and Dorothy Hyde of 64, Baldock Road, Letchworth and he was their youngest son. His brother Robert was in the R.A.F. They were an old naval family as his father, Charles Hyde, had served through the Great War and had died in 1923. The family lived with her parents Mr and Mrs William Bond. Mr Bond had also been in the Navy.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Paul Johnson - local historian, ‘Warship Losses in World War II’ by D. Brown, ‘‘U-Boat Operations in the 2nd World War’ by K. Wynn, Pictorial dated 17th October 1939
