247079 Pte. James Herbert Rolfe British Army 6th Btn. Middlesex Regiment from:Acton, London (d.30th December 1917) James Rolfe was born in Acton in 1892, youngest of six children born to Henry and Alice Rolfe. The 1911 census shows him working as a newsagent. He served with the 6th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment.
On the 17th December 1917 HMT Aragon (troopship) carrying around 2,700 troops bound for the conflicts in Palestine, left Marseilles in convoy on course for Alexandria. On the 30 December she lay up ten miles off shore, awaiting her escort as the rest of the convoy sailed in to the Port of Alexandria. As she waited within sight of land she was torpedoed by the German Submarine and minelayer the UC-34. The destroyer HMS Attack and every available ship within reach came to her rescue as she sank within 15 minutes. Many of the men rescued and taken onto the HMS Attack had just stripped their oil drenched clothes from their bodies and laid on the deck when she too was torpedoed by the same submarine, almost blowing her in two.
James, aged 25 years, was amongst the 610 of the 2,700 passengers on board the HMT Aragon who were killed. His body was not recovered and he is commemorated on the Chatby Memorial in Alexandria. He is also remembered on the War Memorial, St Mary's Church, Acton, London.
|