262693 C/Stkr. Edward Bunce Royal Navy HMS Hogue (d.22nd Sep 1914) Edward Bunce was born on 2nd of May 1871 at Tetsworth, Oxfordshire according to his naval record. However, he was christened at St. Nicholas' Church, Ibstone, Buckinghamshire. The apparent discrepancy may be solved by the fact that the Oxfordshire/Buckinghamshire county boundaries ran through Ibstone, and the Post Office in Ibstone, of which a relative was postmistress, came under Tetsworth. In all other records his place of birth is given as Ibstone. He was my second great uncle.
Edward joined the Royal Navy on 5th of October 1891 at the age of 20, initially signing on for 12 years. His occupation prior to enlistment was given as grocer on his naval service record.
He served on a number of ships as Chief Stoker, and when ashore appears to have been based at HMS Pembroke, the land-based barracks at Chatham. On 2nd of April 1911, the night of the 1911 Census, he was on the ship HMS Viking, a torpedo boat destroyer, which was moored off Parkeston, near Harwich, Essex.
Later that year he married Roberta Elizabeth Swan on 30th of December 1911. They had one son, Cecil. Their home was in Gillingham, Kent, close to Chatham.
Edward Bunce was killed on 22nd of September 1914, aged 43, just seven weeks into the First World War. He was a Chief Stoker on board HMS Hogue, which together with HMS Aboukir, and HMS Cressy formed the 7th Cruiser Squadron, whose task was to patrol the Broad 14s area of the North Sea, off the Netherlands coast. They were a blocking force to support British destroyers and submarines based at Harwich, which protected the eastern end of the English Channel from German warships and submarines attacking the supply route between England and France.
The three ships were large old armoured cruisers, and were not suited to warfare, and were largely manned by inexperienced reservists. In consequence they were nicknamed the Live Bait Squadron.
Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, was of the view these ships should not have been employed in the capacity in which they were engaged, but his opinion was ignored.
The Hogue had been re-fitted in 1912-1913.
While patrolling the North Sea, the ships were travelling NNE about 10 knots and not zig-zagging, as U boats had not been observed. The weather had been inclement until 21st of September 1914, such that German U boats had remained submerged.
On 22nd September the weather had improved. The German submarine U9, with a crew fewer than thirty, captained by Lt. Otto Weddingen, fired on the Aboukir at about 6.25 a.m. The Hogue drew nearer to pick up the survivors, but was attacked, at about 6.55 a.m., by two torpedoes fired at a 300 yard range from the U9, one reputedly hitting under the aft 9.2 inch magazine, causing the engine room to flood. Various different accounts say the Hogue sank in between three and fifteen minutes, but in any event, it was rapid. The Cressy was torpedoed while attempting to rescue survivors from both the Aboukir and Hogue. All three ships sank in less than an hour. There are conflicting reports as to the number of survivors from the three ships, but it was between 837 and 918. However 1495 men lost their lives. After this incident the Royal Navy banned the practice of rescuing survivors. Several British trawlers and Dutch ships rescued survivors mid-morning.
Otto Weddingen was awarded the German Iron Cross (First and Second Class) but was to die less than six months after the sinking of HMS Hogue, killed by HMS Dreadnought.
Edward Bunce was posthumously awarded the Star, Victory and British War Medals, which were given to his widow. He is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial. In 2005 his Long Service Medal appeared for sale on the Southern Medals website.
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