HMS Invincible exploding at Jutland [Wikimedia]
Tuesday 6th June 1916: More news has reached Bedford of last week’s great naval battle at Jutland. Lieutenant William Goodenough Halliley, as second in command of the destroyer HMS Nomad and is believed to have perished when Nomad was sunk. After leaving Bedford Grammar School in 1897 he entered the Mercantile Marine. When the war began he joined the Navy and had previously served on HMS Albemarle[1]. Other casualties from Bedford include Chief Petty Officer Peckham of Hartington Street, whose wife has received official notification from the Admiralty that her husband went down with his ship, the Invincible, and Gunner John Kemp of Park Road, the grandson of Mr John Dixon, the Mayor’s Sergeant. He was the first boy recruited from Bedford for the Navy when the war broke out.
Mr and Mrs Robert Lilley of Dudley Street have better news of their son Charles. He was believed to have gone down on the Turbulent but they have now heard that he is safe and on his way to Portsmouth on another ship. S. G. Locke, the son of Mr Frank Locke of Kempston Road has also survived the battle. He lost all his gear but arrived home this morning for a well-earned rest; unsurprisingly he is not looking so well as he did when home on leave a month ago.
Source: Bedfordshire Times, 9th June 1916
[1] The report of Lieutenant Halliley’s death was premature and he had in fact been taken prisoner. He was the uncle of John Elton le Mesurier Halliley, better known as John le Mesurier (Sergeant Wilson in the Dad’s Army TV series).
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