Six: Stoker 1st Class T. H. Humphreys, Royal Navy, who served aboard H.M. Ships Nestor and Onslow in the Great War

1914-15 Star (K.14672 Sto. 1, R.N.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. oakleaf (K.14672 Sto. 1, R.N.); Defence Medal; Royal Fleet Reserve L.S. & G.C., G.V.R., 1st issue (K.14672 (Po.B. 15261) Sto. 1, R.F.R.); Romania, Medal for Hardihood and Loyalty, 3rd Class with swords, bronze, unnamed, some contact marks, very fine (6) £1000-1200

M.I.D. London Gazette 14 September 1918. ‘.... for services in action with enemy submarines’.

Medal for Hardihood and Loyalty London Gazette 17 March 1919.

Thomas Henry Humphreys was born in Liverpool on 10 January 1893. An Engineer Labourer by occupation, he entered the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class on 9 April 1912, being advanced to Stoker 1st Class in May 1913 when on the battleship King Edward VII. Posted to Woolwich in December 1913, he served aboard the destroyer Nestor until 31 May 1916. Nestor was sunk in a ‘V.C. action’ at the battle of Jutland. As Humphreys does not feature in the list of Nestor’s survivors, it must be assumed that he had left the ship just hours before the fateful engagement. Having made his lucky escape, he then joined another destroyer veteran of Jutland, joining the Onslow in October 1916, remaining with her until March 1919. For his service aboard the vessel he was both mentioned in despatches and awarded the Romanian Medal for Hardihood and Freedom. Both awards seem likely to have been made in connection with the incident when Onslow was attacked by a German submarine on 25 February 1918. The ship retaliated and sank the submarine with depth charges.

After the war Humphreys transferred to the Submarine Service at Dolphin and served on the K.14, April 1921-March 1924. Fortune shined on him yet again as he survived duty on the ill-fated class of submarines and he joined the R.F.R. in 1924. During the Second World War he is believed to have been an A.R.P. Warden in Liverpool. He died in April 1985. With copied service paper, gazette extracts and other research.