May 31, 1916.....100 years ago: The Battle of Jutland

The Battle of Jutland happened 100 years ago on this day.

6,097 British lives were lost. Over 2,000 Germans died.

I had never given much thought to this battle until I recently discovered that an ancestor perished on board one of those ships. I've blogged about Alfred George Palmer before, so I won't repeat all the details here. Please CLICK HERE to read that story.

If I ever return to England I'll try to look up this memorial.

I think it would be thrilling to visit it and pay my respects.

I found a battle fleet chart online, and you can see the Broke ship in the 4th Flotilla:

Here is a LIST of men killed on board HMS Broke.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

Every man remembered

A really lovely memorial website to remember the fallen soldiers in WWI:

Every Man Remembered

Tonight I remembered my first cousin 2xs removed, Alfred George Palmer.

By Loretta (Williams) Houben

Alfred George Palmer, cousin to my grandma, Alma May Palmer.

(photo kindly provided by Angie Hodges on Nov 16, 2015)

On November 13, 2015, while searching on UK Ancestry where I'm currently a member, I discovered Alfred George Palmer. Alfred is my 1st cousin, 2xs removed. He was the son of Henry George Palmer, brother of my great grandpa, Herbert Henry Palmer. They were the sons of George Palmer my great great grandpa.

Alfred died at age 21 on May 31, 1916 in the Battle of Jutland.

The above shows the list of ships Alfred worked on.

HMS Broke where Alfred died.

I had a great time searching online for any information I could find.

This image is from Panel 3 in Stoke sub Hamdon, England, on top of Ham Hill, at the memorial built to remember the men who died in WWI.
Here is the LINK to the website.

From the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The above shows Alfred's name on the right hand side.

By entering Alfred's name and date of death into the Google search engine, I discovered a wonderful website:

Stoke sub Hamdon

It contains a letter sent to Alfred's family with details of his death.

The site is written by Angie Hodges, and after an inquiry sent to her on the weekend, she kindly replied today and sent me the photo at the top of this post.

Although it's a blurred image I'm thrilled to have it, as I have no other image of Alfred.

Isn't it amazing what happens if you begin to research into your family tree?

You never know where you will wind up.

March 30, 2016  I added Alfred Palmer's details to "Lives of the First World War" website today.

The 100th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland is this year, 2016.

By Loretta Williams Houben