PETTY OFFICER STOKER ALBERT HENRY WHEADON: 304075
Royal Navy HMS Partridge
Albert was the second son of William and Mary Wheadon, born in Bridport in 1897.
AS a young man, Albert worked as a hemp dresser but, like many young men in Bridport, he left the town in his early twenties and in May 1903, joined the Royal Navy as a stoker.
His initial engagement was for twelve years, but he extended his service in 1915… ‘till the completion’.
His naval career took him to many parts of the world. He received awards for service in Somalia and the Persian Gulf but in 1911 he was back in Portsmouth when his ship, HMS Eclipse returned to home base.
Albert was promoted through the ranks and in 1917 was a Petty Officer Stoker onboard HMS Partridge.
On December 11th that year, HMS Partridge left Lerwick in Scotland acting as part of a convoy escorting six merchant vessels to Bergen in Norway.
Four German destroyers spotted the convoy and HMS Partridge was hit almost immediately by a shell that severed her main steam pipe. The ship was unable to move and was hit again, this time by a torpedo. The Captain gave the order to abandon ship as two more torpedoes hit the vessel.
In the ensuing battle, the German destroyers sank all six merchant vessels and all but one of the escort vessels suffered the same fate.
Albert, below decks in the engine room of the Partridge stood no chance of survival.
For the Wheadon family, it was the second loss of a son in four months.
Albert is commemorated on the Portsmouth Royal Naval Memorial.
Image:
Left: Africa General Service medal. Somalia
Right: Naval General Medal. Persian Gulf