Private George Francis Drewett

George was born in Maidstone in 1879, the third son of Samuel Wesley Drewett and Kate and he grew up in Peacock Street Newington.
On 17 September 1895, just before his 16th birthday, he enlisted in the Navy. He served in the South African War and at the time of the 1901 census he was part of the crew of Thetis, an Apollo class protected cruiser used to lay mines.

He left the Navy and became a Police Officer. He married Harriet Elizabeth Gosnell at St Thomas Church, Lambeth on 24 November 1901. Their eldest son George was born in Brixton in 1903 followed by Constance in 1905; Arthur (1907), Harry (1909) and Henry (1909) were all born in Tooting and by 1911 they were living in Mitcham where Leslie was born, followed by Cecil in 1913. Their Mitcham address was 3 Elmfield Avenue in 1911 but by 1914 they had moved to 85 Fernlea Road, Mitcham.

George enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry as a Private and served on HMS Hawke which was torpedoed on 15 October 1914.
“On 15 October, the 10th Cruiser Squadron was on patrol off the Scottish east coast (Aberdeen being exactly 100 miles to the south west). The 10th Cruiser Squadron comprised of 'Edgar' class vessels and were among the oldest operational warships in the Royal Navy, HMS Hawke having being launched in 1891. The ships of the squadron were deployed in line abreast at intervals of about 10 miles. The plan was for the vessels to assist with the blockade between Norway and the Shetland Islands.
Hawke stopped at 9:30 am to pick up mail from another vessel (this was undertaken by dropping a small cutter to ferry the mail across to the Hawke). After recovering the small cutter, and out of sight of the rest of the Squadron, Hawke hastened to catch up, and proceeded at 13 knots but without zig-zagging to regain her station with the other ships. At 10:30 a single torpedo from the German submarine hit HMS Hawke.

Some accounts of the sinking have survived:
“We were struck right amid ships between the two funnels, quite close to one of the magazines. All hands were on deck, and it was a terrible explosion. The vessel immediately took a heavy list to starboard. I have never been on a ship so well equipped with life saving apparatus, but the way the vessel heeled over made it almost impossible to get the boats out. The boat in which I was saved had a narrow escape from being taken down with the suction. We were struck about 11o’clock in the forenoon, and just as we got away from the Hawke, we distinctly saw the periscope of the enemy’s submarine come to the surface. We thought he was going to ram us, but apparently he was on the lookout for any other rescuing vessels. Prior to the accident the Hawke was cruising about zigzag fashion, and we never saw the submarine until we felt her. It was beginning to get hazy when we were almost run down by the Norwegian steamer which picked us up. This boat, after affecting the rescue, cruised about in search of the rafts, but nothing was seen.”
Source – Wikipedia

524 officers and men are believed to have died, George Francis Drewett among them. He is commemorated in the chapel at Chatham Dockyard and in St Mark’s Church, Mitcham