Able Seaman Walter Boughen
| Date of Birth | 3 October 1891 |
|---|---|
| Age at Death | 24 |
| Date of Death | 1 June 1916 |
| Service Number | SS/3189 |
| Military Service | HMS Turbulent |
| Merton Address | 2 Benedict Terrace, Mitcham |
| Local Memorial | Mitcham War Memorial |
Additional Information
Walter was born in Rotherhithe on 3 October 1891, and was baptised at St. Crispin, Bermondsey. His father Charles Robert Boughen was a Postman, and lived with his wife Harriet at 412 Southwark Park Road, Rotherhithe. The family lived at different addresses in the area until 1907 when Walter’s mother died. According to the 1911 Census, his father Charles was a patient in Guy’s Hospital, and died the following year.
Walter joined the Navy as an Ordinary Seaman in 6 Oct 1909 aged 18, where he served on various vessels, including the HMS Pembroke, Antrim and Hearty. Between May 1910 to March 1912, he served on the HMS Bacchante, and the 1911 Census records that the ship was moored somewhere in the Mediterranean at the time. When Walter enrolled, he was employed as a Booking Clerk, and was described as being 5 foot 4 inches in height with brown hair and grey eyes. He also sported a Buffalo Bill tattoo on his right arm.
Walter married Ethel May Pearcey in 1913, and in 1914 their son Charles Alfred was born while they were living at 2 Benedict Terrace, Mitcham.
When the War broke out, Walter had since been promoted to Able Seaman, and was serving on the HMS Chatham, then the Pembroke. In May 1916 he transferred to the Destroyer HMS Turbulent where he was involved in the Battle of Jutland, which was the largest naval battle and only full-scale clash of battleships in that war.
The Turbulent was rammed by the German Battleship SMS Westfalen during the early hours of the 1 June 1916 and sunk with only 13 survivors out of a crew of 109. Fourteen British and eleven German ships sank, with a total of 9,823 casualties. Both sides claimed victory, but the British lost more ships and twice as many sailors but succeeded in containing the German Fleet.
Walter lost his life on that day, and is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial, and locally on the Mitcham War Memorial.
Walter’s widow Ethel remarried in 1923 to Edmund Cresswell. Walter’s son Charles married Alma Jessop in 1916 at St Peter and Paul Church, while living with his mother at 156 Western Road, Mitcham.