Private George James Schofield
| Date of Birth | c. 1896 |
|---|---|
| Age at Death | 19 |
| Date of Death | 13 August 1915 |
| Service Number | 11952 |
| Military Service | 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment |
| Merton Address | 34 Sibthorpe Road |
| Local Memorial | St. Mark's Church, Mitcham |
Additional Information
George was born early in 1806 and baptised on 16 February that year at St John the Evangelist Church in Dulwich.
His parents were George Henry Schofield, a Warehouse worker, and Emma. Young George had six siblings, older sisters Elen Mabel and Florence Edith and younger brothers and sisters, Bertie William, Reginald Thomas, Beatrice Victoria and John Harold.
The family had moved from Dulwich to Mitcham by 1901 and were living at 34 Sibthorpe Road and by 1911 George was employed at the Glove Factory as a dry cleaner.
George enlisted in 1914 in the Hampshire Regiment 2nd Battalion as a Private.
He was killed when the ship carrying members of his battalion to Gallipoli was sunk by a German U boat and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial’
HMT Royal Edward (ref Wikipedia)
The Royal Edward was originally named RMS Cairo and was built in Goven, Scotland in 1907. She was purchased in 1910 by the Canadian Northern Steamship Company and refitted for service in the North Atlantic. On 28 July 1915, Royal Edward embarked 1,367 officers and men at Avonmouth. The majority were reinforcements for the British 29th Infantry Division, with members of the Royal Army Medical Corps. All were destined for Gallipoli. Royal Edward was reported off the Lizard on the evening of 28 July, and had arrived at Alexandria on 10 August.
On the morning of 13 August, Royal Edward passed the British hospital ship Soudan, heading in the opposite direction. Oberleutnant zur See Heino von Heimburg in the German submarine UB-14 was off the island of Kandeloussa and saw both ships. He allowed Soudan to pass unmolested, and focused his attention on the unescorted Royal Edward some 6 nautical miles (11 km) off Kandelioussa. He launched one of UB-14's two torpedoes from about 1 mile (1.6 km) away and hit Royal Edward in the stern. She sank by the stern within six minutes.
Royal Edward was able to get off an SOS before losing power, and Soudan arrived on the scene at 10:00 after making a 180° turn and rescued 440 men in six hours. Two French destroyers and some trawlers rescued another 221. According to authors James Wise and Scott Baron, Royal Edward's death toll was 935 and was high because Royal Edward had just completed a boat drill and the majority of the men were below decks re-stowing their equipment. Other sources report different numbers of casualties but an Admiralty casualty list, published in The Times in September 1915, named 13 officers and 851 troops as missing believed drowned, a total of 864 lost, including posthumous Victoria Cross recipient Cuthbert Bromley and footballer Walter Miller.