Peering into the past

And fascinating it is. If you read yesterdays blip, you will recall one Joseph Tindale, my grandmother's brother who at the age of 16 was listed in the 1911 census as a pony driver in a coal mine. Yesterday I found about more about Joseph, but what makes it particularly special is that it clicks with a childhood memory.

My childhood memory

Not sure about anyone else but I recall very little about my childhood. Nothing more than odd scraps, but one of those memories is being alone with my grandma when she received a letter that made her cry. I think I was pre-school age which is why I was with her during the day whilst mum was at work. I recall her saying that she was crying because her brother had died. Now I'm not sure if it was in the same conversation or from another time, but she also once told me the story of her brother coming home from the war and simply sitting staring at the fire - traumatised we would call it now.

Joseph's story

What I found was Joseph's naval discharge papers. He served on HMS Warspite between 1915 when she was first commissioned, and 1919. Turns out that HMS Warspite is something of a naval legend, being the first Queen-Elizabeth-class battleship of the British navy, and one of the fleet of 40 British ships that took part in the only major sea battle of WWI, the battle of Jutland. Although we lost 14 ships and 6000 men, it effectively put an end to a war on the seas. Shame they couldn't achieve the same thing on land.

So, not only did young Joseph (21 by this time) witness all of this death and carnage from close quarters, but his ship was also hit by 15 German shells. I doubt that the incident my grandmother referred to happened when he was discharged in 1919 as he would not have been involved in action like that since the battle of Jutalnd. I suspect he came home on shore leave some time not long after the battle, when he was still in a state of shock.

And there was me thinking that being a pony driver was a tough life for him.

I now need to find out if he was the subject of that letter that reduced grandma to tears.

HMS Warspite
Crew of HMS Warspite being addressed by King George V in 1916
Joseph (the little curly haired boy sitting down bottom right)