|
The Russell Family Index of Official Parish Registries and Statutory Registries for Births, Marriages and Deaths
Winifred Russell & Jock Waugh | Joy Russell & Jock Waugh The Russell Family
in London, England, Post World War I Agnes Effie Fortune Hunter's great-great-grandparents (on her mother's side) were Andrew Jardine and Elizabeth Johnstone and her great-grandparents were Andrew Bell and Margaret Angus. Robert Russell's great grandparent's were George Aimer and Margaret Scott and David Smith and Ann Milne. Robert (Bob) Russell married Agnes (Ethel) Effie Fortune Hunter on April 12, 1909, at the St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Dundee, Scotland. They had three children: Ronald (born November 27, 1910), Winifred (born April 7, 1913), and Violet Joyce (aka Joy / Bunty) (born August 8, 1922).
Robert Russell began his merchant marine sailing career aboard the Renee Rickmers in 1900-1901. He boarded the Falls of Halladale on October 4, 1901, sailing from Portland, Oregon (via San Francisco and Valparaiso, Chile and around Cape Horn), to Grimsby, England (arriving April 9, 1902). He also served aboard the SY Aurora, the Baron Dalmeny, the Tregantle, Glenisla, Gloamin, SS Melmore, SS Lynx, SS Ibex, Sir Arthur, War Dart, Dresden, Newquay, Sir Francis, New Pelton, Harberton, Deptford (he survived the sinking of the Deptford by a German mine on February 24, 1915), SS Sir Arthur (in Admiralty Service from 1916-1918), as First Mate aboard the Maidenhead (ex-Newquay) from 1924-1929, and as Captain of the SS Fairriver for Paterson Steamships, Ltd. in 1929. His travels included ports of call such as Calcutta, Bombay, Colombo, Port Said, Greece, Alexandria, Mariupol, Ukraine, Algiers, Mozambique, the Canary Islands, River Platte (Argentina), Norway, Italy, Rotterdam, Baltimore, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Montreal, Quebec and Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. Robert Russell's
Mercantile Marine Continuous
Certificate of Discharge
For more on Robert
Russell's pre-marriage voyages, see the
The Russell Family
Robert Russell and Agnes Hunter were married on April 12, 1909, in the Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in Dundee, Scotland.
 Jean (?) & Agnes (Ethel) Hunter c 1909 Jean married Jack Drury
 St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Dundee, c 1909 Photograph by Alexander Wilson Robert's certificates of discharge indicate that he disembarked from the Gloamin on April 10, 1909, and boarded the ship again on April 13, 1909. Not much time for a honeymoon!  Dundee Harbour with St. Paul's in distance Photograph by Alexander Wilson The Gloamin was in Cardiff on April 28, 1909, and had passed through the Suez Canal to arrive in Kakinada (Cocanada) Andhra Pradesh, India, on June 18, 1909. The ship would have passed back through the Suez Canal and arrived in Marseilles, France, on July 27, and was in Mariupol, Ukraine (via Constantinople and through the Bosphorus and into the Black Sea) on August 11, 1909. The ship continued back through the Suez Canal and on to Laurenco Marquez (Maputo), Mozambique, arriving there on Oct 18, 1909. Their next port-of-call was Mormugao, India (near Goa), arriving there on December 3, 1909. British Registered Steam Vessels, 1904, S.S. Gloamin
Agreement and Account
of Crew, Foreign-Going Ship, Gloamin, 1908
 British Vice Consulate, Mariupol, Ukraine, August 11, 1909 See Agreement and Account of Crew, Foreign-Going Ship, Gloamin, 1908-1909
Robert Russell was
discharged from service aboard the Gloamin on Jan 27,
1910, in South Shields, England.
Robert Russell received his Certificate of Competency As Master For Foreign-Going Steamships Only on April 8, 1910.
He was aboard the SS Melmore from June 15 to July 4, the SS Lynx from July 25 to Aug 8 and the Ibex from Aug 8 to Aug 14, (all to and from Weymouth or Plymouth to Nantes, France). The Melmore, Lynx and Ibex were ships belonging to the Great Western Railway Company. The Great Western Railway's ships operated in connection with the company's trains to provide services to Ireland, the Channel Islands and France. Powers were granted by Act of Parliament for the Great Western Railway (GWR) to operate ships in 1871. The following year the company took over the ships operated by Ford and Jackson on the route between Wales and Ireland. Services were operated between Weymouth, the Channel Islands and France on the former Weymouth and Channel Islands Steam Packet Company routes. Smaller GWR vessels were also used as tenders at Plymouth and on ferry routes on the River Severn and River Dart. The railway also operated tugs and other craft at their docks in Wales and South West England.
Melmore (1905-1912) 412 tons Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory, 1904 - S.S. Melmore
Lynx (1889-1925) 596 tons Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory, 1904 - S.S. Lynx
Ibex (1891-1925) 1,160 tons - from Great Western Railway Ships from Wikipedia Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory, 1904 - S.S. Ibex (# 98375)
Robert Russell was aboard the SS Sir Francis from Aug 17 to Sept 29.
Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory,
1913 - S.S. Sir Francis Letter of recommendation from Captain of S.S. Lynx, Port of Plymouth, Sept 1, 1910 Ron Russell was born on Nov 27, 1910, in London, England.
Between 1910 and 1913, Robert served aboard the S.S. New Pelton (1910) and the S.S. Harberton (1910-1913). The New Pelton was built in Howdon in 1865 and registered in Newcastle in 1878. In 1904, it was owned by William Cory & Sons. See the Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1904 - S.S. New Pelton
Half-Yearly Agreement and Account of Voyages and Crew, Home
Trade, S.S. New Pelton, 1910
1911 Census - England and Wales - S.S. Harberton
Half-Yearly Agreement and Account of Voyages and Crew, Home Trade, S.S. Harberton, 1911 See the Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory for 1904 - S.S. Harberton
1911 Census - England and Wales - Lydenberg, Butter Hill, Carshalton Parish
Winifred Joyce Russell was born on April 7, 1913, in London England. Half-Yearly Agreement and Account of Voyages and Crew, Home Trade, S.S. Harberton, 1913 Robert Russell boarded the SS Deptford (of William Cory & Sons) on July 3, 1913, at Burntisland, Fife, Scotland, as First Mate. Robert Russell's certificates of discharge indicate that he was aboard the SS Deptford for Home Trade from July 3, 1913 to at least January 1, 1914. He was also aboard the Deptford when it struck a mine and sunk off the coast of Scarborough on Feb 24, 1915.
Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory, 1913 - S.S. Deptford
Half-Yearly
Agreement and Account of Voyages and Crew, Home Trade, S.S.
Deptford, 1913
The assassination on 28 June 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was the proximate trigger of the Great War. Long-term causes, such as imperialistic foreign policies of the great powers of Europe, such as the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, the British Empire, France, and Italy, played a major role. Ferdinand's assassination by a Yugoslav nationalist resulted in a Habsburg ultimatum against the Kingdom of Serbia. Several alliances formed over the past decades were invoked, so within weeks the major powers were at war; via their colonies, the conflict soon spread around the world. - From Wikipedia
During the First World War, nothing outraged the people of Yorkshire more than the bombardment of Scarborough by a fleet of German ships in December 1914. Nineteen people were killed and a further eighty were injured. The cry "Remember Scarborough!" was used in recruitment posters, so great was the anger felt. What was not so clear at the time was that the bombardment was nothing more than a cover for an even greater threat. While the German battle-cruisers Derfflinger and Von de Tann were firing their shells at the town, the light cruiser Kolberg was engaged in laying, what proved to be, the densest minefield ever known in the history of naval warfare just off Scarborough. - from Wreck Site - Deptford
The SS Deptford (sailing Granton to Chatham with coal) was sunk after running into the German minefields (laid by the German cruiser Kolberg) off Scarborough at 2:55 a.m. on Feb 24, 1915. According to family sources, Robert Russell and the other surviving crew (there was one fatality) floated in their lifeboat for almost 24 hours before being rescued (by the SS Fulgens) and taken to South Shields. - See Wreck Site - Deptford
Robert Russell's certificates of discharge indicate that he was aboard the SS Sir Arthur (later known as the SS Pendennis) for Home Trade and the Admiralty Service (Royal Navy) from March 13, 1915 to March, 1919. The S.S. Sir Arthur was also owned by William Cory & Sons.
Mercantile Navy List and Maritime Directory, 1913 - S.S. Sir Arthur
Half-Yearly Agreement and Account
of Voyages and Crew, Home Trade, SS Sir Arthur, June 30, 1918 See also Robert Russell's Certificates of Discharge for a Seaman Not Discharged Before a Superintendent For Those in
Peril on the Sea
Eternal Father, strong to
save, Robert Russell Captain Russell was born in Dundee, Scotland, December 9, 1881. He assumed his first command in 1910 as master of a ship of the Cory Steamship Line out of London. During the First Great War he was in command of the Merchant Marine auxiliary to the Royal Navy. He was aboard the S.S. Deptford when it was sunk by a torpedo in the North Sea on February 24, 1915. The ship went down in three minutes and Captain Russell spent several hours in a lifeboat before being rescued. He also served on ships carrying supplies to British warships in the Dardenelles.
The unique and extraordinary feature in the Dardanelles campaign was that the Allies had no harbour, no base, nothing but open beaches on which to land the innumerable articles required by a great army engaged in siege operations. This distinguished the Dardanelles war from all others, and aggravated its difficulties and dangers. For days and, occasionally, for weeks, at certain seasons of the year, the weather in the Aegean is such that the landing of heavy stores and supplies on an open coast is impracticable. Thus between February 19th and 25th a veritable hurricane blew, and the British naval operations thereafter were constantly interrupted by storms and squalls. The situation was further complicated by the presence of enemy submarines. The German reports were to be treated with great suspicion, but doubtless contained same truth, and according to them there were seven of the largest German boats in the neighbourhood of the Dardanelles. One had been seen, according to French sources of information, bearing the number 51, which meant that she was a very recent and powerful vessel. Now it is possible to protect surface ships against submarines under two conditions: The first that there are plenty of destroyers or small fast craft to guard them on passage, and the second, that secure ports are available for them to ship and discharge cargo. The second condition was wanting at the Dardanelles. The enemy submarines had excellent bases at hand in Turkish waters. The British transports and supply ships had no point on the Gallipoli coast where they could lie secure from the weather and from the enemy. - From ‘the War Illustrated Deluxe’ volume IV page 1286, The Difficulties of the Dardanelles Campaign" by H. W. Wilson
 Mary Bell and Grandchildren Ron Russell, Mary Bell, Winifred Russell and Robert John (Jack) Pennycook Jack was the son of Janet Hunter and Robert Pennycook J. Jolly Studios, Carnoustie, Scotland, c 1915
Robert Russell was serving for the Admiralty Service from Scapa Flow (the Base for the British Grand Fleet) in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, at the end of 1915 and beginning of 1916.
See also Robert Russell's Certificates of Discharge for a Seaman Not Discharged Before a Superintendent Historically, the main British naval bases were located near the English Channel to better face England's old enemies of France, Spain, and the Netherlands. In 1904, in response to the build-up of the German Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet, it was decided that a northern base was needed, to control the entrances to the North Sea. Originally, Rosyth was considered for the base, and then Invergordon at Cromarty Firth but construction in both places was delayed, leaving them largely unfortified by the time of the First World War. Scapa Flow was used many times for exercises in the years leading up to the War, and, when the time came for the fleet to move to a northern station, Scapa Flow was chosen for the main base of the British Grand Fleet, even though it was also unfortified. John Rushworth Jellicoe, admiral of the Grand Fleet, was constantly nervous about potential submarine or destroyer attacks on Scapa Flow, and the base was reinforced with minefields, artillery, and concrete barriers starting in 1914. No German U-boats were able to enter the harbour during the war, and only two attempts were made. The first, by U-18, took place in November 1914; but the sub was rammed by a trawler searching for submarines while it was trying to enter Scapa Flow, causing the submarine to flee and then sink. The second attack, by UB-116, in October 1918, encountered the sophisticated defences then in place, was detected by hydrophones and then destroyed by shore-triggered mines before the boat could enter the anchorage. - from Wikipedia With the Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, the Royal Navy imposed a tight blockade on the North Sea to halt trade to Germany. Though of dubious legality, Britain mined large tracts of the North Sea and stopped neutral vessels. Unwilling to risk the High Seas Fleet in battle with the British, the Germans began a program of submarine warfare using U-boats. Having scored some early successes against obsolete British warships, the U-boats were turned against merchant shipping with the goal of starving Britain into submission. - from World War I: A Stalemate Ensues, Kennedy Hickman
Robert Russell joined the Free Mason's (Robertson's Lodge Cromarty No. 134) on April 6, 1918.
Robertson's Lodge Cromarty, No. 134, Mason's Life Member, April 6, 1918 (pdf) Robert Russell's
Mercantile Marine Continuous
Certificate of Discharge
November 11, 1918, the Armistice with Germany is signed to mark the end of the Great War.
©
waughfamily.ca |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
