| Date of birth: | 2nd January 1898 |
| Place of birth: | Shirley, Southampton |
| Regiment / Division: | Royal Navy |
| Vessel: | HMS Invincible |
| Rank / Service No: | Wireless Telegraphist |
| Died: | 31st May 1916, aged 18 years |
| Commemorated: | Portsmouth Naval Memorial |
Alfred was the third of 5 siblings born to Alfred James Edwin and Rose Amelia Kinnard (nee Riddett), who married in Shirley in 1888.
Both parents were born in Shirley in 1865; Rose passed away in Winchester in 1934 and Alfred, a seaman, in 1941.
Siblings
May Victoria R. b. 1894 Shirley d. 1899 Shirley
William John b. 1897 Shirley d. 1901 Shirley
Alfred John
Gertrude Mabel b. 1899 Shirley d. 1970 Southampton Married Richard J. Smith in Southampton in 1926.
Violet Primrose b. 1906 Shirley d. 1966 Southampton Married Claude S. Watling in Southampton in 1930. Married Ernest F. Moore in Winchester in 1948.
Alfred enlisted in the Navy on 21 April 1913 and he joined Invincible on 5 October 1915.
The Invincible was the first battlecruiser to be built anywhere in the world, and was launched on Tyneside in 1907.
She participated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, on 28 August 1914, but only in a minor role because she was the slowest of the British battlecruisers present.
During the Battle of the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914, Invincible and her sister ship Inflexible sank the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau armoured cruisers.
Invincible was the flagship of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland (31.5.16 – 1.6.16). Unfortunately she was destroyed by a magazine explosion on the first day, after her “Q” turret was penetrated…the ship was blown in half.
1026 men lost their lives, with only 6 survivors. One of the six was a Gunner actually sat in the Q turret when it was hit, he was somehow blown clear.
| Researcher: | Mark Heritage |
| Published: | 6th October 2016 |
| Updated: |
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