Thomas Quarmby

Boy 1st Class J/37890. Royal Navy. HMS Queen Mary.

Born 14th June 1899.

Son of the late Elijah Quarmby and Ann Lindley.

Brother of Esther, Alice and Ruth.

Address 8 Pike Law, Scapegoat Hill.

Occupation: Piecer at Joseph Hoyle & Sons, previously C. & J. Hirst.

Enlisted: Easter 1915.

Killed in action 31st May 1916. Aged 16.

Commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Before moving to Scapegoat Hill in 1914, Thomas and his family lived in Crosland Hill, where he attended Crosland Hill Wesleyan Sunday School. After his father's death the family lived with his married sister Esther Thornton. His name appears on the Portsmouth Naval memorial and the Roll of Honour at Scapegoat Hill Baptist Chapel.

Youths were able to join the Navy from between 15 and 16½. The rank of Boy 1st Class may be a Signal Boy or a Boy Telegraphist, and was awarded to those aged 16 to 18 who had previously served for at least 9 months as a 2nd Class Boy. The Battle of Jutland raged between late afternoon and early evening, when Thomas' ship the Queen Mary, a Battle Cruiser, was sunk after a catastrophic explosion with the loss of all but 1 of the ship's 1,267 crew.

A lasting memorial to the Fallen of Jutland was opened on 1st June 2016 on the shores of North West Denmark at Thyboron, the site of a new Sea War Museum. It is the only place where the sound of the battle could be heard.

This picture is an artist's impression of the 25 stone obelisks which stand 2.5 metres high and mark each of the ships sunk in that Battle. Around these massive pillars eventually will action of 31st May - 1st June 1916. be individual 1.2. metre high stones. One for each of the 8,645 men killed in the North Sea