Trafford

A member of the Stockport Borough Police.

Involved in the Battle of Coronel.

H.M. Ships Good Hope, Glasgow, Monmouth and Ortanto were off Coronel on the
Chilean coast searching for the German East Asia Squadron which was
attempting to return to Germany via Cape Horn.  On the evening of the 1st
November 1914 the two Squadrons met.  Initially the British had the
advantage as the Germans were silhouetted against the setting sun, but the
Germans used their superior speed to avoid action until after the sun had
set which illuminated in the afterglow. The British were also hampered by
the bad weather which meant that their lower casement guns could not be
worked.  Another factor in favour of the Germans was that they had well
trained regular crews whereas the British ships had only recently
commisioned with crews made up of reservists.  Firing began at 19.00hrs and
by 19.52hrs "Good Hope" had been battered to a wreck by the German ships
Scharnhorst & Gneisenau there was a final large explosion and then she
sank.  900 crew died there were no survivors.  H.M.S. Monmouth suffered a
similar fate soon afterwards again with the loss of 900 crew.