HMS Captain 1870         

 

Information and Memories from Descendants (cont)

 
Up John Collier Peter Baldwin T G Beenham John Bremner Thomas Butcher C W Dyer J Ellis George Fisher Wilfred Glanville John Gribble Albert Grover George Habens Walter Hedger Robert Herd John Hermitage Tom W Ivey Thomas Kernan RJ Magawley William May Robert Mayne Francis Merryman GH Payne Edmund Powell Alfred Ripley Anthony Spiller Arthur Tregaskiss John Walker  Midshipman Alfred Ripley

Alfred was the sixth son (of eleven children) of the Yorkshire wool dyer and politician, Sir Henry William Ripley. 

Originally on HMS Royal Oak, Alfred transferred to HMS Captain just three days before she foundered. First news of his loss was in a telegram from Gibraltar to the Admiralty dated 10th September and reproduced in The Times on 12th September.

His mother, wife of the First Baronet, had traveled to the docks (thought to be Plymouth) to meet the ship several days beforehand – but of course he never returned. 

The story goes that she did not like him being in the navy and had extracted a promise that he would leave as soon as he came home.

The memorial paid for by the officers of HMS Royal Oak was originally erected in Lightcliffe near Halifax. When the family moved to Bedstone, South Shropshire in 1879 the memorial was taken with them and erected in Bedstone Church.



(Information provided by a member of the Ripley family (UK))