LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWI
Driver MT Henry (Harry) Thomas Searle
(Royal)* Army Service Corps
Town Memorial P7.R3.C3
Driver MT
Henry T Searle
R.A.S.C.
Mediterranean
Jan 6 [sic] 1916
Taken, Not Given, Liam Sumption, L&DLHS
Because Henry Searle's death was associated with the loss of a ship it is possible to give a little more of the tragic circumstances than is usual with RASC personnel.The retreating Serbian Army which had been closely pursued by the Austrians over the Albanian mountains had managed to reach Durazzo on the coast. Here the Allies had mounted an evacuation. The Serbians were taken first to Corfu and then to Salonika for the reconquest of their country in 1918.
However the Austrian Navy sortied from Cattaro/Kotor, aiming to interrupt the operation, but were frustrated by the Allied Navies.¹
The Parish Magazine of March
1916 records the death of Harry Searle 'sunk in "City of
Palermo"'.²
She was the Citta di Palermo of 3415 tons, built in 1910, capable of 20 knots and owned by the Italian State railways. Naturally she was wearing Italian colours.
She left Brindisi on the morning of 8th January 1916 bound for Durazzo. She was carrying a number of troops including a British contingent of 4 Officers and 139 Other Ranks. At 8.30am when 6 miles of Brindisi she ran into a small minefield, hit a number of mines and foundered almost immediately.
Fortunately minesweepers were in the vicinity and came to the rescue. Of the 200 aboard, half were saved including 84 British. However Henry Searle was among the 59 who were lost.
Soldiers Who Died in The Great War: RASC gives:
Henry Thomas Searle: born Leatherhead: enlisted Guildford
(Leatherhead): died at sea 8.1.1916
*IWM: The Army Service Corps did not become 'Royal' until 25th November 1918.
Sources
1. Parish Magazine of St Mary & St Nicholas, Leatherhead, March 1916
2. Various Naval Chronologies of the 1914-18 War
Harry Searle is listed on the Church Lads Brigade tryptich at All Saints' Church.
CWGC
Private
SEARLE,
HARRY THOMAS
Service Number M2/113769
Died 08/01/1916
605th M.T. Coy.
Army Service Corps
He is commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton. The Hollybrook Memorial commemorates by name almost 1,900 servicemen and women of the Commonwealth land and air forces* whose graves are not known, many of whom were lost in transports or other vessels torpedoed or mined in home waters (*Officers and men of the Commonwealth's navies who have no grave but the sea are commemorated on memorials elsewhere). The memorial also bears the names of those who were lost or buried at sea, or who died at home but whose bodies could not be recovered for burial. .... Other vessels sunk with significant loss of life were: HS Anglia, a hospital ship sunk by mine off Dover on 17 November 1915. SS Citta Di Palermo, an Italian transport carrying Commonwealth troops, sunk by mine off Brindisi on 8 January 1916. In rescuing survivors, two Royal Naval Otranto drifters were themselves mined and blown up.
Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser 5 February 1916
PTE HARRY SEARLE
There is every reason to hope that although reported by the War Office
as missing in the Mediterranean on January 8th, Pte Harry Searle,
husband of Mrs Searle, of Poplar-road, Leatherhead, who is in the motor
transport section of the A.S.C., is still safe. Last week Mrs Searle
received a picture postcard from her husband posted at Chiavari, an
Italian town, on January 21st, and this week she has received the
following letter from Miss Edith Hills, of High Trees Farm,
Newdigate: "I saw in the DORKING AND LEATHERHEAD ADVERTISER, on
Saturday, that you had received a card from your husband, dated the 21st
January. He was a great friend of my fiancee, Arthur Dennis, in the
transport section. He was on the same boat as Mr. Searle, and I had a
letter from him last week, dated the 18th, and his mother received one
dated the 20th. So I think your husband must have been picked up by
another boat and taken on a different route. He is not with my fiancee
now, but I think he must have been saved to have written the card on the
21st. I do not know where my fiancee is but he was one of the survivors.
He was floating in the water for several hours and was picked up by a
drifter. They all put their life-belts on as soon as she struck. Hoping
you will soon hear your husband is safe and well."
Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser 1 April 1916
SURREY AND THE WAR.
HOW PRIVATE SEARLE LOST HIS LIFE
Mrs. Searle, of 11, Poplar-road, Leatherhead, has just recently received
the following letter from Col. Edward Fitzwilliam, commanding the
British Adriatic Mission:
"I regret very much having to inform you that your husband, Pte. H. T. Searle, A.S.C., lost his life through the sinking of the S.S. 'Citta de Palermo' at about 8.50 a.m. on the 8th January.
"I regret to state that I have now received confirmation
of the official notice of his being missing, and what actually occurred
is as follows: - He was among a
party of 300 men belonging to the British Adriatic Mission, who
proceeded from Aldershot to Brindisi, where they arrived on January 6th.
From here 136 of these men — your husband being one of the number —
embarked on the S.S. 'Citta de Palermo' en route to Valona.
Two hours after their departure from Brindisi harbour it is surmised that the ship struck a mine and capsised [sic]. The force of the explosion undoubtedly stunned a good number of the men, and from the moment of the striking and the sinking of the vessel it was not more than ten minutes. Every effort was made by the officer commanding the troops on board to rescue all the men and he and another man, although in danger of their lives, made a tour of the ship to see if anyone was living but failed to elicit any response to their repeated calls.
The trawlers who came to the rescue lowered their boats, but two of them also struck mines and were consequently sunk. The remainder manoeuvred so as to save as many lives as possible. Some of H.M. ships forming part of the escort also steamed to the scene, and a good few of the survivors were taken on board and cared for. I regret your husband was not amongst them, and condole with you on your loss. The discipline maintained by the whole of the British troops on board added still further laurels to the courageous behaviour of British soldiers and sailors when in danger."
It will he remembered that Pte H. Searle, who was well known locally, having been for some time in the employment of Messrs. Blaker Bros., of Leatherhead, joined the motor transport section of the A.S.C., and after bring stationed in England for some time went out to the Mediterranean.
His wife received a notification from the War Office that he was missing on January 8th, but singularly enough she afterwards received a post card from her husband, the date of the postmark being subsequent to the date he was reported missing. Mrs. Searle had good reason to hope that her husband may have been among the rescued, but the War Office could get no news of him, and the above letter from the headquarters of the British Adriatic Mission appears to confirm the first message of the War Office that he was among the gallant fellows who lost their lives through the sinking of the "Citta de Palermo".
[editor: Valona and Durazzo (Durrës) are puzzling as thet do not appear to be close locations]
See the page on Harry's brother William George Searle for more information on the Searle family.
Henry Thomas Searle was born on 25th August 1883 in
Leatherhead and was baptised at the parish church of St Mary and St
Nicholas on 28th October 1883. His parents were Edward James Searle, a
carpenter, and Louisa.
In the 1901 census Henry is living with his family at 37 Linden
Cottages, Leatherhead. His occupation is Groom Domestic.
In 1911 the family were still living there: Harry's profession was
General Labourer. He was single.
Henry/Harry had three brothers William George, Alfred and Arthur, and
one sister Ellen.
He married Emily Till at the parish church of St Mary and St Nicholas on December 31st 1912, the witnesses being Arthur Searle and Ellen Mary Searle. Harry (as he signed himself), aged 29, was described as a Carman.
Emily was a spinster aged 24, a Domestic Servant, residing at Selbourne, Alexandra Road, Epsom. Her father, Henry, was a Farm Labourer.
When Emily Till was born on 19 October 1883, her father, Henry, was 25, and her mother, Ellen (née Mant), was 25. They were living in Ford, Sussex.
At the age of 19 she had one daughter with Frederick Charles Haynes, Emma Edith Haynes-Till, born on 30 January 1903.
She then married Harry Thomas Searle on 31 December 1912 in Leatherhead, Surrey. Widowed in 1916 she then married Ernest Edward Bone on 14 December 1918 in Leatherhead, Surrey. She died in 1958 at the age of 75.
Source: Ancestry.com
As with his brother William, Harry Searle's date of death on the Leatherhead Town Memorial - 6th January 1916 - is at odds with the date recorded elsewhere - 8th January.
Other Links
http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-army-service-corps-in-the-first-world-war/https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?97951.
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/topic/102870-ss-citta-di-palermo/
the website editor would like to add
further information on this casualty
e.g. a photo of him, and of any recollections within his family
last updated 9 Aug 2004: CWGC links update 7 Nov 17: content 2 Feb 2018: the editor is grateful to Patricia Brazier, a volunteer researcher for Dorking Museum, who provided the genealogical and local press information for WG Searle which referred to Harry Searle.