Thomas Hiley and his son Herbert

Remembrance Sunday. We remember a father and son who lost their lives in WW1.

Thomas Edward Hiley was born in Southowram, Halifax in 1857. He married Mary Ann Gibson in Hull in 1880 but Mary died the following year. The 1881 Census showed Thomas as working aboard the vessel ‘Liberator’. He remarried in 1887 to Annie Edwards and by 1901 the couple had 5 children, including Herbert. At this time they were living in Boston, Lincolnshire and Thomas was described as a Fisherman. Annie died in 1908 and in 1911 Herbert, described as a Dock Labourer (Fish) was living independently in Skirbeck Quarter, Boston with his three younger siblings. Living close by was the Tann family, including Mary Ann, Herbert’s future wife. Thomas may well have been away at sea at the time of this Census.

On 16th October 1915 Thomas was a Deck Hand aboard the Steam Trawler ‘Fijian’ (Boston). The vessel was reported missing on that day. Given the location and date, it is likely that she struck a mine. There were no survivors.

Thomas's name is inscribed at the Tower Hill Memorial in London. The Memorial commemorates the men of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who have no grave but the sea.

At age 57, Thomas was the oldest of all the Hileys/Highleys to be killed during WW1.

Thomas Edward Hiley - Tower Hill Memorial

Included courtesy of Brian Watson, Vessels lost in WW1

http://www.benjidog.co.uk/Tower%20Hill/WW1%20Farraline%20to%20Firth.html

Fishing trawler The Holland - lost without trace in WW1

This would have been a similar vessel to Fijian

(from Old Boston, Boston's trawler fleet in WW1)

Herbert, born in 1893, married Mary Ann Tann in the Spring of 1914 in Boston, Lincolnshire.

He was a Stoker for the Royal Naval Reserve aboard H.M.S. Cressy. On 22nd September 1914. H.M.S. Cressy, along with H.M.S. Hogue and H.M.S. Aboukir, were ambushed by a German U Boat while on patrol off the Dutch coast. All three ships were torpedoed and sunk with the Cressy losing 560 of her crew, including Herbert.

The War was not yet two months old and Herbert had been married for only a few months. His name is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent.

Stoker Herbert Hiley - Chatham Naval Memorial

Included with the permission of Brad Evans at Find A Grave

H.M.S.Cressy