Henry George Gay was born on 13th February 1879, and was one of a few Winkleigh young men who joined the Royal Navy as a career before the first World War. As the effects of the Industrial Revolution continued toward the end of the 19th century, work in agriculture continued to become more difficult to find. Winkleigh seems to have survived these times with an eventual influx of people from other places who brought some wealth back into the community. They also brought the need for gardeners and Henry obtained employment as such when his father William (previously an agricultural labourer) obtained employment as a coachman in Nymet Rowland around 1884, to where he moved with the family. But by the time Henry was 17 he decided that the Royal Navy would be better for him.
Henry G Gay was the second of six children born to William Henry Gay who had married Mary Ann Stanlake from Winkleigh around 1875. William was the first of ten children that were born to George Gay, so Henry had plenty of aunts and uncles, including Mary Ann Stanlake’s siblings, in and near Winkleigh. Nevertheless, Henry enlisted in the Royal Navy at Devonport on 30th June 1896. Judging by his service record, it seems to have been a good choice. Henry experienced the change from sail to all steel vessels with steam engines, and later the change from coal powered steam engines to oil. He also served on many different vessels and benefited from regular promotion throughout the time he was in the Navy. In addition, when War came the Royal Navy, despite having some significant sea battles and the ever present threat of submarines, had a much easier time than that of the Army. While in Devonport he met his future wife Ada Frederica, the daughter of another sailor, whom he married when he was 28.
Henry joined as a Boy sailor B2C and was described as 5ft 5½in tall with blue eyes, fair complexion and light colour hair. During the next ten years he was to grow another 3 inches taller. Henry was immediately assigned to HMS Curaçoa, and by the end of November was promoted to B1C (Boy 1st Class). HMS Curaçoa was a 14 gun corvette of the Comus class, built in 1874 and had recently returned from an extended period in Australia and New Zealand. As she was coming to the end of her career, she was at Plymouth and most probably being used as a training ship. Interestingly there is an entry in Henry’s service record “Grat for raising Ve 18 Curaçoa July”. From the 1st July 1896 until 30 September 1896, Henry was not assigned to anywhere. As of writing this has yet to be researched. From 30 September until 10 January 1897 continued on HMS Curaçoa until 10th January 1897 when he returned to the Shore establishment Vivid 1 at Devonport. He was further promoted on his 18th birthday to Ordinary Seaman and then spent 3½ months on HMS Edgar, a modern first class cruiser with a total of 24 guns built in Devonport, before returning to Devonport for a further 3 months training.
There followed two short term assignments: six months on HMS Calypso, a small cruiser with sails and engines used as both a training vessel and a warship, steel and iron but with an outer wood layer covered with copper; one month on HMS Cleopatra, a screw corvette built in 1878, followed by two months training at Devonport. This was followed by a year on HMS Nile, a battleship of the Victorian era which was the port guardship for Devonport, during which time Henry was promoted to Able Seaman.
At the end of August 1899, Henry was assigned for seven months to the gunnery training ship HMS Cambridge (formally HMS Windsor Castle) off Devonport. At this time, most of the guns were 32 pounders although there were thirty 8 inch guns and a few others. The guns were actually fired towards the land at canvas targets mounted on poles stuck into the sand. This was followed by five months on HMS Defiance was used solely as a torpedo and mining school at Devonport together with another ship used as a tender. At the time when Henry was there this was most probably HMS Calcutter as shown in the photograph. Surprisingly, HMS Defiance was not sold until 1931.
After his torpedo training, Henry returned to the Devonport shore establishment for a month and a half before being assigned on 14th October 1900 to the torpedo gunboat HMS Karrakatta (formally HMS Wizard) which was in Australia as a part of the colony’s coastal defence. He remained there for three and a half years, but was not forgotten. On 30 April 1904, Henry returned to Devonport for his Leading Seaman training for 2 months during which time he was promoted to Leading Seaman. He was then assigned to HMS Defiance at Devonport. Initially this was as a Leading Seaman, but from the end of November 1905 he was training as a Petty Officer 2nd class. On 15 May 1906, he continued this training on at the shore establishment in Pembroke 1 at Chatham for a month before being assigned to HMS Donegal on 23 June 1906 as Petty Officer 1st class.
It seems that Henry was given the relevant training and subsequent promotion fairly frequently. There is not much detail in the service records of ratings as opposed to those of officers, but in addition to Henry’s consistent Very Good reports he must have show an ability to learn and to put into practice his new skills. He must have also displayed enthusiasm and the possible potential for further promotion. The fact that he grew 3 inches taller after joining the Navy suggests that he was in his element. Although this growth spurt can be normal, it could have been that his father had been having difficulty in earning sufficient to feed his growing family adequately, even when he moved to Nymet Rowland. Henry’s posting to Australia for over three years on a relatively small vessel may have seemed like an extended holiday for him.
Henry’s life in the Navy was now starting to become a bit more stable, but he still had more progression to come. He served for a year and a half on the Donegal, which was a Monmouth-class armoured cruiser with a crew of 678 and with fourteen 6 inch guns and ten 12 pounders. While assigned to the Donegal, Henry married Ida Frederica Dunstan, the daughter of another sailor who had died quite young. This was followed by a month on HMS Amphitrite (known affectionately as ‘am and tripe’), a Diadem-class protected cruiser, and followed by two years on HMS Monmouth. This was a poorly constructed cruiser with weak armament with most of the guns so near the waterline that they could only be used in very calm seas. Her armour was too thin for an armoured cruiser and could be penetrated by artillery shells. All this and an inexperienced crew would prove disastrous when the War started in 1914. At the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Brazil, the vessel was seriously damaged. After withdrawing from the battle and drifting and on fire, she was attacked and shelled until there was nothing to keep her afloat. She sank with the loss of everyone on board.
While aboard the Monmouth, Henry was passed professionally as Petty Officer (NS) on 1st January 1909. This meant that his was position was confirmed under the New System which in Henry’s case meant that he was qualified under the new pay structure. At the beginning of 1910 Henry’s daughter Phyllis was born and he was assigned to HMS Andromeda, another cruiser of the protected Diadem-class with a complement of 760 and over 30 guns, for just a month before returning to the training ship HMS Defiance at Devonport. After four months there followed more assignments to both shore establishments Vivid 1 and Vivid 2 at Devonport until the end of January 1913, with a further couple of months back on the Defiance. At the 1911 census during the time Henry was assigned to Vivid 2, he and his wife and daughter were staying at 15 Clarence Street, Pembroke Dock.
On 26th March 1913, Henry was assigned to HMS Collingwood, which had been built at Devonport and commissioned in 1910 and was now coming to the end of an extensive refit. Thus she was one of the most state of the art battleships in the Royal Navy. The Collingwood was a St Vincent-class Dreadnought with ten 12 inch guns with eighteen 4 inch quick firing secondary or anti-torpedo guns, although there were changes made during the war. The thickness of armour plating on the sides, bulkheads and decks varied from half an inch to eleven inches according to vulnerability, and had a speed of 21 knots. The Collingwood went to join the Home Fleet in Scapa Flow and Henry would stay with her until the end of the war.
The only action that the Collingwood saw was the Battle of Jutland on 31st May and 1st June 1916 and was the largest sea battle ever, before or since, with a total of 250 ships. Because of the effective blockade of German ships based in Germany, the German Navy decided that they could destroy the Home Fleet if it were lured to come to Germany. Thus the German Fleet began to gather and the Home Fleet set sail for Jutland off the coast of Denmark. Surprisingly, when the Home Fleet arrived early on the 31st, they took the Germans by surprise when the Collingwood 21st in the line of attack. The Battle continued all day, with the Collingwood engaging a number of German warships. During the night of 31st May, the British manoeuvred to restart the battle in the morning, but possibly because of poor intelligence from the Admiralty, the German fleet managed to return to port, and the Home Fleet returned to Scapa Flow. The result of the battle was indecisive and still remains a contested issue. Germany failed to destroy a substantial part of the British fleet, but the British lost more ships and twice as many sailors. The Collingwood seems to have survived without loss. After this Battle, the Kaiser decreed that the German Navy should not leave German ports unless assured of victory. Apart from the occasional attack against East coat towns and later attacks on fishing vessels, the German surface ships were of little concern. However, the main threat of German submarines continued.
On 1st April 1918, Henry was promoted to acting Chief Petty Office, with the position confirmed a year later. Six months after that, Henry left the Royal Navy and was released from his Non Continuous Service engagement and demobbed on 14th October 1919. At the time of writing, it is not known what became of Henry G Gay and his family.
26 March 2012
