Roll of Honour

Edward Husdell was born in Hartlepool on the 2^nd December 1880. His birth was registered March qtr 1881, Hartlepool but on an application for one of his Mate’s certificates he gives his date of birth as 2^nd December 1881, which should probably be 1880.  In the 1881 census the family are living at 142 Durham Street , Hartlepool and Edward is recorded as being 4 months old which would fit with a birth date of 2^nd December 1880. Edward was the son of Robert John Husdell, a turner born in Sunderland and Elizabeth Ann Robson also originally from Sunderland.

 By 1891 at 119 Alma Street, West Hartlepool – Robert John Husdell is now described as a seagoing engineer.  There are additional family members, a daughter, Eva, age 4 and Edgar age 2 born West Hartlepool . They are transcribed as Hardell on Ancestry.com.

 In 1901 the family are at 23 Tankerville Street , Robert J Husdell is an engine fitter and young Edward a shipyard labourer. Edward must have been spending some time on shore as he was in the Merchant Navy by this time.

 Edward Husdell married Margaret McPherson in the June qtr of 1910 in  Hartlepool .

By 1911 Edward Husdell, his wife Margaret Husdell, 31 and born Campbellltown, Argyllshire, and Edwards’ brother Edgar Husdell are on board SS Evelyn, registered in West Hartlepool . Edward is Mate, Edgar 3^rd Engineer and Margaret a passenger.

Edward Husdell was apprenticed in the Merchant Navy in 1895 for a period of 4 years to a John Rickinson . In 1900 he applied for his Second Mates Certificate and by 1903 had worked his way up to Master.

He died on the 15^th February 1915 on SS Membland. The deaths at sea records stated Edward Husdell was 34, 1^st Mate, born Hartlepool and his address 21 Thornville Road, West Hartlepool . The full Board of Trade inquiry is online and it is concluded that she probably hit a mine off the Yorkshire coast en route to  the Tyne from Hull. No wreckage has ever been found.

Newspapers for 1915 reveal some sad facts. The Edinburgh News 24^th February 1915 stated that it had been learned from Campbelltown that a woman and her baby of five months were on the steamer Membland and that she was Mrs. Edward Husdell, wife of the 1^st Mate. The second article from the Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough on 24^th November 1915 is about the Board of Trade inquiry which took place. There is also a list of  deceased passengers on the Membland which shows Mrs. Husdell and an infant child, name unknown. The infant child was Catherine M. Husdell whose birth was registered in the December qtr 1914, Hartlepool , mother’s maiden Name, McPherson.

A sad story indeed and quite unusual that in wartime a sailor would take his family with him on a ship.

Meanwhile there is more information on Edwards’s parents.  Robert John Husdell was born on the 21^st March 1855 in Sunderland and died on the 23^rd December 1905 in Moji , Japan . He was aged 50, a Chief Engineer, born Sunderland of 23 Tankerville Street, West Hartlepool and died from falling down bunker on the 25^th December 1905, on board SS Cambryses of West Hartlepool .

 Elizabeth Ann Husdell of 55 Waverley Terrace died at Howbeck Hospital on the 9^th December 1947, age 92, after a fall in the street in August when she suffered a fractured leg. She was initially in Cameron Hospital where she celebrated her 92^nd birthday (NDM 12^th November 1947). She was moved to Howbeck Hospital later in November.