Roll of Honour

Lost on the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Clan MacNaughton. 

Born in May 1892 in Hartlepool and baptised at St James’ Church, William Armin was one of four children born to John Armin (also born in Hartlepool around 1865) and his wife Alice (nee Parkes) who had been born in 1867 in South Shields. The couple married in 1887 .

John Armin’s father and William’s grandfather(another John Armin), came to Hartlepool with his wife Sarah from Topcliffe in Yorkshire as a steamship fireman. Sarah’s family had originated in Berwick on Tweed.

On the Census Returns of 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911, John Armin is given as a Rivetter and the family lived in Andrew Street, Regent’s Place, Bailey Street and then Alexandra Street respectively. Young William attended Church Square School in Hartlepool and is mentioned in the log book in 1904. The other children in the family were John (b. 1888), Margaret (b. 1890) and Alexander (b. 1894).

William’s younger brother Alexander joined the Gordon Highlanders and was killed in action in Flanders on 5^th October, 1917. William Armin, however, became a Leading Seaman in the Royal Navy. In 1912, he married Florence M. Whitely in Grimsby.

On February 3^rd 1915, HMS Clan McNaughton, a requisitioned passenger/cargo vessel converted into an Armed Merchant Cruiser, went down in heavy seas off the north coast of Ireland and William Armin, along with the other 280 crew on board, were lost and their bodies were never recovered. William’s wife Florence was notified, her address at the time being 64 Morant Street, Poplar, East London.