THE 1914-15 STAR TRIO AND MEMORIAL PLAQUE GROUP OF FOUR TO SICK BERTH ATTENDANT ARTHUR EAD

THE 1914-15 STAR TRIO AND MEMORIAL PLAQUE GROUP OF FOUR TO SICK BERTH ATTENDANT ARTHUR EADE, ROYAL NAVY, WHO WAS KILLED IN ACTION WHEN THE IRISH MAIL STEAMER HMS LEINSTER WAS TORPEDOED BY A GERMAN SUBMARINE IN THE IRISH SEA, 10TH OCTOBER 1918, AND WHO PREVIOUSLY, IN APRIL 1916, HAD SEEN SERVICE ABOARD HMS ADVENTURE WHEN THE CREW OF THAT SHIP TOOK ON BOARD LT. SPINDLER AND THE CREW OF THE GERMAN STEAMER AUD, CAPTURED WHILST ATTEMPTING TO RENDEZVOUS WITH SIR ROGER CASEMENT IN TRALEE BAY. Four: 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory Medals (M.4062 Sick Berth Attendant, Royal Navy) Memorial Plaque (Arthur Eade).

The following biographical and service details of Arthur Eade have been extracted from the Commonwealth War Graves archive, Philip Lecane’s “Torpedoed, The RMS Leinster Disaster” (Periscope Publishing, Penzance, Cornwall, 2005), and two articles from the Medal Society of Ireland Journal by George Callaghan regarding Arthur Eade and HMS Adventure.

Arthur Eade worked as an invoice clerk prior to joining the Royal Navy 8/1/1912. He started out as a Probationary Sick Berth Attendant on HMS Vivid, a Base Ship at Devonport. Then, after medical training at Plymouth Hospital, he saw further service at HMS Vivid, as a Sick Berth Attendant. He next saw service afloat aboard the cruiser HMS Gibraltar, a 1st class cruiser of 7,700 tons, which had been newly commissioned on the day that Eade joined her on 4/2/1913, for service with the Training Squadron at Queenstown (now Cobh, Co. Cork). Eade left HMS Gibralter on 2/12/1913 and subsequently served aboard HMS Adventure, a Scout Cruiser of 2,640 tons. HMS Adventure was attached to the 6th Destroyer Flotilla of the Channel Fleet and, with two other cruisers, was employed as a backup to the destroyers in the Strait of Dover. However, on the morning of 22/9/1914 it became blindingly obvious to the Royal Navy that cruisers were at a tactical disadvantage in the narrow confines of the Strait of Dover, three cruisers being lost in quick succession on that morning as a result of torpedo attacks in the southern section of the North Sea. As a precautionary measure, and in order to provide more room to manoeuver, HMS Adventure was moved northwards and in early 1915 joined the 6th Light Cruiser Squadron in the Humber. Later the same year HMS Adventure moved again, this time to Queenstown, to become the flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly. Although Admiral Bayly and his staff lived and worked ashore in Admiralty House, during 1915 and 1916 the Admiral and his flagship saw service afloat on a number of occasions. HMS Adventure was under constant orders to be ready for departure at a half-hour’s notice during daylight and two hour’s notice during darkness. In addition, the Admiral made frequent use of his flagship to visit other ports in the area under his command, which covered the seas around the southern part of Ireland and extended as far east as the Bristol Channel and Dublin.

On 28/12/1915 the steamer Huronian was attacked and damaged by a submarine off the south-west coast of Ireland. In response to her s.o.s. HMS Adventure steamed out, chased the submarine away and assisted the damaged steamer to safety in Bantry Bay.

More significantly, on 22/4/1916 HMS Adventure took on board Lieutenant Spindler and the crew of the German steamer Aud, who had been attempting to rendezvous with Sir Roger Casement at Tralee Bay and deliver a consignment of arms for use in the projected uprising in the south-west of Ireland. After she was intercepted by British ships Aud was being escorted to Queenstown when Captain Spindler ordered her scuttling, whereupon he and his crew were taken aboard HMS Adventure. HMS Adventure transferred Spindler and his crew to Milford Haven, landing them there on 23/4/1916 (Captain Spindler later stated that he and his crew had received great courtesy on board, and that in HMS Adventure “discipline, order and cleanliness were simply perfect”). HMS Adventure was on her return journey from Milford Haven to Cobh on 24/4/1916 (Easter Monday) when the main uprising broke out in Dublin. As a result of the uprising, direct communication between Cork and Dublin by rail and telegraph ceased, following insurgent activity. Immediately after returning to Queenstown, Admiral Bayly and HMS Adventure were ordered to Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire), just south of Dublin, where she remained during the course of the Rising, acting as a communication link between Cork and Dublin. Adventure arrived back in Queenstown at 6am on 4/5/1916, and on the afternoon of the same day took on board some twenty Sinn Fein prisoners being held there, leaving Cobh at 7.30pm for Kingstown, where she arrived the following morning, at 8am, to hand over her prisoners to military custody. After delivering her prisoners she returned once more to Queenstown.

On 23/10/1916 the sloop HMS Genista was torpedoed and sunk off the south coast of Ireland. HMS Adventure came out from Queenstown and after a lengthy search located a lifeboat which had been carried by strong winds a considerable distance from the scene of the attack, and rescued the crew.

Eade left Adventure on 10/8/1917 to take up a posting at Haulbowline Hospital, Queenstown. His final posting was to HMS Coleen, the former 1,420 ton light cruiser, which since 1/12/1913 had been based at Queenstown as a Receiving Ship and Auxiliary Patrol Depot. There has been some speculation (see George Callaghan’s article “Arthur Eade”, Medal Society of Ireland Journal no. 57, June 2002, pp 17-18) that Eade may have been serving aboard HMS Leinster at the time she was sunk, as a Sick Berth Attendant. Alternatively, he may have been traveling back to England on leave.

Arthur Eade was the son of Mrs M. Eade of the Almshouses, Waltham Abbey, Essex. He was born on 2nd August 1893 at Waltham’s Cross, Hertfordshire, Arthur Eade is buried in Grangegorman Military Cemetery, Dublin, reference CE. New Plot. 760

The “M” prefix to Eade’s service number was given to Artisan and miscellaneous ratings of the Royal Navy, including Engine Room and Electrical Artificers, Armourers, Wiremen, Carpenters, Sick Berth Ratings, etc.

Philip Lecane records a total of 777 persons, military and civilian, aboard the RMS Leinster when she was torpedoed, comprising 76 officers and crew of the Leinster, 22 postal sorters, 493 military personnel and 187 civilians. Some 532 of the crew and passengers were killed as a result of the sinking of the Leinster.

Memorial Plaque groups to Leinster casualties seldom appear for sale, this being the first that I have ever had in stock. Arthur Eade was the only RMS Leinster casualty with the rank of Sick Berth Attendant.

Group accompanied by photocopied service record, confirming Eade serving continuously with HMS Adventure 2/8/1914 to August 1917, and that he would thus have been present during all of the actions referred to above, including the taking on board of Lieutenant Spindler and the crew of the German steamer Aude.