John Richard Ormerod

 

Assistant Paymaster
H.M.S. "Hungerford"

Royal Naval Reserve

The Commonwealth War Graves Debt of Honour Register records that John Richard Ormerod died on 6 April 1916, whilst serving as an Assistant Paymaster with the Royal Naval Reserve.

John is shown as serving with H.M.S. "Hungerford", and is buried in Suez War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt (Grave Ref. C. 20). H.M.S. Hungerford is actually R.F.A. Hungerford - a distilling ship / collier, with which he served from 26 August 1915.

Suez was an important hospital centre during the First World War with two Indian general hospitals, two stationary hospitals and casualty clearing stations based there at various times.

Initially, burials took place in a special plot in the Protestant cemetery but the War Memorial Cemetery was established nearby in 1918, and these graves were transferred there, together with some from other burial grounds.

The Deaths at Sea Register, 1781-1968, records that John was a Purser and Assistant Paymaster, aged 45 at the time of his death, and resident at 60 Tierney Road, Streatham Hill, London. It also confirms that he died on 6 April 1916 at Suez.

The National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1856-1966, records that "John Richard [Ormerod] of 21 Goldsmith-street Liverpool assistant paymaster R.N.R. died 6 April 1916 at sea. Probate Liverpool 26 May to Ada Lucy Ormerod widow. Effects £841 14s. 3d."

John is commemorated on the war memorial in the Masonic Hall, Hope Street, Liverpool, Merseyside.

On 9 May 1910 John is recorded on the crew list of the Saxonia, serving as a Steward. The list shows that he was previously employed on the Lusitania, leaving her on 6 May 1910.

In 1911 he is shown on the Census working as a Ship's Steward with the Cunard Line.

John was born in West Derby in 1868, and was the son of John Ormerod and Eleanor Ormerod. He married Ada Lucy Davies at St Augustine Church, Everton, in 1898, and at the time of the 1911 Census had four daughters: Muriel, Edna, Beryl and Olga.

A picture of R.F.A. Hungerford, as well as a picture of John's grave in Suez can be found at: http://historicalrfa.org/rfa-hungerford-ships-details.