This picture appeared in the edition of the Eastern Evening News dated Friday, October 2, 1914. The accompanying caption read:-
W. TICE OF SHERINGHAM, one of the Hogue survivors. Although he had served his time in the Navy, he was one of the first to volunteer on the declaration of war. He was picked up after being in the water one and a half hours.
There is no match on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website so seems likely he survived the war.
His Register of Seamans’ Services shows that 158800 William John Tice was serving aboard HMS Hogue on the day that she sank.
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D6679333
The Seamans Register shows that William John Tice was born Gresham, Norfolk on the 7th January 1871. His occupation was Fishmonger. He initially enlisted on the 14th January 1891 for a 12 year term. He was then described as 5 feet 6 and a half inches tall with black hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He extended his engagement on the 4th November 1902, by which stage he had grown to be 5 feet 8 inches.
The record of ships he served in and ranks are:-
Pembroke……14/01/91 – 19/01/91……Stoker Cl2
Wildfire……….20/01/91 – 17/04/91……Stoker Cl2
Pembroke……18/04/91 – 08/02/92…….Stoker Cl2
…………..(Stoker from 30/09/91)…………………
Sans Pareil…..09/02/92 – 17/04/95……Stoker
Pembroke II….18/04/95 – 02/10/95……Stoker
Sans Pareil…..03/10/95 – 21/02/98……Stoker
Pembroke……22/02/98 – 09/05/98…….Stoker
Illustrious…….10/05/98 – 30/06/99…….Stoker
Hibernia………01/07/99 – 16/08/99……Stoker
Illustrious…….17/08/99 – 08/06/00…….Stoker
Pembroke……09/06/00 – 28/02/01…….Stoker
…………..(Leading Stoker from 01/11/90)……..
Anson……….01/03/01 – 22/06/02………Leading Stoker 2nd Class
Leith Belhevie.23/06/02 – 17/06/03……..”Btm”
Scotland……..18/06/03 – 08/10/04……..”Btm”
Bridge O’Don…09/10/04 – 27/08/06……”Btm”
Belhelvie……..28/08/06 – 16/04/07…….”Btm”
…………(“Com Btm” from 15/10/06)…………
Eastern Morton..17/04/07 – 16/10/07…..”Com Btm”
Wells……………17/10/07 – 15/07/09…..”Com Btm”
Sheringham……16/07/09 – 18/01/13
………….(P.O.II (CG) from 01/04/10)
He was then pensioned off.
He joined the Fleet Reserve on the 4th October 1913. He was mobilised on the 2nd August 1914 and sent to the Hogue, being with her when she sunk on the 22nd September 1914. His rank was then Senior Petty Officer Class II. The rest of his Great War service came under the pay station Pembroke II. He was released from the service on the 27th September 1919.
He qualified for a War Gratuity and received the 1914 Star, Victory Medal and British War Medal, having also qualified for Good Conduct Medals during his pre-war service.
No match on Picture Norfolk, the County Image Archive.
7th January 1871 – Birth????.....................
(Sourced from his Register of Seamans’ Services)
However the birth of a William John Tice was registered with the Civil Authorities in the Erpingham District of Norfolk, (which included Sheringham and Gresham), in the January to March quarter, (Q1), of 1873. This doesn’t tie in with the age on the Seamans’ Register but it is consistant with the ages shown on the censuses including those when he was serving in the Royal Navy.
The baptism of a William John Tice, no date of birth recorded, took place at All Saints, Gresham, on the 2nd March 1873. His parents were Richard, a Shoe maker, and Ellen. The family lived at Gresham.
Source: www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/591be6dcf493fd4f7493a5d...
This was the only baptism of a Tice at Gresham in the period 1850 – 1900. I could not track down an obvious church marriage of Richard and Ellen. A Richard Tice married an “Elinor” Wells in the Aylsham District of Norfolk in the Janury to March quarter, (Q1), of 1872.
1871 Census of England and Wales
As the parents of the William John Tice baptised at Gresham in 1873 did not appear to have married until 1872, I would not expect them to be recorded as a married couple on this census of for there to be any match for William.
There is a 19 year old Richard Tice, an unmarried Shoemaker born Sustead, Norfolk, who was recorded living with his parents at a dwelling in that village. There is no obvious match for his future wife Elinor or any potential William Tice.
While I am inclined to believe the year of birth of William on his Register of Seamans’ Service record is a most likely a clerical error, there are potentially other scenarios. One that should not be discounted is that William was born in 1871, but with a different surname, his mother a single parent. When his mother married, the child took his new fathers’ surname. This could mean that the mother isn’t Elinor at all. A complication of this is that only with new laws in 1872 did civil registration of births, marriages and deaths become more effective, with fines and court apperances for non-compliance. So pre-1872 absense of a matching birth may simply mean the parent(s) chose not to register him, rather than there was no birth to register, leaving a genealogist trying to prove the proverbial “negative”.
1881 Census of England and Wales
The most likely match is the 8 year old William John , born Gresham, Norfolk, who was recorded living with his parents at the High Street, Sheringham. On the source I use for census look ups the surname has been transcribed at “Tyer”, but could just as easily be “Tyce” as a result of the census takers handwriting. The parents were Richard, aged 29, a Shoemaker born Sustead, and “Ellena”, (or “Hellena”), aged 29 and born Barningham, Norfolk.
As well as William their other children are:-
Rebecca J……aged 7….born North Ormsby, Yorkshire
Robert G……aged 5…..born Great Ormsby, Yorkshire
James ?.........aged 4……born Guisborough, Yorkshire
Earnest A…..aged 1……born Sustead, Norfolk
Arthur R….aged 3 months…born Sustead, Norfolk.
1891 Census of England and Wales
The 18 year old Stoker William John Tice, born Sheringham, Norfolk, was recorded aboard HMS Wildfire on the night of Sunday, April 5th 1891 when the census was taken. Wildfire was actualy a shore establishment at Sheerness, although it did have a ship of the same name which formed part of the base. The census returns shows the base located in the Sheppey District of Kent. While the location and rank pretty much tie in with his register of seamans’ services, his age and place of birth don’t.
His parents were recorded living at a Cottage, on West Cliff, Lower Sheringham. The family has expanded with the addition of daughters Agnes M, (6), Nellie E, (3) and Dorothy E, (1) – all born Sheringham.
1895 Marriage………………….
The marriage of a William John Tice to a Christiana Lambert was recorded in the Medway District of Kent in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1895.
1901 Census of England and Wales
His service history shows him with HMS Anson at the time the various UK censuses were taken. As such he would have been recorded on the Census of England regardless of where he was in the world, unless he was in an area coverd by another British Empire census.
HMS Anson.
She was assigned to the Channel Fleet in mid-1889 as a flagship for the fleet's second-in-command. Two years later, the passenger ship SS Utopia sank with the loss of 562 lives after colliding with Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar. In mid-1893, Anson was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet, subsequently returning home in 1900 when she was assigned to the Reserve Fleet.
She returned home and paid off at Devonport in January 1901, re-commissioning for the newly formed Home Fleet in March of the same year. She served as guard ship at Queensferry under Captain William Fisher in 1902, and took part in the fleet review held at Spithead on 16 August 1902 for the coronation of King Edward VII.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Anson_(1886)
So either with the Home Fleet or if she taken up her role at Queensferry, it is likely the ship and her crew were in Scottish waters at the time of the Census and so are likely to be detailed on the 1901 Census of Scotland.
Working backwards from the details recorded on the 1911 Census of England and Wales, his wife Christiana Tice, was recorded as the married head of the household of one of the two households recorded at 60 Saunders Street, Gillingham. She was then aged 24 and was shown as born Chatham, Kent. Living with her are her two sons, William, (3) and George, (2), both born Gillingham. Being recorded as head of the household doesn’t automatically mean she and William were estranged at this time. It was quite common practice in coastal locations where many of the men folk worked away at sea for long periods for the woman to be recorded as the head.
1911 Census of England and Wales
The 38 year old William J. Tice, a Royal Navy Coastguard born Gresham, Norfolk was recorded as the married head of the household at the Coast Guard, West End, Sheringham. He lived there with his wife of 15 years, Christiana, (aged 34 and born Luton “Kent”). So far the couple have had two children, who were then both still alive and living with them. They were:-
William S.R. Tice…….aged 13…….born Gillingham, Kent
George R. Tice………..aged 12……born Gillingham, Kent
Until September 1911 the quarterly index published by the General Registrars Office did not show information about the mothers’ maiden name. A check of the General Registrars Office Index of Birth for England and Wales 1911 – 1983 shows no likely additional children of William and Christiana.
On the day – 22nd September 1914…………………
The Action of 22 September 1914 was a German U-boat ambush that took place during the First World War, in which three obsolete Royal Navy cruisers, manned mainly by reservists and sometimes referred to as the livebait squadron, were sunk by a German submarine while on patrol.
Approximately 1,450 sailors were killed and there was a public outcry in Britain at the losses. The sinkings eroded confidence in the British government and damaged the reputation of the Royal Navy, at a time when many countries were still considering which side they might support in the war.
The cruisers were part of the Southern Force (Rear-Admiral Arthur Christian) composed of the flagship Euryalus, the light cruiser Amethyst and the 7th Cruiser Squadron (7th CS, also known as Cruiser Squadron C, Rear-Admiral H. H. Campbell), comprising the Cressy-class armoured cruisers Bacchante, Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy, the 1st and 3rd Destroyer flotillas, ten submarines of the 8th Oversea Flotilla and the attached Active-class scout cruiser, HMS Fearless. The force was assigned patrol duties in the North Sea, supporting destroyers and submarines of the Harwich Force to guard against incursions by the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial German Navy) into the English Channel.
Although concerns had been expressed about the vulnerability of these ships, particularly to attack by more modern German cruisers, no changes had been made before the events of 22 September; there was less concern about submarine attacks. The War Orders of 28 July 1914, which conformed to pre-war assumptions about attacks by destroyers rather than submarines, had not been modified. The orders required the ships to patrol the area "south of the 54th parallel clear of enemy torpedo craft and destroyers" with the support of Cruiser Force C, during the day. The Harwich Patrol was given two patrol areas, at the Dogger Bank and further south in the Broad Fourteens; usually three of the cruisers were to the north, closer to the Dogger Bank and sailed south during the night. The cruisers shifted area to the Broad Fourteens and reinforced the fourth cruiser there during troops movements from Britain to France. Heading south meant sailing towards German bases and becoming more vulnerable to submarine attack
The U-boat was treated equally lightly by the Imperial German Navy; in the first six weeks of the war, the U-boat arm had lost two boats and seen little result for their effort. On the morning of 22 September, U-9 (Kapitänleutnant Otto Weddigen) passed through the Broad Fourteens on her way back to base. On 16 September, Christian had been allowed to keep two cruisers to the north and one at the Broad Fourteens but had kept them together in a central position, able to support operations in both areas. Next day, the destroyer escorts had been forced to depart by heavy weather, which continued so bad that neither patrol could be reformed. The Admiralty ordered that the ships were to cancel the Dogger Patrol and cover the Broad Fourteens until the weather abated. On 20 September, Euryalus returned to port to re-fuel and by 22 September, Aboukir, Hogue and Cressy were on patrol under the command of Captain J. E. Drummond of Aboukir.
At 06:00 on 22 September, the weather had calmed and the ships were patrolling at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), line abreast, 2 nmi (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) apart. Lookouts were posted for submarine periscopes or ships and one gun either side of each ship was manned. U-9 had been ordered to attack British transports at Ostend but had been forced to dive and shelter from the storm. On surfacing, she spotted the British ships and moved to attack.
At 06:20, the submarine fired a torpedo at the nearest ship from a range of 550 yd (500 m) and struck Aboukir on the starboard side, flooding the engine room and causing the ship to stop immediately. No submarines had been sighted, so Drummond assumed that the ship had hit a mine and ordered the other two cruisers to close in to help. After 25 minutes, Aboukir capsized and sank five minutes later. Only one boat could be launched, because of damage from the explosion and the failure of steam-powered winches needed to launch them.
U-9 rose to periscope depth from her dive after firing the torpedo, to observe two British cruisers engaged in the rescue of men from the sinking ship. Weddigen fired two more torpedoes at Hogue, from 300 yd (270 m). As the torpedoes left the submarine, her bows rose out of the water and she was spotted by Hogue, which opened fire before the submarine dived. The two torpedoes struck Hogue; within five minutes, Captain Wilmot Nicholson gave the order to abandon ship and after 10 minutes she capsized before sinking at 07:15.
Watchers on Cressy had seen the submarine, opened fire and made a failed attempt to ram, then turned to pick up survivors. At 07:20, U-9 fired two torpedoes toward Cressy from her stern torpedo tubes at a range of 1,000 yd (910 m). One torpedo missed, so the submarine turned and fired her remaining bow torpedo at 550 yd (500 m). The first torpedo struck the starboard side at around 07:25, the second the port beam at 07:30. The ship capsized to starboard and floated upside down until 07:55. Two Dutch sailing trawlers in the vicinity declined to close with Cressy for fear of mines.
Distress calls had been received by Commodore Tyrwhitt, who, with the destroyer squadron, had already been at sea returning to the cruisers, now that the weather had improved. At 08:30, the Dutch steamship Flora approached the scene (having seen the sinkings) and rescued 286 men. A second steamer—Titan—picked up another 147. More were rescued by the two Lowestoft sailing trawlers Coriander and J.G.C., before the destroyers arrived at 10:45, 837 men were rescued while 1,397 men and 62 officers—mostly part-time men from the Royal Naval Reserve rather than regular sailors—had been killed. The destroyers began a search for the submarine, which had little electrical power remaining to travel underwater and could only make 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) on the surface. The submarine submerged for the night before returning home the next day.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_22_September_1914
Postscript…………………….
The death of a William J Tice, aged 53, was recorded in the Medway District of Kent in the July to September quarter, (Q3), of 1934.
The 1934 Probate Calendar records that a William John Tice, of Christiana Lodge, Maidstone Road, Rainham, Kent, died on the 7th September 1934 at the Royal Naval Hospital, Gillingham, Kent. Probate was granted at the London Court on the 3rd December 1934 to Christiana Tice, widow.
probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar#calendar
Mildly photoshopped to minimise impact of damage present on the original image.
