Harold Ellcock
Memorial: Thornbury & District Museum: 6th Maritime Regiment Memorial
Regiment: 6th Maritime Regiment
Medals: 1939–45 Star, War Medal 1939–1945
Rank and number: Gunner
Parents: Arthur and Ada Ellcock
Marital status: Married
Home address: Home Address: 3, Birch Avenue, Stockport, Cheshire. Lived: Cheadle, Cheshire
Pre-war occupation: Builder Joiner
Date of birth: 28/10/1917
Date of death: 13/04/1942
Buried/Commemorated at: Died at sea and commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial and the Maritime Memorial Thornbury
Age: 24
Further information:
Harold was a middle child of 4 and the son of a gas fitter. He had an older sister and brother and a younger brother. In 1939 he was living with his younger brother Edgar and his step-mother Gladys. He married Mildred Morris in late 1939.
On the day of his death, Harold was serving aboard the unescorted British Steam Tanker the Empire Amethyst, on route from New Orleans to Freetown Sierra Leone, carrying a cargo of 12,000 tons of motor spirit. At 05.52 hours on 13 April 1942, the Amethyst was hit by 2 torpedoes from U-boat U-154, who had been chasing the vessel, which had been steering a zig zag course at 11 knots, for 16 hours. The tanker immediately caught fire from stem to stern and broke in two after an explosion. It sank within 15 minutes, about 150 miles north-northeast of Aruba, leaving a large oil slick that burnt for 2 hours. The master, 40 crew members and six gunners, including Harold were lost. There were no survivors.
Died: 13th April 1942 (not 3/5/42 as on the Memorial)
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1534.html