Horace Lindon Ockwell

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: George William and Beatrice Laura May Ockwell

Home address: Home Address: Broadtown, Wiltshire. Lived: 18 Saint John’s Street, Rhondda Glamorganshire, Wales

Pre-war occupation: Colliery Labourer

Date of birth: 26/06/1914

Place of birth: Glamorgan

Date of death: 15/09/1941

Buried/Commemorated at: Died at sea and commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial and the Maritime Memorial Thornbury

Age: 27

Further information:

Horace was born and raised in Glamorgan, he was the son of a coal miner and had an older sister. His mother died when he was 4 years old. In 1939 Horace was lodging with the Williams family, the head of the house also being a colliery worker, whilst his widowed father had returned to Wiltshire where he had been born.
On the day of his death Horace was serving aboard the British Steam Merchant 'Newbury' a straggler from convoy ON-14, on route from Cardiff to Buenos Aires Argentina, carrying a cargo of 6800 tons of coal. At 08.16 hours on 15 Sep 1941, the vessel was hit by a torpedo from U-boat U-94 and sank southeast of Cape Farewell. The U-boat observed that the crew abandoned ship in lifeboats, but the master, 38 crew members and six gunners, including Horace, were never found.

Some incorrect information is recorded on the Memorial, Horace Lindon Ockwell (H not R as on Memorial), his rank: Gunner (not Lance Bombardier as on Memorial) and he died: 15th September 1941 (not 7/10 as on 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/1107.html