HMS Tiger: John Osborne Aboard 1914-17

[sutty]

Hi all , John Osborne was aboard HMS Tiger from 03 oct 1914 till 27 feb 1917; his rank was stoker petty officer.
Does anyone know of any crew lists for the Tiger, or have any relations who were connected to her?
Good luck to fellow searchers, Sutty.

[John Brown]

Hi Sutty

I can't actually help with your specific questions but this may be of interest to you.... I once met a very nice gentleman called Bill Stone who served on the Tiger in 1918. I believe it was his first ship. Bill also served on HMS Hood although not, of course on her final voyage. He is well over 100 years of age now and is still a member of the HMS Hood Association. You could, perhaps, try to contact him through the Association and even if he can't answer your questions I am sure he will have some interesting stories for you.

Good luck!

[sutty]

Thank you John for your information. John Osborne was a member of my wife's family tree. We have a copy of his naval records & are trying to fill in some more details.
By 1925 he was living in South Africa; so his days in the Royal Navy certainly gave him a wanderlust!
Thank you once again for your help I will follow it up, Sutty.

[MOOREDA]

Can you tell us where you got your information from.
My father in law, F.W. Smith, Service Number Chatham K 14081, always told us he served on HMS Tiger as a stoker at the Battle of Jutland during the First World War.
He lived until he was 100 years old and died in 1994. As usual we did not get enough information from him when he was alive, and he did not leave many documents.
We have done a search on the National Archives and have tracked him down to HMS Indomitable, he left this ship on 16 – 2 – 1916 sentenced to 28 days detention, he always seemed to be in trouble.
He told us that when he left the Royal Navy after the war he joined the Merchant Navy, jumped ship in the USA and ended up in Chicago bootlegging for Al Capone. He was arrested and deported back to the UK.
We would like to get the rest of his service record covering the First World War ( warts and all ).
We have a photo of him in uniform from this period if anyone is interested but he has no cap showing his ship.
Thank you
David Moore

[stontamar]

Hi David

If you could forward the service record relating to F.W. Smith C/K 14081 to the address below I will see what information can be gleened from that document. HMS INDOMITABLE was attached to the 3rd Battle-cruiser Squadron (BSC) at Jutland and HMS TIGER to the 1st BCS. Both squadrons were attached to the Grand Fleet based at Rosyth so it is possible he was transferred to HMS TIGER after he left detention and before the Grand Fleet sailed to confront the German High Seas fleet at Jutland on 31 May 1916.

I would also appreciate a look at his photograph.

Regards

stontamar
carnock@davemallinson.fsnet.co.uk

[sutty]

HI DAVID, We downloaded JOHN OSBORNE'S navy records from the national archives site. They show a physical description, tatoos etc & a list of all the ships he was on & dates from & to.
John Osborne also went "on the run" from his ship in Vancouver Canada, giving himself up in the amnesty before the first world war.
I entered the service number k14081 into the "other keywords" box & records are available to download for your father in law,but it costs £3.50. It shows the name of FREDERICK WILLIAM SMITH date of birth 10/02/1894 in Hackney,London.Catalogue ref. ADM 188/895.
I will be interested to know how you get on.As we still hope to fill in some more gaps with John Osborne.
Regards Malcolm "sutty"