Albert Charles Windibank (1896-1918)

Dates

Birth: 18 October 1896 Dockenfield, Frensham, Surrey, UK
Father: John Henry Windibank 1869-1907
Mother: Kate Maidmen (Maidman) [Fullick] 1873-1934

Christening: 15 November 1896 St Mary the Virgin, Frensham, Surrey, UK

Marriage: October-December 1917 South Shields, Durham, UK
Wife: Mary Elizabeth Thompson [Jenner] 1900-1960

Death: 31 January 1918 North Sea (20 miles off Fife Ness, Scotland)

Children

Believed none

Notes

Birth of Albert Charles Windibank in FreeBMD in October-December 1896 in Farnham (2a 149).

Entry in Ancestry Surrey, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1912 for Albert Charles Windibank born on 18 October 1896, baptised on 15 November 1896 at Frensham, St Mary, parents John Henry and Kate Windibank. "Page 178 Baptisms solemnized in the Parish of Frensham in the County of Surrey in the Year 1896 [...] 1896 Nov 15 No. [blank] Albert Charles parents John Henry, a Carter, and Kate Windibank of Dockenfield Born Oct. 18.1896".

In the 1901 census as Albert C Windibank aged 4, born in Frensham, Surrey, and living with his parents (John and Kate) and sister (Elizabeth J) in Station Road, Stoke D Abernon, Surrey.

His father died in 1907 in Stoke D' Abernon and his mother married Alfred Henry Fullick in Alton in 1909

In the 1911 census as Albert Charles Windibank aged 14, born in Frensham, Surrey. an under game keeper living with his mother (Kate Fullick), stepfather (Alfred Fullick), sister (Glayds Eva) and half-brother (Charles Frederick Alfred Fullick) in four rooms at Ivy Cottage, Headley Park, Liphook, Hampshire.

Entry in Ancestry UK, Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's Services, 1848-1939 for Albert Charles Windibank born on 18 October 1896 in Farnham, Surrey, J18037, first service date 18 June 1912 (sic) on Impregnable, last on Fearless K4 on 31 January 1918. He joined the Royal Navy on 18 October 1914 for 12 years. His height was 5 ft 4 in (5 ft 5.5 in on 24 April 1914), chest 34.5 in (39.5 in on 24 April 1914), brown hair, blue eyes, fresh complexion and employed as an under keeper. He served on Impregnable from 18 June 1912 to 17 June 1913, on Gibralter from 18 June 1913 to 2 December 1913, ? 3 December 1913 to 31 December 1913, Essex from 1 January 1914 to 14 April 1915, Pembroke I from 15 April 1915 to 2 December 1915, Blake from 3 September 1915 to 8 December 1916, Dolphin 9 December 1916 to 9 January 1917, Fearless from 10 January 1917 to 31 January 1918 D.D. 31 January 1918 Drowned on Duty. Paid War Gratuity.

Marriage of Albert C Windibank and Mary E Thompson in FreeBMD in October-December 1917 in S Shields (10a 1476)

Entry in Headley Monumental Inscriptions Section G - War Memorial: No. 1109 First World War 1914-1919:- To the eternal honour of / Headley's gallant / dead / 1914-1919 Six hundred and nineteen also served [...] AC Windibank".

Entry in The Guild Church of St Margaret Pattens [in Eastcheap, City of London] "A.P. Windebank - J/18037 Able Seaman Albert Charles Windibank Royal Navy, H.M. Submarine K.4 31.1.1918, aged 22 Son of John Windibank, of Headley Park, Borden, Hampshire; husband of Mary Elizabeth Jenner (formerly Windibank), of 64, Holydale Road, Peckham ".

Entry in Headley WWI List "Windibank, Albert Charles, HMS. "Dolphin". Drowned 31st Jan., 1918, aged 23. Married. Son of Mrs. Alfred Fullick of Headley Park. "

Entry in Ancestry UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960 for Albert Charles Windibank born on 18 October 1896 in Farnham, Surrey, died on 31 January 1918. "Windibank Albert Charles A.B. J.18037 (CH) R.N. H.M. Submarine K.4 born 18.10.96 Farnham, Surrey, died 31.1.18 cause of death 2 Wife Mary E. 50 Back Tennant St. Hebburn-on-Tyne.".

Entry in Ancestry UK, Royal Navy and Royal Marine War Graves Roll, 1914-1919 for Albert Charles Windibank born 18 October 1896 in Farnham, Surrey, AB J.18037 (Ch) HM Submarine K4 Killed or died by means other than disease, accident or enemy action on 31 January 1918, Body Not Recovered For Burial, Wife: Mary E 50 Back Tennant St, Hebburn-on-Tyne.

Entry in Ancestry UK, Commonwealth War Graves, 1914-1921 and 1939-1947 for Albert Charles Windibank, father John Windibank, No. J/18037 on HM SM K4, died on 31 January aged 22, cemetery Chatham Naval Memorial 1918- 21. "Index No. M.R. I Chatham Naval Memorial 1918-21 [...] Windibank, A.B. Albert Charles J/18037 R.N. H.M. S/M. K4. Drowned through collision in North Sea 31st Jan., 1918, Age 22. Son of the late John Windibank, of Headley Park, Bordon, Hants; husband of Mary Elizabeth Jenner (formerly Windibank), of 74, Holydale Rd., Peckham, London. 28. [...] 496"

Entry in Find a Grave for Able Seaman Albert Charles Windibank died 31 January 1918 buried Plot 28, Chatham, Medway Unitary Authority, Kent. "1918 Royal Navy Able Seamen [ ...] Windibank A. C."

Four entries in Ancestry Public Member Trees for Albert Charles Windibank born on 18 October 1896 in Frensham,. Surrey, parents John Windibank and Kate Maidman, his marriage to Mary Thompson in Durham in 1917, and his death on 31 January 1918 in HM Submarine K4.

Entry in Genealogy Specialists Albert Charles Windibank (18 Oct 1896-31 Jan 1918) my 4th cousin (x2 removed), recently married, Able Seaman on HM Submarine K4, died with all crew in the so-called "Battle of the Isle of May" .

Entry in The Pastoral Notebooks of Wallis Hay Laverty, rector of Headley 1872–1928

P258 Fullick Alfred Henry, 1880 & Kate, Windibank née Maidman (died Jan 1934) [...] She a Widow Live in Headley Park [...] Has 3 children of 1 marriage, born circa [...] - - 1895 Albert Charles - Drowned 31st Jan., 1918, aged 23. HMS Dolphin. Married.

P261 Fullick Alfred Henry, 1880 & Kate, Windibank née Maidman [...] She a Widow [...] Live in Headley Park (and niece there in 1924, when their eldest child Gladys E Mary Windibank*, dite Fullick, went to America) [...] Has 3 children of first marriage born circa [...] - 1895 Boy [Albert Charles]

Entry in The Guardian Monday 29 August 2011

An underwater war grave containing the victims of one of the worst British naval disasters of the first world war has been surveyed for the first time so it can be preserved in the middle of a windfarm. The two K Class submarines were destroyed on 31 January 1918 during the so-called battle of the Isle of May, in which 270 lives were lost. The two submarines were sunk and three more damaged along with a surface cruiser. But no enemy ships were involved in the sinkings, 20 miles off Fife Ness on Scotland's east coast. The deaths were all caused by a series of night-time collisions within the British fleet. So embarrassing was the incident that even though one officer was court-martialed, the facts were not generally admitted for more than 60 years, until after the death of the last survivor. Jim Rae, secretary of the Scottish branch of the Submariners Association, said: "It was an absolute bloody disaster from the beginning. The K Class submarines did not have a very impressive record. You can see why those who served in them were known as the suicide club." The submarines proved far more lethal to their crews than to the enemy, so much so that the K was said to stand for Kalamity. Driven by oil-fired steam turbine engines, they were large and cumbersome, too slow to keep up with surface ships, hard to manoeuvre and stifling for their crews. Of the 18 that were built, none were lost in action but six were sunk in accidental collisions. In January 1918, as British warships steamed north from Rosyth to join their fleet at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, they were accompanied by two flotillas of the submarines. The first two subs found themselves bearing down on two minesweepers and changed course. The third, K14, veered to starboard to avoid colliding with them but performed a complete circle as its rudder jammed. That brought it back into line just in time to be rammed by the last submarine in the group, K22. A battlecruiser, HMS Inflexible, then ploughed into K22. The first ships in the convoy turned back to rescue the submarines and steamed straight into the chaos. A cruiser, HMS Fearless, rammed K17, another of the subs, sinking it within eight minutes. Then two further submarines, K4 and K6, collided. To complete the disaster, a destroyer then carved through the survivors of K17, killing many of those who had been left in the water. The entire 59-man crew of K4 was lost and all but eight of K17's. The Royal Navy hushed up the catastrophe and it was not until 2002 that a commemorative plaque was erected on a cairn in Anstruther, the nearest village on the coast, though even that does not refer to the cause of the loss of life. The Submariners' Association does, however, now hold an annual commemorative service. The site of the two sunken submarines, 100 metres apart and about 50 metres down, has long been known, but the wrecks have now been surveyed by divers from the specialist marine consultants EMU. The area is the proposed site for an offshore windfarm, known as the Neart na Gaoithe project, developed by a company called Mainstream Renewable Power.

Relationship

Albert Charles Windibank was the son of Kate Maidmen, wife of Alfred Henry Fullick, my second cousin twice removed.

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