Name
Arthur Frederick Austin
06 December 1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
28/03/1916
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
CH/15717
Royal Marine Light Infantry
H.M.S. "Conquest"
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CHATHAM (MAIDSTONE ROAD) CEMETERY
PP.55
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
REST IN PEACE
UK & Other Memorials
Knebworth Village Memorial, Knebworth St. Martin’s Church Memorial, Knebworth (New), St Martin’s Church Roll of Honour, Knebworth (New), St. Martin’s Church Framed Memorial, Knebworth (New)
Pre War
Arthur was born on the 6th December 1888, the son of Frederick and Alice Austin, of Knebworth, Hertfordshire. He joined the Royal Marines on the 14th January 1907 and served with a number of ships and Shore Stations around the world. On the 25th December 1912 he married Eliza Cordingley and the couple lived at 211, Dale Street, Chatham.
Wartime Service
He served with the Chatham Division of the Royal Marines. HMS Conquest was commissioned into service in the Royal Navy in June 1915. She was assigned to the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron in Harwich Force, which operated in the North Sea to guard the eastern approaches to the Strait of Dover and English Channel. In August 1915, she was among the ships which took part in the pursuit of the Imperial German Navy auxiliary cruiser Meteor in the North Sea, which resulted in Meteor scuttling herself on 9 August 1915. She covered the force that carried out the Royal Naval Air Service seaplane raid on the German Navy airship hangars at Tondern, then in northern Germany, on 24 March 1916. On the 28th March Arthur, along with 38 other members of the ships company, were returning to HMS Conquest from shore leave. The ship's boat, which seems to have been too small for so many men, became lost in a snow storm and foundered. All those aboard drowned. Arthur’s body was returned to the UK and is buried in the Maidstone Road Cemetery, Chatham.
Acknowledgments
Paul Johnson
