Name
John Stanley Ruthven
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/05/1916
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Electrical Artificer 4th Class
M/8859
Royal Navy
H.M.S. "Invincible."
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL
20.
United Kingdom
UK & Other Memorials
Little Berkhamsted War Memorial
St Mark's, Woodhill Churchyard
Pre War
John was born in Clapton, Hackney on 3rd June 1893 and was still living there in 1901 with his parents and six brothers and sisters. By 1908 they had moved to Little Berkhamsted where his father, Christopher Ruthven, managed the Five Horse Shoes public house and which his mother Mary Ann continued to manage after her husband’s death in 1911. John was an apprentice gas engineer in 1911.
Wartime Service
John enlisted in the Royal Navy for a 12-year term on 22nd September 1914. After training at Portsmouth (HMS Vernon) and Crystal Palace (HMS Victory II) he was posted to the battlecruiser HMS Invincible on 10th June 1915. The major sea battle of the Great War, the Battle of Jutland, took place on 31st May 1916 and Invincible engaged the German fleet shortly after 6pm. In the course of the battle Invincible was hit by fire from Lutzow which struck her amidships and detonated her magazine causing her to explode and sink killing John and 1020 other crew and leaving just six survivors.
Additional Information
Son of Mrs. M. A. Ruthven, of 5, Horse Shoes, Little Berkhampstead, Herts, and the late C. Ruthven.
Acknowledgments
Martin Cope, Jim Maynard
