Name
Peter Rotherham Redd
Conflict
Second World War
Date of Death / Age
07/11/1940
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Third Officer
NA
Merchant Navy
S.S. Herland (London)
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TOWER HILL MEMORIAL
Panel 56.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
NA
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St. Saviour's Church Memorial, Hitchin, Hitchin Roll of Honour 1939 – 1945 (Book) St Mary’s Church, Hitchin, Hitchin Boys’ Grammar School Memorial (WW2), Merchant Navy Memorial, Trinity Square, Tower Hill, London.
Biography
He attended the British School and was then at the Hitchin Grammar School from 1928-1932. He was described as a happy fellow and a good companion. On leaving school, he was employed at Letchworth by Chater-Lea, an engineering firm, but in July 1933 he joined the Merchant Navy. His greatest ambition was to become the master of his ship.
On the 7th November 1940 he was serving on the 2640 ton S.S. ‘Herland’ of London, built in 1920 and owned by Furness & Co. The vessel was on a voyage from Methil to London, struck a mine 2 cables at 146 degrees off the Nore Lightship and sank in about five minutes. Fifteen members of the crew were lost including Peter and the Master, E. Parker. There were nineteen survivors.
His name appears, with the other members of the crew who lost their lives, on Panel 56 of the Merchant Navy Memorial to the Missing at Trinity Square on Tower Hill in London.
His home was at 1, Verulam Road, Hitchin and he was the youngest son of George and Nancy Redd. A photograph of him appeared in the Pictorial. His brother was Serjeant Major Arthur Redd who served in the R.E.M.E.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines – ‘Hitchin’s Century of Sacrifice’, Mrs B. Redd - his sister-in-law, Hitchin Grammar School Chronicle, Hitchin Grammar School Registers, ‘British Merchant Vessels lost during 2nd W.W.’ by HMSO, ‘Dictionary of Disasters at Sea’ by C. Hocking, Herts Pictorial dated 26th Nov 1940
