Richard Williams

 Between 31^st of May until 1^st of June 1916, the Battle of Jutland was fought.  This was the naval battle between the Royal Navy and the Imperial Germany’s High Seas Fleet. 

The British Fleet under the command of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, fought against the Imperial Germany’s High Seas Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer. 

The battle unfolded in extensive manoeuvring and three main engagements off the North Sea coast of Denmark's Jutland Peninsula. It was the largest naval battle and only full-scale clash of battleships of the war, and the outcome ensured that the Royal Navy denied the German surface fleet access to the North Sea and the Atlantic for the remainder of the war. Germany avoided all fleet-to-fleet contact thereafter. Jutland was also the last major naval battle, in any war, fought primarily by battleships.

One of the Bright battleships to have fought was H.M.S. Warrior.

H.M.S. Warrior

H.M.S. Warrior was a Warrior-class armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20^th century. She was stationed in the Mediterranean when the First World War began and participated in the pursuit of the German battlecruiser S.M.S. Goeben and light cruiser S.M.S. Breslau. H.M.S. Warrior was transferred to the Grand Fleet in December 1914 and remained there for the rest of her career. She was heavily damaged during the Battle of Jutland in 1916, after which she withdrew and was later abandoned and sank in a rising sea.

Stoker Richard Williams was injured in the battle, and was transferred to a Scottish military hospital, surviving from a broken arm and leg.  

South Wales Daily Post

Published in South Wales Daily Post, Richard, wired from the Sottish hospital home to say that he was safe. 

Sadly, on the 5^th of June, Richard died from shock.

South Wales Daily Post

Days late the South Wales Daily Post published an article that Richard had died and his body was brought home

Richard Williams
Danygraig Cemetery
credit - findagrave

Following his death, Williams, was buried as Danygraig Cemetery.

Born in 1870, Richard, was living at 57 New Street, at the time of the 1911 Census.

1911 Census

Richard, 41, who was a Dock Labourer and his wife, Sarah who was also 41 years old.  Their children were

William, 21, employed as Fuel Worker. Sidney, 17, employed as Hauker.  David, 12; Florence, 8; Dorris, 8, who all attended school.   Violet, 4 and 2-year-old Richard.

Did Richard lie about his age.  The British Army and Navy, Birth, Marriage and Death Records, records Richard’s death at the Battle of Jutland, however, the records his death of birth as 1879.

British Army and Navy, Birth, Marriage and Death Records