Percy Harold Hull – Royal Navy, H.M.S. Vivid
Stoker 2nd Class Percy Harold Hull – Royal Navy, H.M.S. Vivid
Early Life and Family Background
Percy Harold Hull was born in 1896 in Twickenham,
Middlesex, the son of James Hull and Annine Ashton, who
married in 1881 at the Church of St. James, Whitton, Richmond
Upon Thames. Though born in Middlesex, Percy later moved with his family to
South Wales, where he spent his later childhood and teenage years.James Hull and Annine Ashton
marriage certificate
Church of St. James, Whitton, Richmond Upon Thames
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| 1911 Census |
The 1911 Census records the family living at Caemawr, Morriston, Swansea. Percy’s father James, aged 52 and born in Berkshire, worked as a Labourer, while his wife Annie, also aged 52 and born in Middlesex, managed the household. Their sons Joseph, 23; George, 21; Clarence, 19; and Percy, 15, were all working as labourers at the time. The home also accommodated four lodgers—George Wilson, 22; Thomas Ashton, 21; Percy Langley, 23; and James Brown, 40—reflecting the busy, industrial lodging arrangements common in Morriston at the time.
Naval Service
As a young man, Percy Harold Hull enlisted in the Royal
Navy, serving as a Stoker 2nd Class. Stokers carried out
physically demanding work, maintaining the ship’s boilers and ensuring a
constant supply of steam to power naval vessels. Percy was stationed at H.M.S.
Vivid, the Royal Navy’s large and important shore establishment at
Devonport, Plymouth.
More Information About H.M.S. Vivid
During Percy’s period of service, H.M.S. Vivid
functioned not as a seagoing vessel but as the main Royal Navy barracks and
training establishment for the Plymouth command. Commissioned in 1890,
it served as a depot for sailors between drafts and as a training centre for
those learning seamanship, gunnery, telegraphy, and engine‑room duties. The
base remained active until 1934, when it was renamed H.M.S. Drake.
The name Vivid originally belonged to a depot ship
moored at Devonport, but as naval administration expanded, the entire barracks
complex came to bear the name. Several sub‑units existed under the Vivid
designation, including Vivid I (seamanship and signalling), Vivid II
(stokers and engine‑room artificers), Vivid III (Royal Naval Division
Trawler Section), Vivid IV (personnel at Falmouth and Queenstown), and Vivid
V (personnel at Milford Haven). Sailors posted to these divisions were
undergoing training, awaiting ship assignments, or serving in administrative
roles.
Because the Naval Discipline Act required all
personnel to be officially assigned to a commissioned “ship,” even when serving
on land, sailors like Percy were listed on the books of H.M.S. Vivid
while stationed ashore. Thousands of naval personnel passed through the
establishment during the First World War, and large barracks populations often
faced outbreaks of illness, including influenza and pneumonia—causes of several
wartime deaths among those stationed at the base.
Death and Commemoration
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| Percy Harold Hull Ford Park Cemetery, Plymouth credit - findagrave |
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