Harry Petty – Royal Navy, H.M.S. Contest

Petty Officer Stoker Harry Petty – Royal Navy, H.M.S. Contest

Early Life

Harry Petty was born in 1892 in Falmouth, Cornwall, the son of Harry Petty and Bessie Edgcombe, who were married in Falmouth in 1891.

1901 Census

The 1901 Census records the Petty family residing at 5 Somer Court, Falmouth, Cornwall. Harry’s father, Harry (36), born in Yorkshire, was employed as a Mariner, while his wife Bessie (34) cared for their children: Herbert C. E. (13), Harry (9), and Hilda Mary (1).

Naval Service

Harry Petty
Royal Navy Records

In 1909, Harry Petty enlisted in the Royal Navy, beginning a career that would see him rise to the rank of Petty Officer Stoker. Stokers played a vital engineering role aboard Royal Navy ships, maintaining boilers, furnace rooms, and propulsion systems in cramped, unforgiving conditions deep within the vessel.

Harry later married Elsie E. Petty, of 5 Mantana Place, Landore.

He served aboard H.M.S. Contest, an Acasta‑class destroyer, built by Hawthorn Leslie & Company and completed in 1913. Designed for speed and versatility, Contest displaced just under 1,000 tons, carried a complement of around 77 officers and men, and was armed with 4‑inch guns and torpedo tubes. Throughout the First World War, she served with the Grand Fleet, including participation in the Battle of Jutland in May–June 1916, before later being reassigned to convoy escort and anti‑submarine patrols in the English Channel and Western Approaches.

Loss of H.M.S. Contest – 18^th September 1917

H.M.S. Contest 

On 18^th September 1917, H.M.S. Contest was escorting a convoy south‑west of the English Channel when she responded to the distress of a merchant ship previously torpedoed by a German submarine. As she manoeuvred to assist, Contest herself was struck by a torpedo from the German submarine U‑106, commanded by Hans Hufnagel. The impact detonated the ship’s after magazine and depth charges, causing a catastrophic explosion.

The destroyer sank rapidly, giving the crew little chance to escape. Of her complement, 35 men were killed, with survivors rescued the following day by escort vessels operating in the area. The sinking of Contest highlighted the grave dangers faced by destroyer crews in 1917, a year in which German U‑boat activity was at its most intense.

Death and Commemoration

British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records

Harry Petty
Plymouth Naval Memorial, Plymouth
credit - fidnagrave

The British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records confirm that Petty Officer Stoker Harry Petty lost his life on 18^th September 1917, when H.M.S. Contest was sunk in the Western Approaches. As he has no known grave, he is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, where his name is recorded alongside those of his shipmates and thousands of other Royal Navy personnel who were lost at sea during the First World War