Prince Edward Bartley – Royal Navy

Able Seaman Prince Edward Bartley – Royal Navy

Early Life and Family Background

Prince Edward Bartley was born in 1901 in Bilston, Staffordshire, the son of Thomas Bartley and Sarah Ann Hodgkiss.

1911 Census

The 1911 Census records the Bartley family living at 49 Green Croft Street, Bilston, where Thomas, aged fifty‑six and Staffordshire‑born, worked as an iron worker. Sarah Ann, aged sixty‑three, managed the household. Their children present at the time were Maria, aged eighteen, employed as a domestic servant, and Raymond, aged thirteen, together with Prince Edward, aged ten—both still attending school.

Naval Records

Early Naval Service

Prince Edward enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1918, aged just seventeen, joining the final year of the First World War.

1921 Census

By the 1921 Census, he was recorded as an Able Seaman (T.M.) serving aboard Venturous at Hamoaze, Devonport. His first period of service lasted ten years, ending in 1928, marking a substantial early naval career.

Marriage and Civilian Life

In 1938, Prince Edward married Annie Rees in Swansea, establishing his home in the town where he would later be laid to rest.

Second Naval Service – Royal Navy, H.M.S. Drake

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Prince Edward Bartley re‑enlisted in the Royal Navy, once again serving as an Able Seaman. At the time of his death on 20 August 1942, he was a crew member of H.M.S. Drake, a major naval establishment at Devonport.

British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records

Herald of Wales

The British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records note that Prince Edward died from illness, rather than through enemy action. His funeral was reported in the Herald of Wales, marking the passing of a man who had served his country in two wars.

Prince Edward Bartley
Morriston Cemetery
credit - findagrave

Burial

Prince Edward Bartley’s body was brought home to Swansea, where he was buried at Morriston Cemetery, among the many servicemen whose lives ended during the Second World War.