GEORGE ATTWOOD
The Attwood family seem to have spent alternate periods in Portsmouth and Birmingham where George Attwood was born in 1882. His mother Rose Attwood (b. 1863, nee Jenman) was also born in Birmingham but his father John was probably a native of Portsmouth, though evidence on this is inconclusive.
Rose and George were certainly in Portsmouth for the 1891 census, living as lodgers at 49 Bradford Road, Southsea, but it seems unlikely that the family were then living in Portsmouth on a permanent basis. George Attwood left home to join the navy around the end of the century and so found himself back in Portsmouth on what must have been several occasions.
For the 1901 census George was a qualified Signalman aboard HMS Dallas and a few years later he met and married Lily Jane Ayling. They had a son George Alfred William in 1906 and a second son, Edward Victor in 1909. Their home was at 20 Collis Road, Copnor.
At the outbreak of the Great War George Attwood was a Yeoman of Signals aboard HMS Bulwark which in November 1914 was moored near Sheerness in the River Medway. At 7.50am on the 26th of that month Bulwark was ripped apart by a mighty explosion killing all but 14 members of the crew. George's body was not recovered.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) lists Yeoman of Signals George Attwood, Royal Navy (197728), died on 26/11/1914, aged 32 years, serving aboard HMS Bulwark. Has no known grave and is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial (Panel 3). Son of John and Rose Attwood, of Portsmouth; husband of Lily Jane Attwood, of 20, Collis Rd., Copnor, Portsmouth.
George Attwood is also remembered on the St. Alban's Church WW1 memorial and the Cenotaph. He is not listed in the 'National Roll of the Great War'.
Tim Backhouse
February 2014