ALFRED FREDERICK OWEN
During the Great War the area around St. Wilfrid's Church in Buckland saw equal numbers of residents serve in the army as in the navy, but the proportions of men who lost their lives, according to the memorial in the church, was not at all similar as some 97 men or 72% were lost from the navy. And with so many named on one memorial it's not surprising that when a large warship was lost many men from the same area died. This was certainly the case with HMS Good Hope.
Alfred Frederick Owen was born in Acton, London in 1884. He probably joined the Royal Navy as soon as he was old enough as he doesn't seem to be present in Britain for the 1901 census. In 1908 he married Louisa Annie Roberts in Croydon and a year later a daughter by the name Hilda Louise May was born. In the early years of the marriage, Alfred and Louisa do not seem to have established a settled family home as the 1911 census shows them living apart, though this may only have been for that one night. Alfred was at the Royal Naval Barracks in Edinburgh Road while Louisa and Hilda had two rooms in the home of Henry Hatlee at 60 Ernest Road, Buckland.
We know nothing of Alfred's naval career prior to the outbreak of the Great War, but in November 1914 he was aboard HMS Good Hope which took part in the Battle of Coronel off the coast of South America. The ship was sunk by the German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau with the loss of her entire crew, including five from the area around St. Wilfrid's. The others, apart from Alfred Owen, were Henry William Hoare, William Thomas Hayes Burchell, Edward George Price and Harry Fuller, all of whom appear in the CWGC records but there is little evidence to connect them to Portsmouth.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website lists Petty Officer Alfred Frederick Owen, (204497), Royal Navy, HMS Good Hope, date of death, 01/11/1914. Has no known grave and is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial (Panel 1). Son of Mr. and Mrs. F. Owen, of 3, St, Mary's Rd., Ealing, London; husband of L. A. Owen, of 70, Ernest Rd., Buckland, Portsmouth.
Alfred Owen is also remembered on the St. Wilfrid's Church WW1 Memorial and possibly on the Cenotaph as "Owen FA". He is not listed in 'The National Roll of the Great War'.