JOHN WILLIAM WESTROPE
As with so many boys in a naval town John William Westrope followed his father, also named John William Westrope, into the Royal Navy. And as with so many sailors in the navy John Westrope snr. was not at home during the nights when the census was taken. In fact he appeared in no census during his son's lifetime and it is only thanks to his wife Mary Ellen who declared she was the wife of a Boatswain in the Royal Navy in the 1881 census that we know anything about him.
John William snr. married Mary Ellen (nee Wignell) in Gosport, where they lived, in 1876. By 1891 they were living at 40 Dumbarton Road in Portsmouth with their three children Mary, John William jnr. and William. John William snr. died in 1901, just before the census of that year at which Mary Ellen declared herself a widow, living at 84 Agincourt Road. John William jnr. was absent from the household at the time, presumably having already joined the Royal Navy.
For the 1911 census John William jnr. was at home with his mother and two younger brothers, still at Agincourt Road. There was also a grandson, Albert John Thomas, in the household but there was no indication as to who is parents were. If his father was John William then he was born out of wedlock as John William did not marry Daisy Smith until the first quarter of 1912.
At the outbreak of the Great War Leading Seam John William Westrope was serving aboard HM Submarine E3, one of the best submarines in the Royal Navy at the time. On 16th October she sailed from Harwich to patrol off Borkum in the North Sea. Whilst tracking some German destroyers E3 was spotted by the German Submarine U-27 who fired a torpedo, hitting E3 which sank immediately with the loss of her entire crew. It was the first time a submarine had successfully attacked another.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website lists Leading Seaman John William Westrope, (201402), Royal Navy, HM Submarine E3, date of death, 18/10/1914. Remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial (Panel 1).
John Westrope is also remembered on the St. Wilfrid's Church WW1 Memorial and on the Cenotaph. He is not listed in 'The National Roll of the Great War'.