Tag: Husband of 2nd cousin 2x removed

Samuel Dresser Dicks: A Biography of a Jutland Casualty

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Stoker 1st Class Samuel Dresser Dicks, service number K17690, serving in H.M.S. Invincible, was killed in action on 31 May 1916 during the Battle of Jutland and is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Family report, CWGC record and naval history sources

Early Life and Family

Samuel Dresser Dicks was born on 18 August 1892 in Richmond, Yorkshire, the son of Thomas and Sarah Jane Dicks.[file:264] He was baptised a week later, on 25 August 1892, at Kirkby Ravensworth, Yorkshire, confirming the family’s roots in the rural north of England.[file:264] In the 1901 census he was living at High Grange, also called Hind’s House, Melsonby, and by 1911 he was recorded in East Layton, Forcett with Carkin, as an eighteen-year-old single servant, indicating a working rural upbringing before he entered naval service.[file:264]

Samuel later moved south and became connected with Dover in Kent.[file:264] He married Nellie Rosina Culmer at St Barnabas, Dover, on 28 April 1915, shortly after the outbreak of war had transformed the lives of young working men and women across Britain.[file:264] The couple had no children, and the report records Nellie as his widow at the time of his death, living at 28 Mayfield Avenue, Buckland, Dover.[file:264]

Naval Service

Samuel served in the Royal Navy from 15 January 1913 until his death on 31 May 1916.[file:264] His rank was Stoker 1st Class, and his service number was K17690.[file:264] His service is linked in the report to both “Victory II” and H.M.S. Invincible, with Victory II functioning as a shore accounting base while Invincible was the operational warship on which he served at the time of his death.[file:264]

As a stoker 1st class, Samuel belonged to the engine-room branch of the Navy, whose men laboured below decks to keep a ship’s boilers fired and its machinery running.[web:259][web:269] This was exhausting and dangerous work, especially in a fast capital ship such as a battlecruiser, where sustained speed and rapid manoeuvre depended on the continuous effort of stokers and engine-room ratings.[web:269][web:259] His medal entitlement—the 1914–15 Star, Victory Medal, British War Medal and Memorial Death Plaque—reflects active wartime service and the formal recognition given to those who died during the conflict.[file:264]

Unit Context at the Time of Death

At the time of Samuel Dresser Dicks’s death, H.M.S. Invincible was serving with the Grand Fleet as flagship of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron during the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916.[web:250][web:249] Jutland was the largest fleet action of the First World War and the principal clash between the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea.[web:259] The battle involved enormous concentrations of men and ships, and it remains the defining naval engagement of the war.[web:258][web:259]

Naval history sources record that at about 6.34 pm on 31 May 1916, Invincible was struck by a shell that penetrated Q turret and caused a catastrophic magazine explosion.[web:250][web:259] The ship broke apart and sank rapidly, with only six survivors from a crew of more than 1,000.[web:250][web:266] Samuel was therefore among the vast majority of her company who were lost when the battlecruiser was destroyed in one of the most devastating single-ship losses of the battle.[web:249][web:250]

This is the essential military context for his death: Samuel was serving in a front-line capital ship at the centre of the greatest naval battle fought by the Royal Navy in the First World War.[web:258][web:259] The report’s phrase “Action against German Fleet. North Sea” refers directly to the Battle of Jutland and the destruction of H.M.S. Invincible in that action.[file:264][web:250] For family history purposes, this places his loss within a major national and imperial event rather than an isolated naval casualty.[web:258]

When H.M.S. Invincible exploded at Jutland, only six men survived, and over a thousand officers and ratings were lost with the ship.

Imperial War Museums community record and Royal Museums Greenwich article

Circumstances of Death

Samuel Dresser Dicks was killed in action on 31 May 1916 during action against the German Fleet in the North Sea.[file:264] The death notes in the family report record him as “Killed”, with the incident date of 31 May 1916, record number 6696/16, and duty location simply as “North Sea”.[file:264] His death was therefore one of the many immediate losses arising from the destruction of Invincible during the battle.[web:249][web:250]

The report also notes that his body was not recovered for burial, which was common in major naval losses at sea.[file:264] His widow, Nellie R. Dicks of Buckland, Dover, was the relative officially notified, a detail that anchors the vast tragedy of Jutland in one particular Kent household.[file:264] Like many naval wives and families, she was left with commemoration rather than a recoverable grave.[web:255]

Commemoration

Samuel is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, on Panel 18, because his body was not recovered from the sea.[file:264] The Portsmouth Naval Memorial records the names of Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines of Portsmouth command who died at sea and have no known grave, including around 10,000 from the First World War.[web:255][web:268] For sailors lost in actions such as Jutland, the memorial served as the fixed place of remembrance that the sea itself could not provide.[web:255]

The report also includes his CWGC entry and Find-a-Grave memorial reference, preserving his name in both official and genealogical remembrance.[file:264] Within the family tree he is identified as the husband of a second cousin twice removed, demonstrating how military losses continue to be recovered through extended kinship research rather than only through naval archives.[file:264] His name also appears in casualty listings for H.M.S. Invincible, where the ship’s dead are remembered collectively as part of the Battle of Jutland.[web:249][web:257]

Legacy

Samuel Dresser Dicks’s story links rural Yorkshire, wartime Dover, and the Royal Navy at its moment of greatest trial in the First World War.[file:264] Born in the north, married in Kent, and commemorated at Portsmouth, his life illustrates the geographical reach of naval service and the way war bound together different regions of Britain.[file:264] His death aboard H.M.S. Invincible connects one family’s history to the most famous fleet action of the war at sea.[web:258][web:259]

Sources and Further Reading

George Skeer: Brabourne’s Decorated War Veteran

Serjeant George Skeer, a decorated NCO in the Royal Garrison Artillery, died on 21 March 1918 during the German Spring Offensive. Born in Kent, he was a rural postman and active church member before re-enlisting in 1914. His bravery earned him several awards, including the Military Medal and Belgian Croix de Guerre. His name is honored on the Pozières Memorial.

George Skeer: A Detailed Biography

Serjeant George Skeer, M.M., Croix de Guerre (Belgium), 280539, 222nd Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, was a decorated Kentish artillery NCO who died of wounds on 21 March 1918 during the opening day of the German Spring Offensive and is commemorated on the Pozières Memorial, Panel 10. [1][2][3]

Early Life and Family

George Skeer was born in the Bridge registration district of Kent in the final quarter of 1881 and baptised at Harbledown on 30 October 1881, the son of John Skeer and Mary (née Hills). [1] By the 1891 census he was living at Court Lodge Cottage, Lyminge Street, Lyminge, recorded as a scholar, indicating attendance at the local elementary school in this rural Downland parish. [1]

As a young man he left Harbledown and Lyminge in search of work. By April 1909 he was resident in Ashford, then a growing railway town, and on 2 August 1909 he married Lilian West at St Nicholas, Barfrestone, banns having been called there between 11 and 25 July. [1] The couple later settled at “Southside”, Brabourne Lees, near Ashford; in the 1911 census George appears at Egerton Cottage, Brabourne, aged about 29, employed as a rural postman, with Lilian listed as his wife. [1] They had at least two children, Donald George Skeer and Stephanie Joan Skeer, forming a small family that would be deeply affected by the war. [1]

Early Life and Family (Civic and Personal Background)

Before the war George became a well‑known figure locally as the Brabourne rural postman, responsible for delivering mail across country lanes and villages. [1][2] Local ringing records from the Kent County Association of Change Ringers also note his involvement in church life as a bell ringer and sidesman, reflecting a strong connection to parish and community. [1][4]

Within wider family research he is linked under FamilySearch ID KLHN‑4ZW, embedding his story within an extended Kentish family network. [1] This combination of rural employment, church service and family responsibility illustrates the settled civilian life he left behind when he returned to the colours in the First World War. [1][2]

Military Service

George’s military association began well before 1914. The individual report records that he enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1900, serving until 1908 as a gunner and later a sergeant under service number 5539. [1] After this initial period of regular service he resumed civilian life as a postman, but retained his skills and experience with heavy guns, which would be invaluable when war came. [1][2]

At the outbreak of the First World War he re‑enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery. Posted to France in June 1915, he served continuously on the Western Front until his death in 1918, being renumbered 280539 in line with RGA administrative changes and eventually serving as a serjeant in 222nd Siege Battery. [1][5] Siege batteries operated heavy artillery pieces, such as 6‑inch or 8‑inch howitzers, tasked with counter‑battery fire, destruction of strongpoints and deep bombardment of enemy positions, placing their crews in important but hazardous roles just behind the front line. [1][6][7]

Military Service (Gallantry Decorations)

George’s conduct under fire earned him two high decorations. He was awarded the Military Medal (M.M.), instituted on 25 March 1916 as a level‑3 gallantry award for non‑commissioned officers and men, given for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire that did not reach the threshold of the Distinguished Conduct Medal. [1] His award was announced in the London Gazette, granting him the right to use the post‑nominal letters “M.M.” and marking him out among his peers for bravery in action. [1][4]

In addition, George received the Belgian Croix de Guerre (1st Class), a foreign decoration granted by the King of the Belgians for distinguished bravery in operations connected with Belgian interests. [1] Gazette number 30631 of 15 April 1918 records that “His Majesty the King of the Belgians confirms the award of the ‘Croix de Guerre’” and that the British monarch granted unrestricted permission to wear the decoration, emphasising the international recognition of his gallantry. [1][8][4] He also qualified for the 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal and Memorial Plaque. [1][9]

Circumstances of Death

Serjeant Skeer died of wounds on 21 March 1918 at the age of 36. [1] This date marks the opening of Operation Michael, the first blow of the German Spring Offensive, directed primarily against the British Fifth Army around St Quentin and parts of the Third Army further north. At 04:40 that morning, German artillery launched an enormous five‑hour bombardment over an 80‑kilometre front, firing more than a million shells, including high explosive and gas, in a carefully planned strike against British trenches, batteries and communications. [1][3][10]

Regimental and local accounts note that 222nd Siege Battery was in the St Quentin sector and that, although Serjeant Skeer was officially off duty when the offensive began, he voluntarily joined efforts to reposition his battery’s guns in response to the German advance. [1][2][5] During this hazardous work, carried out under heavy shellfire and amid collapsing communications, he was wounded and later succumbed to his injuries, his death officially recorded as “died of wounds” on 21 March 1918. [1][2][11] The scale and confusion of the fighting meant that his body was not recovered for identified burial. [1]

Burial and Commemoration

Because no known grave exists for George, his name is inscribed on the Pozières Memorial in the Somme region of Picardie, France, where it appears on Panel 10. [1][12] The memorial, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, commemorates more than 14,000 soldiers of the British and South African forces of the Fifth and Fourth Armies who died between 21 March and 7 August 1918 and have no known grave, many of them casualties of Operation Michael and the subsequent fighting. [1][13]

His CWGC entry reads: “SKEER, GEORGE, Serjeant, 280539, Royal Garrison Artillery, 222nd Siege Battery, died 21 March 1918, aged 36. Son of John and Mary Skeer, of Lyminge, Kent; husband of Lilian Skeer, of ‘Southside’, Brabourne Lees, Ashford, Kent. Military Medal. Croix de Guerre (Belgium).” [1][13] A Find a Grave memorial (ID 16079046) and dedicated biographical page on the Faded Genes website provide further detail on his life and awards, ensuring that researchers and descendants can access his story easily. [1][2][9]

Legacy

George Skeer’s legacy is that of a highly regarded non‑commissioned officer whose life linked quiet village service and exceptional battlefield leadership. As a rural postman and church bell ringer in Brabourne Lees he embodied the dependable core of pre‑war village society; as a serjeant in the Royal Garrison Artillery he became one of the experienced NCOs on whom the effectiveness of Britain’s heavy artillery depended. [1][2][4] His Military Medal and Belgian Croix de Guerre demonstrate that his courage was recognised by both his own country and an Allied nation grateful for his actions.

For his widow Lilian and their children Donald George and Stephanie Joan, his loss on the first day of the Spring Offensive meant a lifetime shaped by absence, despite the pride they could take in his decorations and service. [1][2] Today, through CWGC records, local Kent memorials, bell‑ringers’ rolls of honour and online projects such as “We remember George Skeer” on Lives of the First World War, his name continues to be honoured as that of a Kentish postman turned decorated artillery serjeant who gave his life at a pivotal moment in 1918. [1][4][9]

Key External Links

Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-George-Skeer.pdf
[2] George SKEER 1881 https://www.fadedgenes.co.uk/GeorgeSKEER.html
[3] Operation Michael https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Michael
[4] World War 1 Records – Kent County Association of Change Ringers https://kcacr.org.uk/association/ww1/
[5] 222nd Siege Battery – what did they do? – Great War Forum https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/254915-222nd-siege-battery-what-did-they-do/
[6] HMS Exeter (68) – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Exeter_(68)
[7] David Gibbins — Gunner Charles Gerald Cook, Royal Garrison Artillery (183, 93 and 224 Siege Batteries), 1916-19 http://davidgibbins.com/journal/2019/3/12/gunner-charles-gerald-cook-royal-garrison-artillery-183rd-93rd-and-224th-siege-batteries-1916-19
[8] Croix de Guerre – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croix_de_Guerre
[9] We remember George Skeer – Lives of the First World War https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/4058315
[10] German attack at St Quentin, March 1918 https://www.dublin-fusiliers.com/battaliions/1-batt/campaigns/1918-kaisers.html
[11] Operation Michael, The Thirty Worst and an Advanced Dressing … https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/operation-michael-the-thirty-worst-and-an-advanced-dressing-station/
[12] Pozières British Cemetery & the Pozières Memorial https://thebignote.com/2016/08/03/pozieres-british-cemetery-the-pozieres-memorial/
[13] Pozières Memorial (CWGC) – Remembering the Fallen https://www.ww1cemeteries.com/pozieres-memorial.html
[14] Royal Garrison Artillery – First World War Casualties https://astreetnearyou.org/regiment/161/Royal-Garrison-Artillery
[15] 220th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/220th_Siege_Battery,_Royal_Garrison_Artillery
[16] May 2012 compressed.pub http://2mnbattery.org/newsletter/2012/May_2012.pdf
[17] Plain Text UTF-8 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/51776/pg51776.txt
[18] Battle Honour ST QUENTIN – German Spring Offensive 1918. https://www.royal-irish.com/events/battle-honour-st-quentin-german-spring-offensive-1918
[19] Full text of “”The cannoneer.” Recollections of service in the Army of the Potomac” https://archive.org/stream/cannoneerthe00buelrich/cannoneerthe00buelrich_djvu.txt
[20] List of recipients of the Croix de Guerre – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recipients_of_the_Croix_de_Guerre
[21] Acta Militaria http://nelsonlambert.blogspot.com/2011/07/
[22] Battle of Saint-Mihiel – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saint-Mihiel
[23] March | 2015 – Historical Digression https://historicaldigression.com/2015/03/
[24] History of the Royal Regiment of Artillary, by Francis Duncan https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/58209/pg58209-images.html

Leonard Frank Gale: Dorking’s WW1 Submariner Tragedy

Leonard Frank Gale, born 1892 in Dorking, Surrey, enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1910 as a submariner on HM Submarine L11. Surviving WWI including Jutland, he tragically fell overboard in a dry dock on 1 January 1919, dying two days later aged 26. Buried in Dover, his legacy endures via CWGC and family records.

Leonard Frank Gale: A Detailed Biography

Leonard Frank Gale was born on 28 September 1892 in Dorking, Surrey, England, to parents George and Annie Gale.[1] The 1901 England Census records him residing in Dorking at age eight, listed as the son in the household.[1] Little is documented about his early education or childhood pursuits, though as a labourer prior to naval enlistment, he likely contributed to local work in the Surrey market town known for its rural economy and leather trade.[2]

Growing up in Dorking, a picturesque Surrey town nestled in the North Downs, Leonard would have experienced a quintessentially English childhood amid rolling hills and market traditions.[1] By 1910, at eighteen years old, he sought opportunity beyond local labouring, enlisting in the Royal Navy on his birthday in Portsmouth for a twelve-year term as Boy 1st Class, service number J/8830 (Po).[1][2] His physical description noted brown hair, blue eyes, and a fresh complexion, traits befitting a young seafarer embarking on rigorous training.[2] Family Tree Maker records and Ancestry sources confirm his birth registration in Volume 2A, Page 148, underscoring his roots in a modest working-class family.[1]

Early Life and Family
Leonard Frank Gale entered the world on 28 September 1892 in Dorking, Surrey, a historic market town celebrated for its annual livestock fairs and leather industry since medieval times.[1] Christened to George and Annie Gale, he grew up in a household shaped by Victorian working-class values, where the 1901 Census captures him at age eight residing as “Son” in Dorking, amidst Surrey’s verdant landscapes.[1] Though specific schooling records elude direct mention, boys of his station often attended local board schools, learning basic literacy and arithmetic before apprenticeships; Leonard’s pre-enlistment role as a labourer suggests practical toil in fields or tanneries, common for Dorking youth.[2][1]

Dorking’s community, with its tight-knit parishes and seasonal fairs, likely fostered Leonard’s resilience, preparing him for naval discipline. By adolescence, economic pressures in rural Surrey propelled many young men seaward, and on his eighteenth birthday in 1910, Leonard enlisted in Portsmouth, committing to twelve years’ service as Boy 1st Class, J/8830 (Po).[1][2] His fresh complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair, 5 feet 6 inches in height, marked him as a sturdy recruit, ready for the rigours of HMS Ganges II initial training.[1] Personal ties remained strong; years later, CWGC notes affirm George and Annie as parents “of Dorking,” while his brief marriage in June 1918 to Nellie Rosina Culmer (née Dicks – her previous husband, Samuel Dresser Dicks being killed at Jutland on 31 May 1916) in Dover produced son Frank Ernest Gale, born posthumously on 28 August 1919—ensuring family continuity amid tragedy.[1][2]

This union, registered in Volume 2A, Page 239, reflected wartime haste, with Nellie residing at 13 De Burgh Street, Dover, by 1919—a modest terraced home typical of naval families near Kent ports.[1] Leonard’s role as husband and impending father intertwined personal milestones with duty, embodying the sacrifices of Great War sailors whose domestic lives were upended by service.[1]

Military Service
Leonard enlisted on 7 June 1910 (or precisely his birthday, per local accounts), serving until his death, amassing over eight years in the Royal Navy.[1][2] As Able Seaman J/8830, he progressed through HMS Ganges II for boy training, HMS Dolphin submarine base, and depot ship HMS Lucia, ultimately assigned to HM Submarine L11—an L-class vessel commissioned in 1916 as a minelayer for coastal patrols and North Sea operations.[1][3][4] Royal Navy Registers confirm his service record in ADM 188 Piece 664, highlighting endurance through the Battle of Jutland 1916 where L11 crew lists note his presence amid the war’s pivotal naval clash.[1]

HM Submarine L11, one of five L-class minelayers, patrolled relentlessly from 1917, laying mines off enemy coasts while evading U-boats in hazardous waters.[3] Leonard’s attachments included Ganges II for initial drills and Lucia as tender, supporting submarine flotillas post-Armistice when L11 shifted from Berehaven to Portland, preparing for US transit.[1][5] No major casualties marred L11’s wartime record; instead, post-1918 operations involved routine maintenance in British docks, qualifying Leonard for Victory Medal, British War Medal, and Memorial Death Plaque—honours for sailors lost to non-combat causes.[1] His pension ledger (Western Front Association reference 075/0346/GAL-GAL) attests to verified service, while Jutland crew lists cement his role in the Grand Fleet’s fateful encounter.[1]

Submarine life demanded unparalleled skill; L11’s minelaying runs exposed crews to depth-charge hunts and poor visibility, yet Leonard survived the war’s fury, only to face peacetime perils. Dover Express and naval histories portray a sailor of steadfast character, transitioning from boy to able seaman amid technological leaps in underwater warfare.[1][6]

Circumstances of Death
On 1 January 1919, mere weeks after Armistice, Able Seaman Gale fell accidentally overboard from HM Submarine L11 into a dry dock, fracturing his skull in the mishap.[1][2][6] L11, then at a British dockyard—likely near Middlesbrough or Dover for post-war refit—underwent maintenance; naval records specify “killed or died by means other than disease, accident or enemy action – at sea,” though accounts clarify a dockside fall.[1][4] He lingered two days, succumbing on 3 January 1919 at Cleveland House Navy Hospital, Grangetown, aged 26.[2][1]

No enemy action precipitated this tragedy; January 1919 saw Royal Navy submarines like L11 in demobilisation phase, with operations limited to patrols or transit preparations—no recorded casualties from combat that month.[7][6] Naval-history.net logs Gale among L11 losses that day, alongside unrelated incidents, underscoring peacetime hazards like slippery docks and heavy weather.[6][4] Dorking Museum details the accident’s stark simplicity: a fall during routine duties, far from battlefields, yet emblematic of naval risks persisting beyond 11 November 1918.[2] His death notice in Dover Express (1930 retrospective) and CWGC entry affirm non-combat status, with wife Nellie at 13 De Burgh Street receiving official notification.[1]

Burial and Commemoration
Leonard was buried shortly after 3 January 1919 in Charlton Cemetery, Dover, Kent—Section Y.S. 9, Plot 6569—near his Dover marital home.[1] The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records him as Able Seaman J/8830, Royal Navy, HM Submarine L11, with inscription: “Son of George and Annie Gale, of Dorking; husband of Nellie Rosina Gale, of 13, De Burgh St., Dover.”[https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/365384/gale,-leonard-frank/][1] Find A Grave Memorial ID 24364859 preserves his plot, accessible to descendants.[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24364859][1]

Commemoration extends via Memorial Death Plaque, issued to families of naval dead, alongside his Victory and British War Medals.[1] British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths register confirms burial details, while submarinefamily.uk lists him among L11 honoured dead.[4] Locally, Dorking Museum profiles him as a “Dorking Sailor,” linking to Dover War Memorial Project for accident context.[2] Ancestry’s UK Royal Navy War Graves Roll (ADM 242/8) ensures his sacrifice endures in genealogical archives.[1]

Legacy
Leonard Frank Gale’s untimely death at 26 left Nellie widowed with infant Frank Ernest, born seven months later on 28 August 1919 in Dover— a son who never knew his father’s embrace yet carried the Gale name forward.[2][1] As husband of a second cousin twice removed to researcher Mike, Leonard bridges family histories, his story unearthed via Family Tree Maker 2024, Ancestry.co.uk, and CWGC—tools vital for preserving such narratives.[1] His medals, pension records, and Jutland listing affirm a life of duty, outlasting the guns of August 1914.

In broader terms, Gale exemplifies the 1919 “silent casualties”—over 1,000 Royal Navy deaths post-Armistice from accidents, illness, and minesweeping, often overlooked amid victory parades.[6] Dorking’s remembrance, via museum exhibits and Surrey war memorials, honours locals like him, while ForcesWarRecords and Newspapers.com (Dover Express) contextualise submarine perils.[2][1] Today, descendants access his service via Jutland Crew Lists, ensuring Able Seaman Gale’s resilience inspires amid Remembrance Day silences.[1]

His legacy cautions against war’s long shadow: L11 continued service into the 1930s, but Leonard’s dockside fall reminds that peace harbours hazards.[3][4] Through genealogical platforms like Ancestry’s 1901 Census and pension ledgers, his Dorking roots and naval valour remain vivid, a testament to ordinary men’s extraordinary commitments.[1]

Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-Leonard-Frank-Gale.pdf
[2] Leonard Frank Gale. Dorking Sailor. WW1 – Dorking Museum https://dorkingmuseum.org.uk/able-seaman-leonard-frank-gale/
[3] HMS L11 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_L11
[4] HMS L11 – The Submarine Family https://submarinefamily.uk/submarines/hms-l11/
[5] L-11 (Submarine No. 51) – Naval History and Heritage Command https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/l/l-11.html
[6] Iolaire, Admiralty yacht, killed and died, other RN casualties, Jan … https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1919a.htm
[7] Caspian Sea and other Royal Navy killed and died, Jan-June 1919 https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1919aa.htm
[8] Royal Navy, HM Submarine E11 – First World War Casualties https://astreetnearyou.org/regiment/9720/Royal-Navy,-HM-Submarine-E11
[9] Losses – RN Subs http://rnsubs.co.uk/boats/losses.html
[10] American Ship Casualties of the World War https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/a/american-ship-casualties-world-war.html
[11] H-11 – Scottish Shipwrecks https://www.scottishshipwrecks.com/9321-2/
[12] 9th LCT Flotilla – A Tragedy at Sea – Combined Operations https://www.combinedops.com/9th%20LCT%20Flotilla.htm
[13] The ‘Battle’ of May Island January 1917 and K-Class Submarines of … https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/the-battle-of-may-island-january-1917-and-k-class-submarines-of-the-first-world-war/
[14] USS L-11 (Submarine # 51) | laststandonzombieisland https://laststandonzombieisland.com/tag/uss-l-11-submarine-51/
[15] Stoker 1st Class Cecil Leonard Frank Gale (1923-1943) – Find a … https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56693691/cecil-leonard_frank-gale
[16] RCN and RNCVR CASUALITES – FIRST WORLD WAR https://www.forposterityssake.ca/RCN-CASUALTIES-FWW.htm
[17] Royal Navy Organisation and Ship Deployment, Inter-War Years … https://naval-history.net/xGW-RNOrganisation1919-39.htm
[18] Search for “Gale,” in lastname | Lives of the First World War https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/searchlives/field/lastname/Gale,/filter/span%5B
[19] Lieutenant-Commander Martin Nasmith VC and HM Submarine E11 https://warandsecurity.com/2015/06/25/lieutenant-commander-martin-nasmith-vc-and-hm-submarine-e11/
[20] Royal Navy – Page 375 – The Submarine Family https://submarinefamily.uk/service/royal-navy/page/375/
[21] L class submersibles (1917) – Naval Encyclopedia https://naval-encyclopedia.com/ww1/uk/l-class-submersibles.php