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Archiver > Mariners > 2003-05 > 1051794642


From: Paul Benyon <>
Subject: Re: [Mar] Royal Naval Boys Service
Date: Thu, 01 May 2003 14:15:09 +0100
References: <1db.8b99170.2be2534c@aol.com>
In-Reply-To: <1db.8b99170.2be2534c@aol.com>


Hi Robin

It would appear that Frederick entered the Royal Navy as a Boy ie under
the age of 17½ and would have attended one of the Boys training
establishments, be it HMS GANGES, Nr Ipswich or ST VINCENT at
Portsmouth, which he would have attended for a year or so before being
sent to the Fleet for further training.

One could guess that prior to this he might have gone to one of the many
Training Ships that were then dotted around the coast, but he could just
as likely have attended a school close to where he lived and then joined
the RN. Many lads perhaps spent a day at the seaside and their parents
took them on a boat trip round the harbour where they might have seen a
visiting RN ship - and from that moment on they knew what they wanted to
do.

Yes - TB was still a killer in the RN around this time - what with damp
messdecks and sleeping conditions etc - it was many years before all the
old ships disappeared and adequate ventilation was prescribed in all
newly built ships - and even then some were still very wet sailors.
ISTR the annual x-ray and TB check was mandatory during my time in the
service many years later. Plus the life of a stoker - working down
below in the engineroom amongst the fumes etc - was said to reduce the
lifespan of engineroom personnel for many years to come.

Regards

Paul

On Thu, 1 May 2003 06:39:08 EDT, wrote:

>Hello Listers!
>
>My father, Frederick C G PORTER, enlisted in the Royal Naval Boys Service on
>2nd September 1925 at Devonport, Devon serving man and boy unitl 1951. I have
>been trying to discover what school he may have attended before he joined the
>Royal Navy, and I have not had much luck so far!
>
>I wonder, could some kind, and venerable! soul tell me anything about the
>Royal Naval Boys Service at this time, please? My grandfather was still alive
>at the time my dad joined, so dad would not have qualified for the Royal
>school, although my uncle, five years younger did, as my grandfather passed
>away in 1927, a victim of lung disease, possibly as a result of his life as a
>Stoker, again R.N.
>
>Thanks and Best Wishes to you all,
>
>Robin in England on a beautiful spring morning!
>
>
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50.33.50N 02.26.70W
http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.html

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