Search our records : Henry (‘Harry’) James Franklin

Harry Franklin was born in Beer on 21^st June 1884.  His father, George, died when Harry was very young, and his mother remarried.   

Harry joined the Royal Naval Reserve on 21^st June 1904.  At the time he was living at 5 Gordon Terrace, Beer, and his RNR record shows that he was 5ft 5 ½ ins tall, with a fair complexion and grey eyes.

He was called up on 3^rd August 1914, and after two months on HMS Oceanic, he joined HMS Revenge, an elderly battleship which was later renamed Redoubtable so the name Revenge could be used for a brand new ship.  He remained on Redoubtable until October 1915

From February 1916 to January 1918 he served on a series of ‘Hired Trawlers’, HTs Neath Castle, Lysander and Loch Kildonan.  These vessels were usually employed on minesweeping work. 

In March 1918 he was promoted to Petty Officer, and the following month he joined HMS Caesar (a Majestic class battleship with 12 inch guns and a crew of 670), remaining for the rest of the war. For most of this period Caesar was the guard ship in Bermuda, but in September 1918 she moved to the Mediterranean.  After conversion work in Malta, she went to Murdos to act as a depot ship.

Harry was demobilised in August 1919.