Search our records : Albert William Bartlett

Albert Bartlett was born in Beer on 28^th January 1881, the son of William Bartlett, a fisherman, and his wife Hannah.

He joined the Royal Naval Reserve on 26^th February 1901, and his RNR record described him as 5ft 6ins tall with blue eyes and a fair complexion.

Albert was called up on 3^rd August 1914, when he was living in ‘Dolphin Street’, Beer, and fishing on the Albina (E145). He joined the cruiser HMS Challenger (see separate panel), and remained until early 1918.

He spent most of his time on Challenger in African waters, and took part in the attack on the Cameroons in September 1914 and the bombardment of Dar es Salaam in 1916.

On 13^th January 1918 Challenger was decommissioned in Kilwa Kisiwani, (an island off the coast of what is today Tanzania) and immediately recommissioned with a new crew. Both Albert and Arthur Abbott of Beer were among the 300 crew who went ashore, and they both joined the Empress of Britain, a former liner which was being used as a troopship. In October that year Albert transferred to HMS Orbita, an armed merchant cruiser which was operating in the Pacific, and on which he spent the last few weeks of the war.

He was demobilised on 12^th February 1919.

Albert died in 1951, aged 70.