John Bell Anderson
Place of birth: Camberwell, London
Previous occupation: Message Boy
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Able Seaman
Service Number: J94021
Joined Hood First time: 1st April 1920 (Boy 1st Class)
Left Hood First time: 6th January 1922 (Able Seaman)
Joined Hood Second time: 15th May 1923 (Able Seaman)
Left Hood Second time: 6th January 1926 (Able Seaman)
Biographical Information: John Bell Anderson, known as Jack, was born in London but lived in Belfast as a boy. He joined the Royal Navy on the last day of 1918, at the age of fifteen, as a Boy Second Class. On his eighteenth birthday he signed on for twelve years mans time. He was drafted to Hood for the first time on 10 April 1920, and by the time he left on 6 January 1922 he had been advanced twice - first to Ordinary Seaman and then to Able Seaman. It was Johns good fortune to be drafted to Hood a second time on 15 May 1922 and to remain on board until 6 January 1926 which meant that he was onboard during the Empire Cruise of 1923-4. That experience must have stayed in his mind, because his great-nephew Tim Evans recalls John talking about the cruise when he was an old man. Jack elected to leave the Service as a Leading Seaman at the end of his twelve-year engagement, on 5 August 1933, the day before his 30th birthday.
History of ships served in and ratings held:
Date From | Date to | Ship | Rating | Source |
31st December 1918 | 13th June 1919 | Impregnable | Boy 2nd Class | ADM188/8365 |
14th June 1919 | 13th October 1919 | Impregnable | Boy 1st Class | ADM188/8365 |
14th October 1919 | 30th November 1919 | Powerful | Boy 1st Class | ADM188/8365 |
1st December 1919 | 15th January 1920 | Impregnable | Boy 1st Class | ADM188/8365 |
16th January 1920 | 4th March 1920 | Lion | Boy 1st Class | ADM188/8365 |
5th March 1920 | 31st March 1920 | Crescent (Hood) | Boy 1st Class | ADM188/8365 |
1st April 1920 | 5th February 1921 | Hood | Boy 1st Class | ADM188/8365 |
6th February 1921 | 2nd August 1921 | Hood | Ordinary Seaman | ADM188/8365 |
3rd August 1921 | 6th January 1922 | Hood | Able Seaman | ADM188/8365 |
7th January 1922 | 24th February 1923 | Vivid I | Able Seaman | ADM188/8365 |
25th February 1923 | 17th April 1923 | Defiance | Able Seaman | ADM188/8365 |
18th April 1923 | 14th May 1923 | Vivid I | Able Seaman | ADM188/8365 |
15th May 1923 | 6th January 1926 | Hood | Able Seaman | ADM188/8365 |
7th January 1926 | 27th September 1926 | Defiance | Able Seaman | ADM188/8365 |
28th September 1926 | 1st November 1926 | Vivid I | Able Seaman | ADM188/8365 |
2nd November 1926 | 18th March 1929 | Durban | Able Seaman | ADM188/8365 |
19th March 1929 | 6th December 1929 | Defiance | Able Seaman | ADM363/373 |
7th December 1929 | 6th January 1930 | Vivid I-III | Able Seaman | ADM363/373 |
7th January 1930 | 22nd June 1930 | Rodney | Able Seaman | ADM363/373 |
23rd June 1930 | 5th September 1930 | Rodney | Acting Leading Seaman | ADM363/373 |
6th September 1930 | 8th September 1930 | Vivid I-I | Acting Leading Seaman | ADM363/373 |
9th September 1930 | 28th October 1930 | Defiance | Acting Leading Seaman | ADM363/373 |
29th October 1930 | 10th November 1930 | Vivid I-I | Acting Leading Seaman | ADM363/373 |
11th November 1930 | 22nd June 1931 | Vivid II-IV (Walker) | Acting Leading Seaman | ADM363/373 |
23rd June 1931 | 31st December 1931 | Vivid II-IV (Walker) | Leading Seaman | ADM363/373 |
1st January 1932 | 10th January 1933 | Vivid I-IV (Warwick) | Leading Seaman | ADM363/373 |
11th January 1933 | 4th May 1933 | Defiance | Leading Seaman | ADM363/373 |
5th May 1933 | 5th August 1933 | Dorsetshire | Leading Seaman | ADM363/373 |
Additional Photographs
None at this time.
Memorials
No known memorials
No known memorials
Sources
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
'Register of Deaths of Naval Ratings' (data extracted by Director of Naval Personnel (Disclosure Cell), Navy Command HQ, 2009)
Great-nephew Tim Evans 2018.
The Empire Cruise by VC Scott O'Connor