Herbert Mark Watson
Place of birth: Brighton, Sussex, England
Previous occupation: Clerk
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Petty Officer Telegraphist
Service Number: 235743
Joined Hood: 24th August 1921
Left Hood: 22nd April 1922
Biographical Information: Although born in Sussex, Herbert Mark Watson was a Devonport-based rating throughout his career. He joined the Royal Navy on 11th January 1906, at the age of 16, as a Boy 2nd Class. He was advanced successively to Ordinary Seaman then, in 1908, to Able Seaman, while serving in HMS Monmouth.
At that point he specialised as a Telegraphist, in a relatively new branch. Herbert was serving in the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Canopus in 1914, and so would have been involved in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December that year, in which Canopus fired the first shots.
Herbert was successful in his new branch, and by the time he came to serve in Hood in 1921, he had achieved the rate of Petty Officer. In January 1929 he was promoted to CPO Telegraphist and in November that same year, having achieved 22 years' 'Man's Time', he qualified for a naval pension.
Herbert remained in the service during part of World War II.
Herbert's talents were clear from his RN service record, and his family have told us that he was a well-educated and academic man, a talented and accomplished musician. He found it difficult to cope with the stresses and pressures of family life, however, and eventually left his wife Gladys and their five children around 1936, having little contact with them thereafter. Registers of England and Wales show him living apart from them in 1939, in Truro. He is listed as ‘separated’ and his work is noted as ‘radio specialist’.
Herbert died in Plymouth in 1952.
History of ships served in and ratings held:
Date From | Date to | Ship | Rating | Source |
11th January 1906 | 21st April 1906 | Emerald | Boy 2nd Class | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
22nd April 1906 | 9th August 1906 | Impregnable | Boy 2nd Class | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
10th August 1906 | 15th May 1907 | Impregnable | Boy 1st Class | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
16th May 1907 | 6th September 1907 | Hogue | Boy 1st Class | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
7th September 1907 | 30th September 1907 | Vivid I | Boy 1st Class | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
1st October 1907 | 31st October 1907 | Amphitrite | Boy 1st Class | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
1st November 1907 | 11th November 1907 | Amphitrite | Ordinary Seaman | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
12th November 1907 | 21st February 1908 | Kent | Ordinary Seaman | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
22nd February 1908 | 29th April 1908 | Kent | Able Seaman | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
30th April 1908 | 29th April 1910 | Monmouth | Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
30th April 1910 | 12th March 1912 | Monmouth | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
13th March 1912 | 20th May 1912 | Hawke | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
21st May 1912 | 27th September 1912 | Vivid I | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
28th September 1912 | 9th January 1913 | Defiance | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
10th January 1913 | 23rd June 1914 | Collingwood | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
24th June 1914 | 29th July 1914 | Vivid I | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
30th July 1914 | 11th March 1915 | Canopus | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
12th March 1915 | 5th May 1916 | Canopus | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
6th May 1916 | 30th May 1916 | Vivid | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
31st May 1916 | 28th July 1916 | Defiance | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
29th July 1916 | 21st August 1917 | Ganges | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
22nd August 1917 | 12th September 1917 | Defiance | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
13th September 1917 | 14th September 1919 | Caesar | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
15th September 1919 | 30th June 1921 | Vivid I | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
1st July 1921 | 23rd August 1921 | Glorious | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
24th August 1921 | 24th April 1922 | Hood | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
25th April 1922 | 21st May 1922 | Sandhurst | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
22nd May 1922 | 25th May 1922 | Sandhurst | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
26th May 1922 | 19th July 1922 | Vivid I | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
20th July 1922 | 16th October 1922 | Victory I | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
17th October 1922 | 10th April 1923 | Vivid I | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
11th April 1923 | 30th June 1924 | Valiant | Leading Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
1st July 1924 | 30th June 1925 | Valiant | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
1st July 1925 | 23rd February 1926 | Valiant | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
24th February 1926 | 31st October 1927 | Vivid I | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
1st November 1927 | 29th December 1927 | Victory I | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
30th December 1927 | 1st January 1929 | Resolution | Petty Officer Telegraphist | 0 via WW1 Lives at Sea |
Additional Photographs
None at this time.
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)
0 via WW1 Lives at Sea