Henry James Everest

Born : 1881: Ardingly West Sussex
Died : 1.July 1917

Henry Everest lived at South Heighton, where he lodged with his brother John, at number 7, Hampden Gardens.

Prior to the Great War he was employed in the Merchant Navy. Working as a Fireman in the ship's engine room, his journeys from the port of Newhaven took him around the coast of the UK and Northern France.

Following the outbreak of war, the role of Newhaven's harbour changed and it developed into one of the main supply ports for supplies to the Western Front.

Up to twenty supply ships left Newhaven each day with supplies of ammunition, weapons, clothing, food and general trench warfare commodities. A significant quantity of hay from the South Downs was also transported for the horses, which had been commandeered by the army for military use. 

At the time of his death on 1 July 1917, Henry Everest was a fireman on The Duchess ( Official number 111229). The ship was built by the Ailsa Shipbuiding Company at Troon in Ayreshire in 1899, for John Hay of 58 Renfield Street, Glasgow. Dimensions of the ship were - length 176.75 feet, breadth 27 feet, depth 10.8 feet. Her tonnages were gross  553 35 tons and register - 317.89 tons. She was a steam ship of steel construction, rigged as a fore and aft schooner.

Ships normally left Newhaven in convoy, and under cover of darkness. Staying close to the Sussex coastline, they headed up through the channel until they reached the Dungeness area. At this point they crossed the channel and headed for their destination ports.

It was while travelling to Dungeness that an incident occurred with the Duchess. The ship's log of a naval escort vessel (TB 3 ) records that there was a collision at 2.00am between the Duchess and HMS Cossack. As a result the Duchess sank, and although the escort vessel managed to pick up three survivors, the rest of the crew were lost. HMS Cossack was damaged and towed back to Newhaven where the survivors were discharged.

Henry Everest, down below the deck in the engine room, would no doubt, have stood little chance of escaping . The collision occurred at latitude N 50 43 57.0 and longitude E 000 29 42.0. This position can be viewed clearly from Beachy Head, near Eastbourne. The wreck of the Duchess (wreck number 13702634), is just to the left of the Sovereign  Light Tower which  can be seen in the direction  of Hastings.

In addition to the Tarring Neville church memorial, Henry Everest is also recorded on the Newhaven War Memorial and the Newhaven Transport Memorial.

Two months after Henry's death, his younger brother Frank was killed by a sniper at Gavrelle near Arras.

Many thanks to Ian Everest for supplying this information
www.newhavenfort.co.uk