Merchant Marine Reserve – HMS Eaglet
The 1911 census showed that William Corlett was one of thirteen children (nine surviving) born to William and Annie Maria Corlett. He was born in the second quarter of 1901 at Gloucester.
In the 1901 Census the Corlett family lived at 15 Alney Terrace, Gloucester and William (senior) was employed as a ‘stationery engine driver’. By 1911 the family had moved to 20 Clegram Road, Gloucester and William (senior) was still and engine driver, employed at the nearby Wagon Works.
The younger William died of disease in Liverpool Hospital on 28 October 1918, a fact contained in the report of his funeral and interment at Gloucester Old Cemetery contained in the Gloucester Journal of 9 November 1918. The report indicates that it was a well attended ‘semi-military’ funeral, the coffin being accompanied by ‘six naval boys’ and a firing party was present. Also present were representatives of the British Carbonising Company, a Gloucester based company who, presumably, had employed young William before his conscription into the Mercantile Marine Reserve. The CWGC Register states he was with HMS Eaglet when he died. This was an old 50-gun frigate, moored in Brunswick Dock, Liverpool, which served as the shore establishment for the Mersey Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
A Trimmer was a form of stoker, whose job it was to work to maintain levels of coal in a ship’s bunkers.
Trimmer William Corlett was buried in Gloucester Old Cemetery, where a standard CWGC headstone now marks his grave.
Research by Graham Adams 9 December 2015