Family :

Education & Career :

Prison Warder (1910-1912).

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

The Battle of Coronel took place on 1 November 1914 off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. German Kaiserliche Marine forces led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and defeated a Royal Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock. Although Spee had an easy victory, destroying two enemy armoured cruisers for just three men injured, the engagement also cost him half his supply of ammunition, which it was impossible to replace.

Shock at the British losses led to an immediate reaction and the sending of more ships which in turn destroyed Spee and his squadron at the Battle of the Falkland Islands. Two British armoured cruisers, HMS Monmouth and HMS Good Hope were sunk with the loss of nearly 1600 men.

HMS Monmouth participated in the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile on 1 November 1914. Outmatched and with an inexperienced crew, she was quickly overwhelmed, being unable to use many of her guns due to the stormy weather. Early in the battle, a 21 cm (8.2 inch) shell from SMS Gneisenau penetrated the armour of the forward 6 inch gun turret, destroying it and causing a massive fire on the forecastle. More serious hits followed, and she soon could no longer hold her place in the line of battle. When it was clear that Monmouth was out of action, Gneisenau shifted fire to HMS Good Hope. A short while later, drifting and on fire, Monmouth was attacked by the newly arrived light cruiser SMS Nurnberg which fired seventy-five 10.5 cm (4.1 inch) shells at close range.

H.M.S. Good Hope was sunk along with HMS Monmouth by the German armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau under Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee with the loss of her entire complement of 900 hands. She was an armoured cruiser manned by a crew of reservists and cadets and was the flag ship of Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Craddock commanding a squadron of ageing ships. There were no survivors.

Monmouth and Good Hope both sank with a combined loss of 1,570 lives. There was no survivor from either ship. In total 33 Freemasons lost their lives at the Battle of Coronel. A Memorial to Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Craddock is to be found in York Minster.

Detail :

Brian Mudford writes in the Gildhall News (The quarterly journal of the Leicester Gild of Freemen - November 2013.
"Searching for those who served in WW1 When I was looking through my Family History records to see if any relative had served in WW1 I came upon the following: Harry Thomas Mudford, my g.grandfather, married Lucy Stretton at St. Luke’s church in Leicester on the 3rd August 1879. On the marriage certificate it was stated that he was a 20 year old Tin plate worker living at 152A Humberstone Road, and Lucy was 19 years old living at 29 Providence Place. Lucy’s father Thomas Stretton was listed as a Sock manufacturer. Henry Thomas Mudford was made free on 13th February 1891. 17 The second son of Harry Thomas and Lucy was born on 21st May 1883 and was named Walter Mudford, he was baptised the following month on the 13th June at St. Luke’s church, when his parents were living at 98 Wheat Street in Leicester. As Walter was born before his father became free he was unable to become a Leicester Freeman. Harry Thomas did not have any further sons that lived to adulthood. In 1909, when he was 26 years old, Walter married 27 year old Ada Lycett on the 2nd August at St. Stephen’s church in Leicester. On their marriage certificate they were both listed as living at 53 Green Lane Road,Leicester, Walter being shown as an Assistant Warden. In the 1911 census Walter and Ada Mudford had moved to Magdala Street, Ladywood, Birmingham, Warwickshire, where Walter was working as a Warder grade 2 - Prison Dept. They now had a 9 months old daughter named Ada Olive Mudford. Unfortunately Walter was killed in action at the start of the first World War age 31. He was a Bombardier in the Royal Marine Artillery serving on HMS Good Hope which was sunk by gunfire of German cruisers SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU, off Coronel, Chile on Sunday 1st November 1914. HMS Good Hope was built in 1901, at a cost of just over one million pounds. It was a 14,100 tons Cruiser with a complement of 900. It had two 9.2” guns, sixteen 6” guns, a dozen 12 pounders, and three 3 pounders. His widow Ada re-married four years later, at the end of 1918, to Luther Hawley in West Bromich."

Masonic :

Joined Forward Lodge from Lodge of Benevolence No. 666, Princetown, Devon on 7th October 1912. He resigned from Lodge of Benevolence 31st December 1912, probably calling off his membership in favour of a move as he had already joined Forward Lodge. Record at United Grand Lodge shows that he "Died in action 1st Sept. 1914"

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley