Family :

Education & Career :

A biography exists courtesy of the Western Front Association of Merseyside, where his portrait image is sourced.

Captain in the Pacific Steamship Company for many years.

Board of Trade Wreck Report for 'John Elder', 1892 That the steamship John Elder, 4,160.10 tons, belonging to the port of Liverpool, sailed from Valparaiso about 4 p.m. on Saturday, 16th January 1892, laden with a general cargo, as well as 139 passengers, bound for the port of Talcuhuano, and at about 6.20 a.m. on Sunday, January 17th, was stranded in foggy weather on Carranza Rocks, where she eventually became a total wreck on January 20th. Further, the Court, in reviewing the conduct of the chief officer, Mr. Walter Croker Poole, besides the error on his part previously mentioned, finds, that when the master, in accordance with the company's regulations, consulted him as to the course shaped on leaving Valparaiso, he, being aware of the warnings above mentioned, should have drawn the master's attention to them; and the Court doth adjudge that the certificate of the said Walter Croker Poole be suspended for the term of three calendar months from the date hereof (No. of certificate 20,498 O.C.). Item details ADM 337/119/19 Walter Croker Poole. Charles Henry Barnard. Service record as RNVR Officer.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

Dubbed the "greatest disaster in the history of the Liverpool Pilot service."

In the early morning of 28th December, 1917, No. 1 Pilot Boat was on duty south of the Bar Lightship. It was an extraordinarily fine morning for the time of the year, and most of the pilots and crew, not required for duty, had retired to rest. The 457 ton vessel was carrying pilots in addition to her twenty-five crew.

No. 3 Pilot Boat was in close proximity, and at 3.15 a.m. the pilots on board the vessel were startled by a load explosion, and at once notices that the lights of No. 1 Pilot Boat had disappeared. They hastened to the spot with all the boats ready for launching, to find that No. 1 Boat had sunk, only the top of a mast being visible, but hearing cries of help from the water, they lowered two boats, and picked up three survivors - a Marconi Operator and two Pilot Apprentices, one of whom expired on reaching the deck of No. 3 Pilot Boat. The cause of the explosion was determined to be a mine which had been laid nearly a year earlier by UC-75 (Johannes Lohs).

In all thirty-nine persons perished, of whom nineteen were pilots, the remainder being examination officers, boathands, engine-room staff, and signallers. At least 7 aboard were Freemasons, and others believed to either have previously been Freemasons or had relatives that were. There was probably not a Lodge in Merseyside which hadn't been shocked by this tragic loss.

Three crewmen were picked up alive and landed at Liverpool, along with several bodies' ADM 137/2963 - LR 1915-16 No.649 (A) No 1 pilot boat, S.S. Alfred H. Read struck a mine at the Bar Station The mine that sank her was laid by the submarine UC-75. A similar event occurred on New Years Eve 1916 when virtually the entire complement of Tyne pilots was wiped out in a "jolly-gone-wrong" on the Pilot Boat - Protector"

This terrible event cast a gloom over the Port, for the pilots were well known to the shipping fraternity, and expressions of sympathy were received from all quarters. The disaster caused heavy claims to be made upon the Pilots' Benevolent Fund, and the Chairman of the Pilotage Committee, supported by the other members, came to the rescue, and were instrumental in obtaining such generous subscriptions from the Shipowners that they were not only able to reimburse the Pilots' Benevolent Fund but also to provide some additional assistance for those lost, other than pilots.

On the termination of the war the sinker of the mine (the box & mine tether) which it was believed was struck by No.1 Pilot Boat was handed over by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to the Pilotage Authority, and placed on the Canning Pierhead, in front of the Pilotage Office.

A brass memorial plaque naming all the pilots who lost their lives used to be attached to a wall inside the Williamson Museum, in Slatey Road, Birkenhead, above a scale model of the "Alfred H Read." before moving to the Museum in Birkenhead Town Hall. When the Town Hall Museum closed the plaque was taken into the care of the Merseyside Galleries and Museums.

Masonic :

Joined Buckingham and Chandos Lodge on the 9th January 1917 from the Irish Constitution. The records show he was a member of Lodge No. 207 I.C., Lismore, County Waterford as was, perhaps, his father before him.

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