Early Life :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

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

Naval Campaign is defined as to include all sea operations where attrition rates are in ones and twos and which do not fall within specific naval battles such as Jutland, Coronel, Falklands etc. This includes Merchant Navy losses.

Detail :

As the 1st Engineer aboard the “SS Santa Amalia”, a London registered vessel, John lost his life, aged 48 years, when he drowned on 28 December, 1917, less than eighteen month’s after his initiation into freemason-ry. The “SS Santa Amalia”, had been built in 1906 by Russell & Co., of Port Glasgow as No. 559 and originally named “Drumlanrig”. She was 385 feet in length, and a breadth of 49 feet, with 4306 gross tonnage, and owned by Joseph Chadwick & Son /Eagle Oil Transportation Co. Ltd. (whose “House Flag” is pictured). On a voyage, in ballast, from Manchester to Puerto Rico/Mexico, she was sighted by the German submarine, U-19, as she rounded the coast of County Donegal, in position 55.36N by 7.38W thirty miles North by East, half East, from Malin Head. The U-19 released her torpedoes and scored a direct hit, resulting in the loss of forty-three souls including the ship’s master and John.

U-19 (the first of the four U19 class) was built at Danzig (Gdansk) and launched in 1912, and led an interesting life during the war. From March 1916 she was commanded by Raimund Weisbach, who was the Torpedo Officer in May 1915, on U-20, the actual man who fired the torpedo which sank the Lusitania. While under Weisbach’s command the U-19 also landed the traitor Roger Casement with two other Irish terrorists at Ballyheige Bay. After a number of changes of command Johannes Spiers took over the Captaincy again on 17 November 1917, until June of the following year. During the war U-19 conducted 12 patrols, sinking 46 ships totalling 64,816 tons, and was finally surrendered on 11 November 1918, where she was later taken to Blythe to be broken up for scrap in 1919. This photograph shows all four of the class from left to right U22, U20, U19 and U21.

The Northern Echo of 13th December, 1920 gives a report on the Unveiling of the Memorial, two days previous, to the 45 men of the Sunderland branch of the Marine Engineers’ Association who fell in the war by the Mayor of Sunderland. Situated at the Club premises at 41 The New Arcade, with the dedication service conducted by Rev F J Cutts.

John William Allan is commemorated on Column 1 of the Liverpool Masonic Hall Memorial, Hope Street, the Masonic Roll of Honour Book 1914–8 on page 82, as 2681 QUEEN’S Allan J. W. H.M. Transport, and on the Mercantile Marine Memorial, Tower Hill, London, below the name of his vessel, Santa Amalia. He is also recorded in the Holy Trinity Book of Remembrance at Sunderland, and the Sunderland Marine Engineers’ Memorial

Masonic :

John William Allan was initiated into QUEENS LODGE, No. 2681, on 7 July 1916, a chief engineer, aged 48, his proposer being Thomas Harthill, and seconded by Richard Stanley Lamble. This may have been the one and only opportunity that he had to attend lodge, according to the records, but such were the vagaries of this period, with John being a seafarer at a time of hostilities, this would not be surprising.

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
• Researcher : Geoff Cuthill