Frederick Roy Pym

Family

Frederick Roy Pym was born on 19^th April 1895 in Dartmouth. He was the son of Daniel Sanders Pym and Emily Perring. Daniel Sanders Pym had been born in Topsham and was a fisherman. By 1891 he had moved to Dartmouth and found lodgings in Lower Street with another fisherman, James Fisher (sic) and his wife Amy. Next door was the house of John Perring, the Captain of the steam tug Hauley (presumably an ancestor of today's Lower Ferry), including his recently widowed daughter Emily. She had married her first husband, Edward Arthur Glanville, only two years earlier. Daniel and Emily married in 1893.

According to the 1911 Census, the couple had nine children, four of whom had died.  Comparison of birth and death indices suggests that these were three girls and a boy, all of whom died in infancy. Frederick was their second son. Daniel had left the fishing trade and had been working as a "coal heaver" for some time. The two older boys, Arthur and Frederick, were both working as labourers. The family still lived in Lower Street.

Service

On 5^th March 1914 Frederick joined the Navy, as a Stoker 2^nd Class. The criteria for this role and rating were not particularly demanding:

• age over 18
• "a desirable man for the service"
• fitness for the rating: "must read and write fairly".

Stokers needed to be fit and strong. Frederick was 5' 5 ¾" tall, with brown hair, blue eyes, and a fresh complexion. His previous occupation was given as "fisherman and yachtsman".

Frederick spent the first four months of his service in the Navy on his initial training at the Naval barracks at Devonport. His first, and last, sea posting was to HMS Monmouth, on 30^th July 1914.

Death

For Frederick's service on HMS Monmouth, and his death at the Battle of Coronel, please see our separate article here.

Commemoration

An announcement of Frederick's death appeared in the Dartmouth Chronicle of 20^th November 1914:

The final phrase does not only refer to the children whom Daniel and Emily had lost in infancy. Frederick's elder brother Arthur, also a coal lumper, had been found drowned on 5^th July 1914. According to newspaper reports of the inquest, he had been drinking with his friends but "was capable of taking care of himself". He had told his father, Daniel, that he was going to take his line and go fishing, and he was presumed to have fallen overboard. The jury's verdict was "found drowned", and sympathy was expressed with the relatives.

Frederick Roy Pym appears on the Town War Memorial, the St Saviour's Memorial Board, and the St Petrox Memorial Panels.

Sources

Frederick's naval record can be downloaded from the National Archives (fee payable) reference ADM 188/911/22232.

Requirements for Stokers are set out in Kings Regulations and Admiralty Instructions 1913 - Stokers and Mechanicians, available online here:

Websites accessed 31^st October 2014

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