264489 Ldg.Torpedoman. William James Fuller Royal Navy HMS Blanche from:33 Bridge Road, Stratford, Essex Will Fuller had been working since the age of 14 years as a messenger boy for Lloyds of London, then as a warehouseman, but when his 18th birthday was due he determined to serve his country for the duration of hostilities of the Great War commenced 1914.
He completed his basic training at Chatham in February 1917 and his first (only) posting was to the refurbished scout cruiser HMS Blanche which had survived the battle of Jutland. She had been converted to a fast minelayer and spent time out of Scapa Flow and Rosythe laying mines from Doggar Bank up to Norway. Blanche was part of a task force intended to create a blockade of mines stretching from Norway to the Shetland Islands to prevent German U-boats reaching the Atlantic to prey upon Allied shipping.
Not all was plain sailing: he told of laying prone on the deck under attack from zeppelins with bombs falling all around.
He told of stormy seas where the waves were mountains of grey water towering over their ship causing great damage and the foundering of other ships nearby to whom they could give no help. He told of the arduous work of coaling the ship, and the relief of making music for his shipmates with his fiddle.
He survived Naval service, being demobbed in March 1919.
He then took employment as a tram driver in West Ham, London and started his own band, Will Fuller and the Fultones.
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