The Wartime Memories Project

- Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery during the Second World War -


Allied Forces Index
skip to content


This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.


If you enjoy this site

please consider making a donation.




    Site Home

    WW2 Home

    Add Stories

    WW2 Search

    Library

    Help & FAQs


 WW2 Features

    Airfields

    Allied Army

    Allied Air Forces

    Allied Navy

    Axis Forces

    Home Front

    Battles

    Prisoners of War

    Allied Ships

    Women at War

    Those Who Served

    Day-by-Day

    Library

    The Great War

 Submissions

    Add Stories

    Time Capsule

    TWMP on Facebook



    Childrens Bookshop

 FAQ's

    Help & FAQs

    Glossary

    Volunteering

    Contact us

    News

    Bookshop

    About


Advertisements











World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery



   1st Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery was established in March 1943 by the reorganisation of the Maritime Royal Artillery, which had been formed on the 1st of November 1942 by renaming the Maritime Anti-Aircraft Royal Artillery, which had previously been formed from the Bren Gun Scheme, Port Gunners and Coastal Shuttle Service on the 6th of May 1941. On 3rd of September 1939 Germany had declared that all British merchant vessels would be treated as warships, in response the ships had been armed and these guns manned by gunners of the Royal Navy and Royal Artillery. The HQ of 1st Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery was at Loch Winnoch and they were designated to protect shipping in the Clyde area, sailing on all types of vessels.

 


If you can provide any additional information, especially on actions and locations at specific dates, please add it here.



Those known to have served with

Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery

during the Second World War 1939-1945.

  • Alsford Edward Albert. Gnr.
  • Andrews Henry George.
  • Andrews Henry George. Cpl.
  • Ayres George Rowland. Sgt.
  • Barclay Albert Edward. Gnr. (d.19th March 1945)
  • Baulch John. Gnr.
  • Bee James. L/Sgt.
  • Blunden Fred. Gnr.
  • Bowers Robert. Gnr.
  • Bradley Arthur. Bdr
  • Catchpole Lawrence John. Sgt.
  • Claxton Cecil Arthur. Gnr.
  • Day George Thomas. Gnr.
  • Dodkin Joseph John. Bmdr.
  • Garside Francis. Gnr.
  • Hallingham Basil George. L/Bmbdr. (d.19th Feb 1942)
  • Hatch Charles Henry. Gnr. (d.23rd Mar 1942)
  • Hendry James Hall Wilson. Gnr. (d.7th Jan 1943)
  • Hendry James Hall Wilson. Gnr. (d.7th Jan 1943)
  • Jim Braggs. Gunner
  • Jones Robert. Bmdr.
  • Keift Leonard John. Gnr.
  • Kerr Matthew. Pte.
  • Knight Albert William. Bdr
  • Lee John. Gnr. (d.30th October 1942)
  • Lewis Walter Charles.
  • Lintin David Henry. Sgt.
  • Marshall CDG MID Raymond. Sgt.
  • McAlenan John Bernard. L/Bbdr.
  • McSevney John. Gnr. (d.30th Jul 1944)
  • Miller George Robson.
  • Mills John. Gnr.
  • Moseley William Charles. W/Bdr.
  • New James Henry. Gnr. (d.9th February 1943)
  • Nims George William.
  • Nugent James. Gnr. (d.26th Jun 1941)
  • Pordage George William. Gnr. (d.24th September 1942)
  • Power Norman. L/Bdr
  • Pritchard Kenneth John. Gnr.
  • Purcell Roland Thomas. Gnr.
  • Riley Leonard. Sgt.
  • Robertson David John. L/Bmbdr.
  • Rutter John Thomas. L/Bdr. (d.5th March 1942)
  • Scorer Samuel. Bbdr.
  • Smith Charles. Gnr. (d.27th October 1942)
  • Sully William George. Bmbdr.
  • Tudor Thomas Willism. Sgt. (d.29th Oct 1942)
  • Turner Robert Sibbald. L/Sgt. (d.30th October 1944)
  • Voce Sidney Edward.
  • Walker Eric. Pte.
  • Weight Thomas Archibald. L/Bmbdr.
  • Wheble Lionel de la Force. Sgt.
  • Williams Kennedy Stephen. Gnr. (d.15th July 1943)

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List

Records of Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery from other sources.



The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website.

Announcements



  • The Wartime Memories Project has been running for 24 years. If you would like to support us, a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting and admin or this site will vanish from the web.
  • 28th March 2024 - Please note we currently have a huge backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263784 your information is still in the queue, please do not resubmit, we are working through them as quickly as possible.
  • Looking for help with Family History Research?   Please read our Family History FAQ's
  • The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web.
    If you enjoy this site

    please consider making a donation.


Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the War? Our Library contains an ever growing number diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text.



We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates.

If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page.


Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to WW2. We would like to obtain digital copies of any documents or photographs relating to WW2 you may have at home.

If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII second 1939 1945 battalion
Did you know? We also have a section on The Great War. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations.



Want to know more about Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery?


There are:431 items tagged Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.


Gnr. Fred Blunden Royal Artillery Maritime Regiment

My Dad, Fred Blunden, was on the last ship to be lost to U-boats in the Med in WW2, the SS Fort Missanabie. He served as a DEMS Gunner with the Royal Artillery Maritime Regiment.

Jan



Gnr. Roland Thomas Purcell 5th Maritime Regiment Royal Artillery

Roland Purcell was my late father, who passed away in 1963. I was only seven years of age at that time and knew very little about my father’s WW2 service. I was looking through some tins of historic paperwork kept by my late mother, and in these tins were some documents related to his wartime service. I then obtained my father’s army records from Glasgow which gave me some detailed information about his service activities. At age 21, he joined the Royal Artillery in January 1941, and after training volunteered for the Maritime Regiment manning guns on merchant ships. This regiment was later renamed Royal Maritime Artillery and the ships were referred to as DEMS (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships). I then had some research done from the National Archives that detailed which vessels he served on and where the vessels had been.

His first vessel was the MV Antigone. He signed on there in Hull on 12th of January 1942 and sailed on 29th of January 1942 to New York via Loch Ewe in Scotland, arriving in New York on 26th of February 1942.

He remained in New York until he joined the MV Myrtlebank, which was under repair and sailed on 25th of June 1942 calling at Trinidad and Table Bay, South Africa, where it underwent further repairs, then sailing to Port Sudan, Suez, Mombasa via Aden, then to Australia via Dar-es-Salaam, arriving in Melbourne on 15th of December 1942. The ship sailed to Sydney 5 days later and then continued around the coast, collecting wheat before sailing on 20th of January 1943 to South America. It arrived at Balboa, Panama Canal, on 3rd of March 1943, then proceeded to Guantanamo Bay en route back to the UK via New York, from whence it sailed on 20th of March 1943 to Belfast, arriving on 9th of April 1943, and finally sailing to Swansea, where Roland was discharged to shore on 15th of April 1943. There he found that he had been allocated to the newly reformed 5th Maritime Regiment whilst at sea. He was then on leave from 19th of April 1943 until 17th of May 1943.

On 16th of June 1943 he joined the SS Ranitiki in Liverpool. This was a troop ship, and the official log book shows it was to be a 3-month voyage. The ship sailed on 19th of June 1943 going to Freetown, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires before returning to Liverpool on 10th of August 1943 via Freetown, arriving back in Liverpool on 24th of September 1943, where he was paid off.

The trail goes somewhat cool in the next 12 months as the next recorded time served on a ship was on 15th of October 1944, when he signed on to the MV Antonio at Barry Island. It sailed for Bari in Italy via Augusta, Sicily and then to Bone and Algiers, where the vessel stayed until 31st of January 1945 when it called at Gibraltar before returning to the UK, arriving back on 15th of February 1945.

I was told by my late mother that Roland survived a sinking, but there are no records of this in the information I have so far. However, there are some sizable gaps in Roland’s army service. I am wondering if this sinking could have been in the large gap between 1st January 1944 and his next recorded service on a ship in October 1944. This would have included the periods of time prior and subsequent to the Normandy lanings. One of my surviving aunts told me that Roland was aboard vessels that transported troops across the Channel during D-Day.

Roland was at sea again in March 1945, joining the SS Empire Archer at Hartlepool on 17th of March 1945, sailing to the Thames and then on to New York, arriving there on 14th of April 1945 and putting into a shipyard for repairs to a propeller. The ship sailed on 13th of May 1945 to Gibraltar, arriving on 28th of May 1945, then proceeded to Augusta and Oran. It then sailed to Rio de Janeiro, arriving on 2nd of July 1945, then returning to the UK 5 days later with a load of iron ore. The ship arrived back at Dover on 1st of August 1945, where he was discharged. That was his last recorded shipboard service as a gunner.

In October of 1945, he was posted to Germany as part of the BAOR, where he served in the 26th Light AA Regiment, later transferring to the 124th Light AA Regiment, which was re-organized first as the 29th Field Regiment of the RA and then later as the 19th Field Regiment.

On 19th of June 1947, Roland transferred to "A" Class army reserve. On 13th of January 1948, he transferred to "B" Class army reserve at the end of 7 years’ Colour Service. On 13th of January 1953, he was discharged at the expiry of his 12 years of army service. He was awarded the following wartime campaign medals: Pacific Star, Atlantic Star, Italy Star and 1939-1945 war medals. He was also given a signed memento from the Maritime Royal Artillery as an ‘appreciation of the valuable services you personally rendered’.

Whilst in New York on shore leave during the war, he visited the famous Jack Dempsey’s Restaurant, and in one of his old documents I found a piece of yellow card which read ‘Good luck boys’ and was signed by Jack Dempsey. I have checked the signature, and it is genuine.

It beggars belief that, starting at the age of 21, my father sailed the oceans throughout the Second World War with all the dangers they encompassed, that he travelled the world over and survived where so many thousands did not. It’s ironic, really, that he died of lung cancer at the age of 42 but saw more in his 42 years than most do in a normal lifetime. It is important to his descendants that his wartime story be told, and it was with a sense of pride that my father served his country with distinction as did all his comrades both in the armed services and in the merchant navy. God bless every single one of them.

Ray Purcell



Gnr. James Henry New Maritime Regiment Royal Artillery (d.9th February 1943)

James New was my uncle. He was one of 4 children. My mother being his older sister. He also had two younger brothers. After a difficult childhood he joined the Royal Artillery.

He was serving on the Convoy FS33 SS Pacific. In the early morning of 9th of February 1943 he was washed overboard from the SS Hoogkerk, a Dutch ship in the same convoy. His body was recovered and buried in Texel War Cemetery, Netherlands. He was 19 years old.

Janet



Sgt. George Rowland Ayres Maritime Regiment Royal Artillery

George Ayres is my father. From his Soldier's Service Pay Book, he transferred from the Royal Artillery to the Maritime Artillery and went to HMS President for training. He was awarded the Atlantic Star and was discharged 30th of May 1944.

He married my mother, Olga Jean Matson, in Australia when he was travelling around, then returned to England in 1938 because his mother was very ill. My sister and I were born during the war at Eastern Parade, Fareham, and then we all went back to Australia in 1953.

Mervyn Rowland Ayres



Gnr. George Thomas "Happy" Day 1st Maritime Regiment Royal Artillery

Royal Maritime Artillery service certificate

Newsletter issued to crew of Tamaroa

Medal and photo frame

George Day was the eldest son of a Royal Marine and was educated at the Greenwich Naval School. Later and whilst he was there, this became the Royal Holbrook Hospital School. George would later serve in the Royal Hampshire Regiment before transferring to the Maritime Royal Artillery, serving the latter from October 1942 until March 1946. George was originally from Portsmouth but as a serviceman his home port was Liverpool. He received some gunnery training in the United States and his service ultimately saw him visit many parts of the world. In Italy he saw the survivors of his old regiment the Hampshires who had been decimated at Monte Cassino. He served during Atlantic convoys and on one occasion reunited as planned with his younger brother in the lobby of the Empire State Building. Both men had crossed the Atlantic on different ships. His brother was a sailor in the Royal Navy. George lived out most of his life post-war in Castle Cary, Somerset. He passed away in 1986.

Glenn Day



George William Nims Maritime Regiment Royal Artillery

My father, George Nims was with the Maritime Royal Artillery during WW2 and served aboard FRA Blue Ranger. He was demobilised in mid-1946.

Joe Nims



Pte. Eric Walker 5th Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery

In addition to army uniforms we had civilian clothes and passports for when we visited neutral countries. One funny event was being in the capital of Argentina on their Independence Day in about 1943 or 1944. Their army was marching down the avenue in standard German-type uniforms and goose-stepping, and there I was, an ordinary British squaddie, standing on the kerb just watching!

Eric Walker



Sgt. David Henry "Dickie" Lintin 4th Btn. Lincolnshire Regiment

My grandfather joined the 4th Lincs (TA) Rgt in 1924 at a time when it wasn't a popular thing to do but he always told me it got him a free holiday for two weeks of the year and a free pair of boots. Despite being quite short his skill at arms got him to the rank of sergeant by the early 1930's.

He was mobilised at the end of May 1939 and posted to Grimbsy at the official outbreak of war in September 1939. In 1940 he was posted to France just in time to join the retreat of the BEF. Luckily he managed to hitch a lift on an old French trawler some two days after the Dunkirk evacuation was ended (having spent the time being hidden in a local convent by friendly nuns). On his return to the UK he was waylaid by friends and taken to the local pub to celebrate his escape. My grandmother, meanwhile, had received a telegram from the War Office, listing her husband as missing in action. On being told by a neighbour that he was in the pub she lost no time chasing him out of the Black Swan armed with a frying pan!

My grandfather subsequently volunteered for the RA Maritime Service and travelled on the City of Manchester DEMS via the Cape to Singapore just in time to be sunk off Djillichap in the Dutch East Indies. After a extended stay in Australia (I still have an Australian half-crown he was given for singing 'Roll-out the barrel' at the local legion branch) he made his way safely home.

David Charles Lintin



Sgt. Leonard Riley East Lancashire Regiment

Leonard Riley served with the East Lancashire Regiment and the 1st Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery.

C McCarthy



Gnr. Charles Henry Hatch 38th Bty. 13th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery (d.23rd Mar 1942)

Charles Hatch joined the 7/4th Maritime Regiment of the Royal Artillery, presumably from the 13th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, of which he was previously a member. In March 1942, he sailed as an AA gunner aboard the SS Clan Campbell with Malta-bound convoy MW10 from Alexandria. Following the Second Battle of Sirte, he was killed in action during an air attack while manning his AA gun. The ship sank off the coast of Malta on 23rd March 1942.

Patrick Hatch









Recomended Reading.

Available at discounted prices.







Links


















    The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items.

    The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.

    If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.



    Hosted by:

    The Wartime Memories Project Website

    is archived for preservation by the British Library





    Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
    - All Rights Reserved

    We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.