Trafford

Born 1898 at St. Petersburg, Russia, the son of Thomas James & Emilie
Ward.

1901 Census - No Trace.

1911 Census - Wadham House School, Arthog Road, Hale.  Boarder - aged: 11 -
born: St. Petersburg, Russia. His elder brother - Norman Hartley Ward -
aged: 13, born in Russia, was also a boarder at Wadham House.  Both lads
were to be killed during WW1.

The Hogue was a Cressy Class Cruiser built in 1900.

The Cruisers "Aboukir", "Cressy" and "Hogue" were on patrol off the Dutch
coast to prevent German forces from moving south to attack the Channel
troop convoys.  At 06.30 hrs the "Aboukir" was torpedoed by U-9 and started
to capsize.   H.M.S. "Hogue" went to rescue her crew and threw anything
that would float over the side to their comrades in the water.   Almost
immediately she was also topedoed by U-9 who put two torpedoes into her
port side.   The submarine then (presumably surfaced) fired on the "Hogue".
  Ten minutes after being hit, she rolled over onto her beam ends and sank
in position 52 18N, 03 41E.

The "Cressy" shared the same fate a little later, again whilst trying to
save the crews of the other two ships.   In total 60 officers and 777 men
were saved from the three ships, which means the death toll from the three
ships was 1,459 men - greater than the total British casualties at the
Battle of Trafalgar.     Amongst the dead were many boys from H.M.S.
"Ganges" (Harold Ward being one of them perhaps ?)

Death reported in the 25/09/1914 edition of the Altrincham Guardian.

Listed in the Guardian Year Book - Roll of Honour for 1916.

The Hogue was a Cressy Class Cruiser built in 1900.