F.A.V. Wervill (Midshipman "Lost at Sea" WWI)
The tragic story of the owner of a 1912
copy of “Shakespeare’s stories of the English Kings” who was lost at sea during
WWI at just 16 years of age
The book is bound in red buckram with the
gilt crest of the Merchant Navy school ship H.M.S. Conway on the front cover. HMS
Conway, anchored on the Mersey, was
established to train boys to become officers within the Merchant Navy.
The book-plate on the inside cover reads:
H.M.S. “Conway”
School Ship
Quit Ye Like Men: Be Strong
Awarded to F.A.V. Wervill
Frederick joined the Navy on 15th January
1916, based on the training ship HMS Conway, anchored on the Mersey. He was discharged from the vessel on 1st may 1917 and proceeded to Dartmouth, where he won the
King's prize for general efficiency, and obtained his place for active service
nineteenth out of more than 100 cadets. He was excused two years of his
cadetship, on the strength of this efficiency, and was at once gazetted
(commissioned).
In 1917, during World War I, the minimum age to serve in the Merchant Navy was generally 16 years old, though this could vary slightly depending on the role aboard the ship. Many young boys served as deck boys, cabin boys, or messengers, and it wasn’t uncommon for even younger teens to be accepted especially during wartime, when manpower was in high demand.
Frederick joined the HMS Vanguard as
Midshipman on 7th May 1917. Just two months later (9 July 1917) the ship came to a tragic end while anchored in Scapa Flow. An internal explosion destroyed
the ship, killing 843 of the 845 men on board at the time. Only 22 bodies were
recovered; Frederick Arthur Vladimir Welvill was not amongst them and was
recorded "lost at sea". The bodies that could be recovered now lie in Lyness
Royal Naval Cemetery, Hoy, where there is also a memorial.
His Victory and British war medals were
claimed by his mother following his death. He is remembered on a family
headstone in St Peter’s Churchyard, Merseyside and in perpetuity on the Chatham
Naval Memorial.
There is a portrait of “Midshipman Arthur Vladimir Wevill” held by the National Museum of the Royal Navy,
Portsmouth.
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| Midshipman Arthur Vladimir Wevill |
