Help to find death records of Bertie Holloway shipwrecked off Hoy

[lorna2212]

Hi
I wonder if anyone can help fill in some blanks for me for my great grandfather Bertie Holloway
He was born December 1896 in Cawthorpe Lincolnshire.  He worked as an engineer on fishing trawlers and his final job was as 2nd Engineer on SS Leicestershire (GY241)

The trawler sank in a storm on 28 January 1938 on the Tift off Tor Ness, Hoy, Orkney, Scotland. All 15 crew members perished. His body was never recovered.  There is a memorial on Hoy to all the seaman that lost their lives that day.  I've been trying to find his formal death certificate but so far have drawn a blank with GRO and not showing in the Scottish records as far as I could find either.

My grandma was 13 at the time (she is 91 now) and her recollections of the formalities at the time are sketchy as it was a very traumtic time for the family and Grimsby fishing as a whole.  Her mother, Elsie (Bertie's wife) had a psychotic episode as a result of Bertie's death (she also believed he hadn't actually died as his body was never recovered) and so grandma and her sister were made a ward of the Court.  They then lost contact with all the Holloway family as the WWII also started the following year.

Grandma still feels a lack of closure on the whole thing and so I'd like to be able to fill in some blanks for her, with at very least a record of his death.  We have newspaper articles from the time but nothing specific to Bertie.

Any thoughts or ideas on how I can find more information would be much appreciated.

[ShaunJ]

The Register of Deceased Seamen is viewable on FindMyPast.

Bertie Holloway, 42, second engineer, Leicestershire (164401); 138 Bentley Street, Cleethorpes, 29 January 1938, off the island of Hoy, supposed drowned.

[Tracyfb]

Hi Lorna

My great uncle was skipper of the trawler SS Leicestershire. Not every body was recovered but those that were were returned to Grimsby on the trawler Hampshire- six in total. The bodies are interred at Grimsby Cemetery. My great grandmother paid for a memorial for the seamen - I will try and send a photo and discover who the men were that came home.