Bad behaviour in WWI Royal Navy?

[J from Canada]

I'd greatly appreciate assistance with the attached naval record of Abjohn Sydney Smith born in Kennington, London in 1894. For some reason I have not yet figured out, he was born with the above-mentioned name and appears as such on two census. He is also the son of Abjohn Stokes. Yet, by the time he married my great aunt Maud Loweth in 1925, his name had changed to Abjohn Smith, son of Abjohn Smith. In later electoral roll records his name changes again to Albert Henry Smith. Within the family, he was known always as Jack Smith with not a whiff of scandal attached to him. I have reviewed records to see if he was involved in a crime but have found nothing.

I just found this Naval record for him and wondered if there might be some clues here. The remarks stated "disrated" which I understand means demoted and the term "run" appears twice and perhaps this means he actually ran away? I would be very grateful for any interpretation of this document that might shed some light on things. I see his last ship was "Cordelia" and thought perhaps he left the ship before a big battle??? Also, I cannot read the name of the first ship.

Please help!

J from Canada

[giggsycat]

Hello J

The following link explains about the first ship:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Vivid_%28shore_establishment_1890%29

Regards
Giggsycat

[Regorian]

I can't read the dates perfectly but it looks like he was at the Battle of Jutland. HMS Cordelia was a C Class light cruiser. We used to have hundreds of everything then, how the mighty have fallen . 'Run' means deserted I'm afraid.

[Mike in Cumbria]

"Run" does mean desertion, but it could be for all sorts of reasons. Failing to turn up following shore leave (think alcohol, women, fighting etc as possible reasons) would count as "running", and this could lead to court martial when he eventually turned up or was captured, either by a search party or the port authorities. The "disrating" would be part of his punishment.

Mike

[jds1949]

As I read it he was rated as an Ordinary Seaman 3rd class when he joined HMS Cordelia on 5th January 1915 - his conduct at that time was recorded as very good and his ability as satisfactory. He was then promoted to Ordinary Seaman 2nd class on 1st October 1915 his conduct and ability then rated the same as before. He was promoted again to Ordinary Seaman 1st class on 1st February 1916, but subsequently disrated back to 2nd class on the 18th January 1917 [his conduct rating had slipped to only good]. He then deserted [ran] on 12th February 1917.

The first comment in the Remarks section appears to read "Run Cordelia 12.2.17" - there are no further comments - so I suspect that he was not caught as if he had been there would/should have been some comment concerning his fate. His move from 1st class back to 2nd class pre-dated his desertion, so it was not a punishment for that - it actually might have been part of the reason why he ran, if he felt he had been hard done by.

All of the above might shed some light as to why he changed his name. 

jds1949

[Rudolf H B]

Hello,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Cordelia_(1914):
"Commissioned into service in the Royal Navy in January 1915, Cordelia was assigned to the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron in the Grand Fleet, and took part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May-1 June 1916. From 1917 through the end of World War I and until April 1919, she served in the Grand Fleet's 4th Light Cruiser Squadron." (Scrapped 1923/24)

Her sister ship is still existent in Belfast - in "active" service until 2009/2011!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Caroline_(1914)

Regards
Rudolf

[J from Canada]

Many many thanks to Giggyscat, Regorian, Mike in Cumbria, JDS and Rudolf for taking the time to look into this matter for me. Your replies have been very  helpful indeed.

Rootschatters rule!

J from Canada