HMS SAPPHO and MELPOMENE WW1 ships?

Question

Does anyone know where i could get crew lists for HMS SAPPHO and MELPOMENE WW1 ships?

I am looking specifically for GEORGE MILLS born 1888, But any info will be more than i've found!

Answer 1

Start with getting as much information about George Mills as you can get. His rank, rate, his official No. and where he joined up etc.

Then do a ship name search on Google or another search engine.

From there you may find a small ship association associated with these ships. Also try ex naval organisations and their sites for searches. The more information that you have the better chances you have of finding the person. It can be frustrating and hard work, but worth it when you get the details.

Look at Naval genealogy sites. Also check with the War archives.

Good luck in your search.

Answer 2

Individual naval records for the rank-and-file seamen (not officers) are online at the National Archives website for about £3.50 a pop in their "Documents online" section and can be downloaded.  That should give you his complete record up to the cut-off year of 1929 (records after this point are still with the MOD and not publically accessible).

Crew lists and muster books were done away with by the time of WW1.  Getting a list of the entire crew could prove problematic.  They will be somewhere in the ADM (Admiralty) series of files at the National Archives, especially if the ship was sunk with all hands as lists would have had to have been made to inform next-of-kin.  They will only be online if someone somewhere already has an interest in the ship(s) concerned and has been there and done it already.

There's a book called "Tracing Your Naval Ancestors" by some guy called Bruce Pappalado (spelling?).  Buy it.  Read it.  Absorb it.  Tracing military records is not easy.  Read everything you can before you even go near the National Archives.  In the long run, it is usually best to hire in a researcher who specialises in military searches.  Doing this yourself is not likely to be easy.

Answer 3

There were several George Mills born about 1888 and even more in the British military during WW1.  Do you have any more clues?  There were two according to 1891 census, and this is one :

George Mills

Age: 3  

Estimated Birth Year: abt 1888  

Relation: Son  

Father's Name: Walter J

Mother's Name: Amelia

Gender: Male

Where born: Clapham, London, England

  

Civil Parish: South Stoneham  

Ecclesiastical parish: Eastleigh  

Town: Eastleigh  

County/Island: Hampshire  

  

Registration district: South Stoneham  



Household Members: Name Age

Amelia Mills 24  

George Mills 3  

Sophia Mills 2  

Walter J Mills 30

and the other:

Age 3  

Estimated Birth Year: abt 1888  

Relation: Son  

Mother's Name: Mary

Gender: Male

Where born: Millbrook, Hampshire, England

  

Civil Parish: St Mary Extra  

Ecclesiastical parish: St Mary Extra  

Town: Itchen  

County/Island: Hampshire  

Household Members: Name Age

Eva M Mills 12  

George V Mills 3  

Julia F Mills 1  

Mary Mills