Able Seaman
Stephen Aaron
BIRCH
Royal Navy
23
Stephen Birch was born at Sellinge in Kent on 30 October 1881, the elder of the four sons of Stephen Birch (an Engine Driver – stationary engines) and Mary Ann Birch (née Tutt). Stephen Birch also had four sisters. Prior to joining the Royal Navy he was employed as a brickyard boy.
He joined the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class at HMS NORTHAMPTON (the Seagoing Training Ship for Boys in Home Waters) on 1 November 1898. After basic training he served mainly in the ships and establishments of the Nore Command including HM Ships CURACAO, PEMBROKE, POLYPHEMUS, PYRAMUS, cruiser CANOPUS and WILDFIRE. Having been advanced to Able Seaman on 15 December 1902 Stephen Birch qualified as a Seaman Torpedoman at HMS VERNON (the Torpedo School Ship) at Portsmouth on 27 March 1902 and then served in the battleship HMS SANS PAREIL from 28 May 1902 until 24 December 1903 and battleship HMS RESOLUTION until 14 March 1904.
Having volunteered for service in submarines he was drafted to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS THAMES ‘for Submarine Training’ on 13 March 1904. On 8 May 1905 he was a member of the crew serving in the newly commissioned HMS A8 when it sank at Plymouth following flooding and an internal explosion whilst the submarine was embarking members of a training class in addition to the normal crew. Fifteen crew members and trainees died – including Stephen Birch, whose mother was informed at 9, Primrose Villas, Cheriton, Folkestone, Kent. The casualties were recovered after the submarine was raised and Stephen Birch is buried in the Ford Park Cemetery at Pennycomequick in Plymouth.
One Response
Stephen Aaron Birch was my great uncle. I was involved in the 100th anniversary memorials re-dedication and helped with that. I have a file on him, his service record which says he was a senior torpedo man at the time of the loss of A8.
My files are of all the crew of A8 and where they were buried photographs and more not all are at Ford Road Cemetery in Plymouth.