Nathaniel Burgess was born on 12 April 1890 at Hinckley, Leicestershire, the son of Nathaniel and Blanche Mary Fisher Burgess, of  Priory Rd., Newbury.  He was educated at Newbury Grammar School.  After a spell in the Civil Service, he joined the Mercantile Shipping Company where he gained his second and first mates’ certificates.  

He joined the Royal Naval Reserve as a Sub Lieutenant on 6 April 1915 and was appointed to the cruiser HMS CONQUEST on 15 June of that year.  CONQUEST was involved in an action with a group of German battlecruisers off Lowestoft on 25 April 1916, during which she was struck by a shell which penetrated a magazine but failed to explode.  Burgess ordered the flooding of the magazine, an action which may well have saved the ship and for which he was later awarded the Croix-de-Guerre by the French government. 

Promoted to Lieutenant in September 1915 he was appointed to HMS ALECTO ‘for submarine F3 as Navigating Officer’ on 1 April 1917. He was appointed to HMS H5 as Navigating Officer on 1 January 1918.

He is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial Panel 30,  the Newbury Town War Memorial, the parish memorial board and roll of honour in St Nicholas Church, Newbury and on the Newbury Grammar School memorial.