Stoker Petty Officer
Francis Garratt
COWBURN
Royal Navy
31
Francis Cowburn was born in Warrington in Cheshire on 21 December 1884, the son of Walter Cowburn and Hannah Cowburn (née Greatorex). On 27 February 1904 he enlisted as a Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry at Portsmouth, however he then transferred to the Royal Navy as a Stoker 2nd Class at HMS NELSON (the Stokers Training Ship) at Portsmouth on 8 November 1905.
Following training at HMS NELSON he joined HMS VICTORY ‘awaiting draft’ and then served in the cruiser HMS BRILLIANT from 19 March 1906 and then the 3,400-ton HMS SAPPHO from 3 April 1908. After serving in HMS VICTORY and HMS EXCELLENT from 19 August 1908 Stoker 1st Class Francis Cowburn joined the Submarine Depot Ship HMS MERCURY at Portsmouth ‘for Submarines’ on 19 September 1909.
Francis Cowburn married Miss Eva Heywood in the Parish Church of St. Clement in Openshaw, Manchester in the 1st Quarter of 1910 and, at the time of the 1911 Census, they were living at 31, Hyde Park Road, Southsea, Hampshire.
He next joined the Submarine Depot Ship HMS BONAVENTURE on 1 June 1911 before being drafted to HMS FISGARD (the Engineers Training Ship) at Portsmouth where he qualified as a Leading Stoker on 9 September 1911. Francis Cowburn was next drafted to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS ARROGANT at Dover on 16 December 1911 and then to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS BONAVENTURE at Portsmouth on 27 April 1912. On a reorganisation of the Submarine Flotillas on 15 October 1912 he was drafted to HMS MAIDSTONE at Portsmouth and was rated Stoker Petty Officer on 18 September 1914.
It is not known when he was drafted to HMS E5 but he was onboard on 7 March 1916. E5 was on patrol in the North Sea when the submarine was sighted by a German battle cruiser SMS SEYDLITZ. An attack was carried out on E5, apparently without effect. Sometime later a submarine, believed to be E5, was sighted by the German cruiser SMS REGENSBURG close to a German minefield off the mouth of the River Ems. HMS E5 was not seen again and is believed to have been lost with all hands in the minefield.
Francis Cowburn was the husband of Mrs. Eva Cowburn of 12, Bowness Street, Openshaw, Manchester and the father of Frank Cowburn. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial on Panel 16.
One Response
Great Grandfather of Suzanne Bradshaw (née Eckersley) & Richard Eckersley. Our Father Malcom & my brother Richard were instrumental in finding the missing submarine through a chance meeting with a friend who was a diver. Finding the submarine meant other people could find out information about their relatives who had been lost at sea.