(Image: Find a Grave)

Henry Hearn was born on 5 June 1885, the son of Henry John and Laura Jane Hearn of ‘Bycroft’, Church Stretton, Shropshire.  

He joined the Royal Navy in 1900.  In 1904, in his Sub Lieutenants Exams, he gained five 1st Class and one 2nd Class passes. Promoted to Lieutenant in 1906 he was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS THAMES ‘for Training’ and in 1907 to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS BONAVENTURE ‘for Submarines’.

In 1909 he was appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS MERCURY ‘for Command of Submarines’ and subsequently in command of HMS C19. He left C19 in 1912 when he was appointed to the Battleship HMS HERCULES for his ‘Big Ship’ time.

Promotion to Lieutenant Commander followed in 1914. He returned to submarines in 1915, appointed to the Submarine Depot Ship HMS MAIDSTONE ‘for Submarine duties’. In 1915 he was one of the ‘assessors’ in the Inquiry into the loss of the LUSITANIA.  He then took command of HMS E41, standing by whilst building at Cammell Lairds in Birkenhead.  E41 was commissioned in February 1916.

His next appointment in July 1916 was in command of HMS J3.  A year later he was appointed in command of HMS K17, standing by whilst building at Vickers at Barrow in Furness, and commissioned in September 1917. He was ‘Mentioned in Dispatches’ in the London Gazette of 2 November 1917 for services rendered in enemy waters.  

Submarine K17 was sunk after a collision with the Light Cruiser HMS FEARLESS during the ‘Battle of May Island’ on 31 January 1918. Henry Hearn was killed in the accident.

He was a native of Shrewsbury and is commemorated on the Chatham Naval War Memorial on Panel No. 27.