Current Information:

Age-39

38, Ramsden Road, Balham

Before the war the Royal Edward was a passenger ship of the Canadian Northern Steamship Company but in 1914 she was requisitioned as a troop ship. On 10th August, 1915 she arrived in Alexandria from Avonmouth with 1,367 officers and men of various regiments and units, all bound for Gallipoli. The next stage of the voyage took the ship through the Aegean Sea and it was there, on 13th August, that she was hit by a torpedo from the German submarine, UB14. HMT Royal Edward was hit in the stern and sank within six minutes. Despite the assistance of the hospital ship Soudan and other vessels that rushed to the scene, nearly one thousand of the troops on board lost their lives, including Lieutenant Riddell. An explanation given for this high loss of life was that the men had just finished a safety drill and were below decks putting all the equipment back.