Littleborough sailors remembered

Littleborough sailors Tom Wilde and Stoker James Ashurst will be remembered on the anniversary of their deaths.

Tom Wilde (Vansalvo) was killed at sea on 1 November 1914 when his ship HMS Monmouth was engaged with German Battle Fleet.

Mr Wilde was born in Littleborough around 1891 and at the time of the 1901 census he was living with his mother in Dearnley.

Stoker First Class SS/109317 Tom Wild Vansalvo, husband of Nellie Vansalvo enlisted in the Royal Navy before the outbreak of hostilities. He was killed at the age of 24 in action on 1 November 1914.

Hi name is on the St Andrew's Memorial Card and on their war memorial as well as being included on the Plymouth naval memorial.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission notes that he served as Tom Wilde and was the son of Mr Henry and Mrs Hannah Matilda Vansalvo.

Stoker James Ashurst who was serving on HMS Good Hope also died in the same battle as Mr Wilde.

Born in Blackley Manchester in 1888, Stoker Ashurst was living in Wardleworth in 1891 with his parents and five brothers and sisters. The 1901 census shows him living with his widowed mother and family at Regent Street, Rochdale.

He joined the Navy and was a Stoker First Class on HMS Good Hope. He was killed in action on 1 November 1914 and is remember on the Shore Primitive Methodist War Memorial – now located in Littleborough History Centre.

On 1 November 1914 HMS Monmouth together with the Glasgow Good Hope and armoured merchant ship the Otranto engaged a German Battle Fleet.

The German fleet comprised the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Nurnburg, Leipzig and Dresden, near the small fishing village of Coronel, Chile.

Heavily out gunned and out ranged the British Fleet was decimated, the Monmouth with the second salvo was holed in the hull, listing to port she disappeared to the South seeking safety.

At 20:35 the Nurnberg caught up with the Monmouth and because she was not flying the white flag, the Nurnberg opened fire and sank the Monmouth.

The action commenced at 19:04 on the 1 November. During this engagement, HMS Good Hope was also sunk at 19:57 along with HMS Monmouth at 21:18.