People on board

ADDISON, Harry John

Harry John Addison was born in St Leonards, Hastings, Sussex in 1880 to Walter Stride Addison, a Confectioner, and his wife Ann Elizabeth Dadge. He was third eldest of seven children. In March 1901 he was a Seaman on the ‘Idomeneus’ out of Liverpool, bound for Yokohama, having previously been on the ‘Braemar Castle’ out of London. In June 1901 he received his Second Mate’s Certificate.

In 1906 he married Jessie Elizabeth Kerr in Dartford, Kent. They had three children, Stanley, Jessie and Kathleen. In the 1911 census his wife Jessie was in Holyhead with the children, while Harry was listed on the RMS Connaught, captained by Captain Birch, in Kingstown Harbour. In March 1917 he was again serving on the RMS Connaught which had been commandeered by the Royal Navy as a troop ship in 1915. Returning from Le Havre to Southampton, having safely transported troops to France, it was torpedoed and sunk. Three of the crew died but the rest of the crew, including Harry Addison, were saved. In October 1918, when the RMS Leinster was torpedoed, Addison was again saved, in charge of a lifeboat that was picked up by the destroyer HMS Lively.

The 1939 Register shows Harry and Jessie living at 57 Walthew Avenue in Holyhead. He died in Holyhead in 1962 at the age of 82.