TOPIC:

^{Henry Thomas Gale}

Engine Room Artificer – Anglo Boer War
Chief Engine Room Artificer 1st Class – WWI

- Queens South Africa Medal to H. Gale, E.R.A. H.M.S. Partridge
- 1914/15 Star to 268650 H.T. Gale, C.E.R.A.1..R.N.
- British War Medal to 268656 C.E.R.A.1..R.N.
- Victory Medal to 268656 C.E.R.A.1..R.N.
- GV Navy Long Service & Good Conduct Medal to 268650 H.T. Gale, C.E.R.A.1CL. H.M.S. Pembroke

Henry Gale was born at Pewsey in Wiltshire on 16 February 1871 the son of Thomas Gale and his wife Mary Ann, born Want. According to the 1871 England census the Gale family lived in a Cottage in the Parish of North Newton in Bottlesford where Mr Gale was employed as a Gentleman’s Gardener. Young Henry, a baby of 1 month was joined by siblings Louisa (6), Janet (4) and John (1).

Ten years later at the time of the 1881 England census the family had moved to Wolsingham in Durham where they lived in the East End. Henry was, as can be imagined in Victorian times, no longer the youngest in the house. Elizabeth (7), Mary Ann (5) and Frank (2) had joined the ranks with the others, with the exception of John (10) having left the family home.

Time moved on and the 1891 England census rolled round. On this occasion we find the family sadly changed with Mrs Gale, no doubt worn out be her exertions on behalf of the family, having passed away leaving Mr Gale, at the age of 48, a Widower. Louisa (26) had returned to the home to help out. Possibly why Mrs Gale had expired can be attributed to the addition in the home of yet more children – Charlie (7), Tom (6) and Edwin (5) joined the others in what was a very full house. Fortunately a 20 year old Henry was now employed as a Steel Finisher and Turner. Mr Gale was still gardening but was described as being a Domestic Servant as well.

Surrounded as he was by so many and most likely in conditions of pecuniary distress a 25 year old Henry enlisted with the Royal Navy at Chatham on 14 January 1896 for 12 years service. A Fitter and Turner by trade he was 5 feet 6 inches in height with brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion.
With immediate effect he entered the shore base “Pembroke II” as an acting Engine Room Artificer. It wasn’t long before he received his first posting, this to H.M.S. “Empress of India” with effect from 8 September 1896. This ship was of the Royal Sovereign class and was launched at Pembroke on 7 May 1891. Gale was aboard her as a 4th Class E.R.A. until 17 January 1897 when he returned to Pembroke.

From there he moved onto H.M.S. “Hearty”, a survey vessel which had been launched in 1886. He was aboard her for quite a lengthy spell – until 15 March 1899 – when he was returned to Pembroke once more having received a promotion to 3d Class E.R.A. whilst with her. A short spell at Pembroke II followed until 3 May 1899 at which point he received a posting to the ship which he was to spend the Boer War with – H.M.S. “Partridge”. Partridge was a 1st Class Gunboat of 755 tons which, during her first Commission, was at sea on route to Delagoa Bay at the start of the Anglo Boer War on 11 October 1899.

She arrived in Durban on 19 October 1899 and shuffled around the South African coast for the duration of the war. The day before she docked in Durban she was involved in the first naval action of the conflict – whilst off Delagoa Bay – when she stopped the Castle Line Steamer “Avondale Castle” so as to seize £25 000 worth of gold specie being shipped by the Transvaal Government from Durban to Lourenco Marques.

Whilst at Durban the Partridge was ordered to escort the S.S. “Patiala” to Simonstown. The Patiala had 188 Boer Prisoners of War on board destined for St. Helena. On 20 April 1900 the Partridge was ordered to Beira to assist in the landing of the Rhodesia Field Force. This force was commissioned to attack the Boers from the north via Rhodesia. During this period one man and one officer died of fever (Portuguese East Africa is notorious for its fever-ridden malaria based pestilence) whilst seven others were invalided before leaving the port. It is likely that many of the men would have been ashore assisting with the off-loading of men and supplies but only a handful of officers were awarded the Rhodesia clasp to their medals when they were distributed. The Partridge was in these waters until July of 1900.

The Boers attempts to penetrate the Cape Colony in search of both supplies and sympathisers to join their cause meant that the Partridge was deployed to first the eastern Cape coast - off Mossel Bay and Port Elizabeth – before being sent around the Cape to lie off Lambert’s Bay in the Atlantic. On 9 October 1900 whilst in Simonstown she was ordered to Saldanha Bay where Boers were stated to be in the vicinity. Due to bad weather she couldn’t get underway immediately but sailed the next morning. On arrival they fund two transports which had been off-loading their cargo when a large Boer commando had arrived. Some of the residents of the town had sought refuge aboard the small ships for safety which the Boers then fired at.

As the Partridge entered the bay the Boers were seen driving off cattle. Immediately “action” was sounded and No. 1 4 inch gun opened fire with shrapnel shells at 5.50 p.m. A total of 8 rounds were fired before the Boers decided it was getting hot and fled leaving the stolen cattle behind. With this incident the Partridge gained the distinction of being the first Royal Navy ship to be in action during the Boer War.

The Partridge remained in South African waters until being sent to Zanzibar in early January 1902 where she remained until April of that year before returning to Simonstown to recommission. The Boer attack on O’Kiep under General Smuts meant, however, that that the Partridge was ordered to Port Nolloth to support the operations there, arriving on 22 April. An officer and ten men were landed to work with the transports and a further eight men were landed for shore duties. On the 24th she sailed for Lambert’s Bay where an outbreak of Smallpox occurred necessitating her recall to Simonstown.

The Smallpox episode sparked a minor incident where the wrath of the Town Clerk of Simonstown was incurred. He wrote to the Under Colonial Secretary on 20 May 1902 as follows,

“Sir

Adverting to the recent arrival in Simon’s Bay of H.M.S. “Partridge” with a case of Small-pox on board. I have the honour, as instructed, to state that my Council understand that a suspicious case of illness was removed from that ship, after she had been placed in quarantine, to the Naval Hospital without any such intention having been communicated to the local authority, ad my Council, as the local authority, consider that they should have been advised of the intention to land within the Municipality a suspicious case of illness from a vessel on which Small-pox was known to exist, in order that the Health Officer to the Municipality might have been consulted as to any possible risk to the public resulting from such a removal; especially in view of the fact that one of the crew of the ship had died from the disease.

I have the honour to be…”

There is no record of a reply being received to this complaint. Partridge remained in Simonstown awaiting the arrival of H.M.S. “Hawke” with the new crew for the Partridge. The old crew, Gale included was paid off on 13 May and transferred from the Hawke to return to Chatham. Gale received his Queens Medal for services rendered.

Gale next went to Pembroke II for a spell where he was promoted to E.R.A. 2nd Class on 1 April 1904. His next posting was a while later – to H.M.S. “Leander” on 1 July 1907. The Leander was second class cruiser launched in 1882 and was commissioned as a "depot ship for torpedo boat destroyers" on 21 January 1904 (presumably at Chatham) going on to serve as part of the Mediterranean Fleet.

After this stint he served on, variously, the “Blake”, the “Royal Arthur”, the “Moorhen” and the “Edgar” before returning to Pembroke II on 26 May 1910. On 10 August he was back on board – this time on the St. George before moving on to the Tyne.

World War I broke out on 4 August 1914 and Gale was posted from Pembroke to the shore establishment “Actaeon 3” on 8 September 1914.

He was to spend a large part of the war stationed there until, on 1 September 1916 he was transferred to H.M.S. “Vernon”- a stone frigate the Vernon was also the Royal Navy’s torpedo school. Gale was invalided out of the Navy on 25 April 1917 and issued with a Silver War Badge no. 10954. He was also awarded the three standard medals for WWI. He was also awarded his Naval Long Service and Good Conduct medal on 13 March 1913.

The 1939 household return recorded that Henry T. Gale, Chief E.R.A. Royal Navy Retired, was resident at 129 Rock Avenue, Gillingham. He was with his wife, Maria, born on 23 September 1879. He passed away in Chatham, Kent in 1947 at the age of 76.

My thanks to Peter Singlehurst for extracts from his book relating to the "Partridge" in the Boer War.

Thank You Rory for your research and acknowledging the Navy.......

Couple of questions......

I wonder if there is anyway to find out who was in the landing party.....

The Boer attack on O’Kiep under General Smuts meant, however, that that the Partridge was ordered to Port Nolloth to support the operations there, arriving on 22 April. An officer and ten men were landed to work with the transports and a further eight men were landed for shore duties. On the 24th she sailed for Lambert’s Bay where an outbreak of Smallpox occurred necessitating her recall to Simonstown.

In the book listed below does it go into detail about operations or is it just a general history.......

My thanks to Peter Singlehurst for extracts from his book relating to the "Partridge" in the Boer War.

Mike

Hello Mike

Peter only sent me the pages pertaining to the Partridge's role in the war. There was a lot more detail contained in the 5 pages in the book which cover her time in SA waters - I provided only a precis of events suitable to my story.

I can't speak for the rest of the book but have heard that it is well worth getting if, like you and I, one is an ABW enthusiast.

Regards

Rory

Thanks Rory will keep my eyes open for a copy......

PM sent......

Mike

One of my themes was to collect a QSA (single or group) to all 31 Royal Navy ships involved. It took me about 20 years to complete my quest although I did start to get a bit picky and held out for QSAs with at least one clasp (except of course to those ships that only received no clasp medals) and/or with other medals. HMS Partridge was the last ship I got and because of that had to settle for a no clasp single. Rory's group is very nice indeed.

Mike - 'Afloat and Ashore' by Peter Singlehurst is published by Token Publishing (aka Medal News). Your best bet might be to contact them for a copy.

It's generally an excellent book which covers the details and movements of the ships as well as the background to the Naval Brigade's involvement in the ABW. There are contemporary photos of every ship except HMS Pearl. There's no nominal roll for those members of Partridge's crew who went ashore but there are such lists for HMS Philomel (which includes one of my men) and, for the Zululand expedition only, HMS Terrible. A list of men of HMS Sybille who went ashore, with dates, is in Fevyer & Wilson's published roll, again including one of my men.

Despite the overall excellence of the book there are some niggling errors which are repeated so not just typos. Mention is made of Stromberg and Paardeburg which I find astonishing in such a detailed and well researched book on the ABW. Even more inexplicable are at least five occasions when Captain Lambton of HMS Powerful (one of the principal naval officers involved in the war and a key figure in the siege of Ladysmith) is referred to as 'Lamberton'. I also found it strange that HMS Monarch, the biggest ship in the conflict with over 250 of her crew entitled to QSAs with between one and eight clasps covering many major battles, has such a scant entry and no mention of their participation in these battles.

Regards

David

Hi All,
pictured are the 3 Boers from Manie Maritz's Commando that fired on the Partridge in Saldanha Bay.
Second illustration is of the Partridge returning fire. "The First Shots from Shipboard in the South African War, HMS"Partridge" firing on the Boers at Saldanha Bay, Cape Colony. Illustration for The Illustrated London News, 16 November 1901"

Iain