Archie, the youngest of seven brothers born in Greenwich, served as a Wireman – a specialised rating responsible for the maintenance of electrical and electronic equipment – aboard the minesweeper HMT Calverton (FY775). On 29 November 1940, while patrolling the Humber Estuary off the Yorkshire coast, the vessel struck a mine and was sunk. Two crew members, including Archie, were reported missing, presumed killed, and seven others were wounded. Archie was the only member of the crew to be Mentioned in Despatches.
In December 1940, following the recent loss of five minesweepers in the Humber Estuary, including Calverton, the Admiralty paid tribute to the men’s courage during a period when the enemy was employing all manner of devices to hinder the sweeping of mines at British ports. “These ports and their approaches are kept clear of mines from day to day by the tenacity, courage, and devotion of our minesweeping forces.”
Archie is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, United Kingdom, with around 10,000 sailors of the First World War and almost 15,000 of the Second World War who were lost at sea with no known grave.
