Herbert Shread

Herbert Shread, Stoker 1st Class, SS/113680/PO, Royal Navy. Died 2nd November 1918. Age 23.

Edgar Edwin and Alice Shread (sometimes spelled Shred) were the parents of a large family, Herbert, George, Percy, Nellie, Florrie and Maggie. Herbert was the eldest, born in Bingley, when Edgar was a Foreman Clay Miner. They lived, for very many years, in the reservoir house at High Newton. The reservoir was owned and run by Grange Urban District Council (UDC) and supplied the township of Grange-over-Sands. It is still in use and provides a pleasant venue for fly fishermen to practise their art.

HMS “Tristram”, 1917.

Herbert joined the Royal Navy during the war and served on the "Admiralty Modified R" class destroyer H.M.S. "Tristram", based at Rosyth in North East Scotland. These two-funnelled ships were oil fuelled and had a maximum speed of 36 knots. H.M.S."Tristram" was launched on 24th February 1917 completed on 30th June that year and was sold for scrap in May 1921.

The latter part of 1918 saw the beginning of the global 'flu epidemic, which left millions dead. Herbert was one of its victims.

He lies in Dunfermline Cemetery, Fifeshire in Scotland, grave ED.2585. His parents are buried in an unmarked grave in Field Broughton churchyard.

Percy was a well known figure in the district, he was a Plymouth Brethren preacher and worked for Grange U.D.C. for 40 years. Herbert has a nephew living in the Morecambe Bay area.

Continuing research has revealed this page from the Keighley News with much more information and this photograph:-