Blockley, John Alfred
Petty Officer First Class
No. 132052, (R.F.R. PO A/2742), HMS Viknor, Royal Navy
Died as the result of enemy action on Wednesday 13 January 1915 (aged 44)
Buried:
Bangor New Cemetery, Newtownards Road, Bangor (Grave 6P. 95)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
BIOGRAPHY
John Alfred Blockley was born on 14 February 1870 at Hinckley, Leicestershire and he was a son of Zinor Blockley, a carpenter, and Agnes Blockley (nee Hall) whose marriage was registered in the fourth quarter of 1867 in Hinckley. In January 1885 Zinor Blockley became the proprietor of the Ashburton Arms Beer House in Church Road, Portsmouth, Devon. Zinor Blockley died in June 1892 and was buried on 1 July in Portsea Island, Hampshire. Agnes Blockley died on 25 February 1908.
John Alfred Blockley joined the Royal Navy on 14 February 1888 at Portsmouth for a period of 12 years. By 1901 he was a 1st Class Petty Officer. He served up until 1910. By the time of the 1911 census, he was a Beer Retailer at Landport, Portsmouth. The Beer House was the Lord Palmerston at 68 Arundel Street.
John Alfred Blockley’s marriage to Mary Margaret Foster (born 18 March 1877) was registered in the first quarter of 1904 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and they had at least two sons:
John Alfred (born on 14 December 1904; joined the Royal Navy on 14 December 1922)
George Edmund (born 28 December 1909)
John Alfred Blockley rejoined the Navy on 2 August 1914 and was assigned to HMS Viknor on 12th December 1914.
Built in 1888 as a passenger ship for the Royal Mail Steam Company, the SS Atrato was renamed Viking in 1912 when the ship was taken over by the Viking Cruising Company. When this ship was requisitioned by the Admiralty for use as an Armed Merchant Cruiser (AMC) in the Great War she was renamed HMS Viknor.
HMS Viknor sank off Tory Island, Co Donegal on 13 January 1915 during heavy weather and there was no distress call. Some 295 lives were lost.
In the area where HMS Viknor went down the Germans had laid a minefield.
Petty Officer First Class John Alfred Blockley’s body was recovered from the sea on 25 January 1915 in Belfast Lough, brought ashore at Bangor, and an inquest was held the following day. He was interred in Bangor New Cemetery on 28 January with full naval honours. The hearse was preceded by a firing party drawn from the Royal Garrison Artillery stationed at Grey Point, and a band of pipers playing funeral music. The service was conducted by the Rev. H. Boyle P.P. His headstone bears the inscription:
In loving memory of
John Alfred Blockley
Beloved husband of
Mary Margaret Blockley
Whose body was recovered from the sea
after the sinking of HMS Viknor
January 26th 1915
in his 45th year
R I P
Eternal rest give unto him O Lord
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace, Amen.
Many of the bodies recovered after HMS Viknor sank were buried in Ballintoy and Rathlin Island.
John Alfred Blockley’s brother, Sperry Jacob Dominic Blockley, who was born on 4 December 1876 at Hinckley, also served in the Royal Navy during the Great War, on HMS Dominion. His home address was 13 Baffin’s Road, Copnor, Portsmouth. It was Sperry who was notified by the Navy about John’s death. John also had at least five sisters – Sarah Agnes, Annie E., Mary Monica R., Maud C., and Eliza.