Hamilton, William Alexander

Second Mate

H.M. Fleet Messenger Arethusa II, Mercantile Marine Reserve

Died on Thursday 10 May 1917 (aged 32)

Buried:

Ismailia War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt (Grave A. 124)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

BIOGRAPHY

In the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Debt of Honour Website, Second Mate William Alexander Hamilton is described as a son of William and Emily Hamilton of Bangor, Co Down.

William Hamilton and Emily Jane Ennis were married on 14 January 1878 in Sinclair Seaman’s Presbyterian Church Belfast.  William Hamilton was a sailor and a son of Alexander Hamilton, also a sailor.  Emily Jane Ennis aged 20 was a daughter of Samuel Ennis, a labourer.

In 1911, Emily Jane Hamilton was living in Castleton Avenue, Belfast.  Aged 51 and born in Ballywalter she had 7 children, 4 of whom were still living.  Living with her was her daughter, Mary Anne Hamilton, aged 19 and born in Glasgow), also, her father-in-law, Alexander Hamilton, aged 88, a widower who was born in Bangor.

Like his father and grandfather before him, William Alexander Hamilton went to sea and during the Great War he served with the Mercantile Marine Reserve aboard H.M. Fleet Messenger Arethusa II.

Second Mate William Alexander Hamilton was 32 when he died in Egypt on 10 May 1917 and he was buried in Ismailia War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.  Ismailia is a small town on the west side of the Suez Canal and the cemetery was used for burials from nearby hospitals.  There is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:

AT THE RIVER’S

CRYSTAL BRINK

CHRIST SHALL JOIN

EACH BROKEN LINK

In CWGC records his next-of-kin contact is Mr William Hamilton, 77 Ballymagee Street, Bangor.  Newspaper reports of Second Mate William Alexander Hamilton’s death indicate that he was a son of William Hamilton of 77 Ballymagee Street, Bangor.