Nicholas, Thomas Lewis

Second Mate

SS Beatrice (London), Mercantile Marine

Died as a result of enemy action on Friday 20 July 1917 (aged 26)

No known grave

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Tower Hill Memorial, London, England

New Quay War Memorial

Merchant Navy Memorial Swansea

BIOGRAPHY

In some records his surname is spelt Nicholes.

Thomas Lewis Nicholas was born on 29 May 1891 in the townland of Balligan and he was a son of Thomas Lewis Nicholas and Margaret (Maggie) Nicholas (nee Johnston) who were married on 9 February 1886 in Second Ballywalter Presbyterian Church.  Thomas Lewis Nicholas Senior came from New Quay, Cardiganshire, Wales and, like his father before him, he was a sailor.  Maggie Johnston (aged 20) came from Balligan where her father David was a farmer.  Thomas and Maggie Nicholas had at least two children:

David Washington (born 12 October 1887 in Balligan)

Thomas Lewis (born 29 May 1891 in Balligan)

Later the Nicholas family moved to New Quay, Cardiganshire.

Thomas Lewis Nicholas drowned on 20 July 1917 when the SS Beatrice was torpedoed by the German submarine UC-47 and sank in the English Channel around ten miles from the Lizard.  Built in 1890 and, with a gross register tonnage (GRT) of 712, the SS Beatrice was on a voyage from Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan to Rouen in France with a cargo of coal.  The SS Beatrice was owned by Cleeves Western Collieries.

Second Mate Thomas Lewis Nicholas’s body was never recovered and, at the time of his death, his parents were living at Caedelyn, Mount Pleasant, Swansea.

Second Mate Thomas Lewis Nicholas is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial in London; on New Quay War Memorial and on the Merchant Navy Memorial Swansea.