Wellstead, William Adolphus
Able Seaman
No. 179706, (R.F.R./P.O./B./797), HMS Bayano, Royal Navy
Died as the result of enemy action on Thursday, 11 March 1915 (aged 36)
Buried:
Ballyphilip Church of Ireland Churchyard, Portaferry, Co Down (Grave 198)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Lydd War Memorial
Merseyside Roll of Honour
BIOGRAPHY
Not everyone who was buried in a Commonwealth War Grave in the Ards and North Down area was a local person.
Seven men from HMS Bayano whose bodies were washed ashore along the coastline of the Ards Peninsula were buried in three local graveyards.
HMS Bayano was an Elders & Fyffes merchant ship that was commissioned by the Admiralty in 1914 for use as an Armed Merchant Auxiliary Cruiser and she served with 10th Cruiser Squadron.
HMS Bayano sank off Corsewall Point, Stranraer around 4.45 am on Thursday 11 March 1915 when on route from Glasgow to Liverpool after being hit by a torpedo fired from the German Submarine U-27.
It was pitch dark at the time and many of the crew were sleeping.
Around 200 men died and less than 30 were saved.
Survivors clung to wreckage in the water for more than four hours before being picked up by the SS Castlereagh.
HMS Bayano disappeared within about three minutes of being torpedoed and the majority of those who perished were sucked into the vortex created by the rapidly sinking ship.
Many of the bodies were washed up on the shores of the Isle of Man.
The seven men who were buried in three local graveyards were as follows:
An unidentified Royal Marine of the Great War from HMS Bayano was buried in the North-East part of Ballyhalbert Church of Ireland (St Andrew’s) Graveyard, Ballyeasborough.
Also buried in that Graveyard was Leading Seaman Edgar Jonathan Spracklin of the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve.
His body was found washed up on the shore at Portavogie.
Frederick William Chater, a British Able Seaman in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, was buried near the middle of the South-East boundary of Whitechurch Graveyard, Ballywalter.
His body was found washed up on the shore at Ballywalter.
Two unidentified sailors from HMS Bayano were buried in Ballyphilip Church of Ireland Graveyard, Portaferry.
Their headstones affirm that they are:
Known Unto God.
Also buried in that Churchyard was Private Alexander George Bain of the Royal Marine Light Infantry.
Identified by means of a letter in one of his pockets, he was buried in Grave 197.
The fourth casualty from HMS Bayano who was buried in that Graveyard was Able Seaman W.A. Wellstead of the Royal Navy.
Identified by means of having his name embossed on his belt, he was buried in Grave 198.
Able Seaman W.A. Wellstead was from Lydd in Kent and his body was found washed up on the shore on 25 March 1915 in the townland of Keentagh, Quintin, Portaferry. An inquest was held the following day and the cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning.
Able Seaman W.A. Wellstead was buried in Ballyphilip Church of Ireland Churchyard, Portaferry, Co Down and he is commemorated on Lydd War Memorial and on the Merseyside Roll of Honour.
William Adolphus Wellstead was a son of William Henry and Laura Alice Wellstead (nee Wassell), whose marriage was registered in the third quarter of 1877 in Portsea Island, Hampshire. According to naval records he was born on 9 December 1878 in Portsea Island, Hampshire, and according to the 1884 baptismal records for St Bartholomew’s Church of England Church, Southsea, Hampshire, he was born on 9 June 1878.
William Henry Wellstead worked as a carpenter/joiner and he and Laura Alice Wellstead (nee Wassell) had six children, one of whom died in infancy. The five surviving children were William, Ernest, Lavinia, Laura, and Elizabeth. The Wellstead family lived at 24 Holland Road, Portsea, Portsea Island, Hampshire.
William Adolphus Wellstead joined the Royal Navy on 9 December 1896 and, when he died, a friend was notified about his death: Mrs M Anderson, 74 Samuel Road, Kingston, Portsmouth. There were In Memoriam notices in the Portsmouth Evening News on 11 March 1916, and in subsequent years, from his brother Ern and sister Nora, and from his ‘dearest friend’, Maud.