Carr, John

Lieutenant (A)

HMS Goshawk, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

Died as a result of enemy action on Friday 17 January 1941 (aged 32)

No known grave

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Lee-on-Solent Memorial, Hampshire, England (Bay 2 Panel 6)

Rockport School, Craigavad

Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club Holywood

BIOGRAPHY

John Carr was born on 16 May 1908 and he was a son of Thomas James and Mary Carr (nee Workman) of Blythswood, 16 Deramore Drive, Belfast.  Thomas James Carr was a stockbroker and he and Mary Workman were married on 4 June 1907 in Fitzroy Avenue Presbyterian Church, Belfast.  Thomas James Carr was a son of James Carr, a bank director.  Mary Workman was a daughter of John Workman, a gentleman.

Thomas James and Mary Carr (nee Workman) had at least three children:

John (born 16 May 1908)

Thomas James (born 21 September 1909)

Samuel (born 4 July 1913)

John and Thomas James Junior were educated at Rockport School, Craigavad.  Thomas James Carr Senior died on 20 December 1956 (aged 83) and Mary Carr died on 12 November 1974 (aged 91).  Both were buried in Belfast City Cemetery (Glenalina Extension).

During the Second World War Lieutenant John Carr was assigned to HMS Goshawk which was a Royal Naval Air Station at Piarco in Trinidad and he was killed when travelling to Piarco aboard the SS Almeda Star.   The SS Almeda Star was built in 1926 by Cammell Laird and Company, Birkenhead and owned by the Blue Star Line in London.  The SS Almeda Star was torpedoed on 17 January 1941 by the German submarine U-96 about 350 miles west of the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides when on route from Liverpool to Buenos Aires via Trinidad.

At 7.45 am on 17 January 1941 the SS Almeda Star stopped after being hit amidships. The submarine fired two further torpedoes and then surfaced to shell the ship. Another torpedo fired at 9.55 am hit the fore section of the SS Almeda Star causing her to sink.  The master, 136 crew members, 29 gunners and 194 passengers were lost. Among the passengers were 21 officers and 121 ratings from 749, 750 and 752 Fleet Air Arm Squadrons.  There were no survivors.

Lieutenant John Carr was 32 when he died and he is commemorated on the Lee-on-Solent Memorial in Hampshire; in Rockport School, Craigavad, and in the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club Holywood.