Arthur Charles Titheridge

Forename(s):
Arthur Charles

Surname:
Titheridge

Initial(s):
A C

Service Number:
PO/11220

Rank:
Private

Regiment:
Royal Marine Light Infantry

Died:
08/12/1914

Buried:
Stanley Cemetery, Falkland Islands

Service History:
Having enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry in January 1901, Titheridge served on a number of ship during twelve years service. He left the R.M.L.I. in January 1913 when he was enrolled in the Royal Fleet Reserve.

As war clouds began to loom, Titheridge was called up & by 15 July 1914 found himself aboard HMS Venus.

On 3 October 1914, Titheridge was aboard the armoured cruiser HMS Kent which was part of Vice Admiral Sir Frederick Doveton Sturdee's battle group despatched to the South Atlantic. This included two battlecruisers & three armoured cruisers.

On 8 December Sturdee's fleet engaged an outmatched fleet led by German Admiral Graf Von Spee. All but two small German ships were sunk. British casualties were relatively light but HMS Kent was hit 38 times, which caused the loss of eight ratings.

Titheridge was one of those ratings who died of wounds received. Cause of death was shock.
(Source: Janet Rice, via newmp.org.uk)

Background:
Born on 2 June 1883, at Meon, Hampshire, the son of Charles Titheridge (an Agricultural Labourer) by his wife, Ann.

Titheridge, too, became an Agricultural Labourer before enlisting in January 1901 as a Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry.

While serving with the R.M.L.I., Titheridge married Bertha Merritt at Portland, Dorset on 13 August 1905. By the time of the 1911 Census they had had four children, one of whom had died in infancy. His family lived at Gosport, Hampshire while he was away at sea. In 1911 another child was born but didn't survive however a son was born in 1912 who survived.

On leaving the Royal Marines, Titheridge & his wife cast their net far afield to seek suitable employment & they next appear in records relating to Whitburn, near South Shields, County Durham. There, another son, John, was born but did not survive.

In 1913 Titheridge was employed as a Domestic Chauffeur. The following year he was in the employ of Mr. Peter Norman Haggie, of The Chase, Whickham, Gateshead, County Durham, still as a Chauffeur when he was involved in a road traffic accident. Tragically, an eight years-old boy was killed.

An Inquest returned a verdict of Accidental Death but the incident clearly affected Titheridge & the family moved on again. The last trace of them in the North East was at Harehope, the assumption being that, probably, Titheridge had found another position as a Domestic Chauffeur, at Harehope Hall.

When he was called up, he left his pregnant wife in Northumberland to look after four young children ranging in ages from 2 to 7 years. Her baby was born after news of her husband's demise. She named her new son Arthur Sturdee after her husband & his Fleet Commander.
(Source: Janet Rice, via newmp.org.uk)

Local Memorial:
Eglingham Cross (Source: newmp.org.uk)