The Natal
T. H. Mizen
Service no. 202018
Able Seaman, Royal Navy, H.M.S. “Natal”
Died 30 December 1915 aged around 20
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9
The Natal was a Duke of Edinburgh class armoured cruiser, built by Vickers Maxim of Barrow and launched on 30 September 1905. She was sunk by an internal explosion near Cromarty on 30 December 1915.
Information from Wikipedia:
On the 30th December 1915 Natal was lying in the Cromarty Firth with her squadron, under the command of Captain Eric Back RN. Shortly after 3.20pm, and without warning, a series of violent explosions tore through the ship. She capsized five minutes later. The most probable explanation was that a fire had broken out, possibly due to faulty cordite, that ignited a magazine. The exact number of casualties is still debated, and ranges from 390, up to 421. Some were killed in the immediate explosions, others drowned as the ship capsized, or succumbed to the freezing water of the Cromarty Firth. Most of the bodies which were recovered from the sea were interred in Rosskeen Churchyard, Invergordon. A small number of casualties were interred in the Gaelic Chapel graveyard in Cromarty.
The picture shows her upturned hull, visible at low water.
There is an interesting thread about the explosion at www.black-isle.info
Information from the 1911 census and other sources
A Thomas Mizen was born in South Lambeth and registered at All Saints Church on 1 June 1894 by his parents, Thomas Mizen, a “general dealer” and Elizabeth Ada Mizen. They gave their address as 16 Portland Cottages. On the 1911 census there is a Thomas Mizen, 19 (putting his birth year at approximately 1892) living with his parents, Thomas Mizen, 43, and Elizabeth A. Mizen, 42, at 43 Simpson Street, Stockwell. Thomas Mizen senior was a wood chopper; Thomas Mizen junior a carman. There were six children:
Thomas Mizen, 19
Harriet Mizen, 16, a bottle washer
Florence Mizen, 12
Walter Mizen, 10
Alfred Mizen, 6
[Illegible] Mizen, 4