Service No: 12027 – 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment
Benjamin James Thomas Harris was born in 1896 in Acocks Green to Benjamin Harris and Edith Gibbs. Between 1901 and the end of 1906 the family had moved to Castle Bromwich and it was here that Benjamin’s youngest sibling Harriet was born in the last quarter 1906. By 1911, the family had moved from Castle Bromwich to Erdington. His military records show him as having served with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, Service number P1235110 and the 2nd Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment. His friend, Alfred Iron’s military records also show him serving in both regiments.
On the 13th August 1915 Benjamin and Alfred Irons, also from Castle Bromwich, were on board the Royal Edward when it was U-boat torpedo causing the ship to sink. Private Harris and Private Irons were two of the 207 men and five officers from the Hampshire Regiment who were killed when the Royal Edward became the first troop ship to be torpedoed in the First World War. According to The Times, 18th August 1915, the ship, previously called R.M.S. Cairo, was built on the Clyde in 1907/8 for the Egyptian Mail Steamship Company’s service between Marseilles and Alexandria. After one season the steamer was acquired by Canadian Northern Steamships and refitted for the mail run between Avon and Montreal in the summer months, and to Halifax in the winter months. When war broke out, the ship was requisitioned by the British Government and brought a contingent of Canadian troops to England, as well as being used for the internment of enemy aliens before becoming a troopship.
The Royal Edward set sail from Avonmouth on 28th July 1915, heading for Gallipoli and carrying troops to reinforce the British 29th Infantry Division. She arrived at Alexandria on 10th August and then set off for the port of Moudras on the island of Lemnos in the North Aegean. The ship was spotted by U-boat commander, Heino von Heimburg, who fired a single torpedo from U-boat U-14, which hit the stern of the Royal Edward, causing the ship to sink in under six minutes. The casualty figures vary but appear to be in the region of 100 crew lost and almost 1000 soldiers, including Private Harris and Private Irons.
An eye witness recorded details of the rescue operation in his diary.
Friday August 13th 1915
About 9.30 am we passed H.M.I. “Royal Edward” and at 9.45 am we received a message by wireless to say that she had been torpedoed, so we put back to her assistance arriving on the scene about 11 am where we remained until 3 pm picking up the survivors. What a scene it was there were boats right way, wrong way up rafts, wreckage of all kinds, barrels, hatch covers, etc, some even clinging to oars, some swimming. Poor mortals they had not much chance to prepare to leave their ship as she went down well inside five minutes. In one case we got about seven or eight men off a boat which had floated keel uppermost & when we got them alongside, they said they were two men underneath, we thought their wits had left them as they seemed scared. Well we got a line attached & with the help of a crane lifted one end of the boat, which was a steel one by the way, up a little out of the water, & sure enough we got two poor R.A.M.C. chaps from under. They had managed to get a little air through the plug hole in the bottom to keep them alive. They could not have lasted much longer, for the poor fellows were almost collapsed when got aboard which was a difficult job.
The total number saved by the “Soudan” was 441. Everyone as they came on board was stripped naked, given a good rubbing, a hot drink of beef tea or Bovril, & wrapped up in a blanket & laid at one side. It was the time of our lives & everyone worked right well. We only lost two by death after bringing them on board. One we had performed artificial respiration on for over an hour, but it was too late. One body was believed to be J. P. Conway 2/2 E Lancs. Fld. Amb. About 3pm. we continued on our way to Alexandria with all speed. It will be noticed it was a Friday, 13th day of the 13th month of the War.
Monday August 16th 1915
Discharged Army Survivors of “Royal Edward” at noon after they had got a supply of Clothing and Boots, & they formed up on the quay side & didn’t they look a sight.
Each remnant of a unit formed up by itself & you could tell where the blanks were by this means. It impressed us all. Well as they marched past the “Soudan” they gave rousing cheers, which were answered by us & also some neighbouring ships. Went ashore 4 till 11 pm. These extracts are from Arthur Sanders’ handwritten account of his war service on the hospital ship, The Soudan.
An announcement in the Birmingham Daily Post, 7th September 1915, of Thomas’s death describes him as being the son of Mr & Mrs Harris, of 43 Charles Edward Road, Yardley, late of Castle Bromwich. He is remembered on the Helles Memorial Part XII, Turkey and commemorated on Castle Bromwich war memorial but is not included on the memorial tablet in St Mary & St Margaret’s Church.
