Arnold Robert Pte CH 16953 Royal Marine Light Infantry
Killed 22nd September 1914 AGE: 21
Robert was the son of Thomas & Elisa Arnold of Mathern. With 12 brothers and sisters he was brought up at Rose Cottage which still stands at the top of Arnolds Lane (The Miller’s Arms is at the bottom). Thomas worked at the Severn Tunnel pumping Station, Sudbrook and the family supplemented his income by using the land around Rose Cottage as a small market garden.
Most likely Robert had joined the Marines as a regular, some time before the War started. He wasn’t primarily a sailor – members of the Royal Marine Light Infantry were often posted to ships to operate the various guns on board. At the outbreak of the War he was serving on the Cressy class cruiser HMS Aboukir. His brother Fred had chosen a similar career and was serving on HMS Speedwell at the time (Fred’s daughter Sylvia still lives in Mathern today).
On the fateful morning the Aboukir together with two of her sister ships, the cruisers Hogue and Cressy, were patrolling the North Sea 20 miles north west of the Hook of Holland. For some reason they were not accompanied by their usual “screen” of destroyers. At 6.30am the Aboukir was struck by a torpedo from the German submarine U9 and sank within 25 minutes. Many men were left floundering in the water. HMS Hogue moved in amongst them and her crew were busy throwing everything overboard that would float when the Hogue itself was struck. The Cressy then moved in to help and not surprisingly met the same fate. The three great ships sank within an hour of each other 837 men survived and 1459 died, including Robert. Along with many others who have no known grave he is listed on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent panel No 7, Chatham being his home port.
From The Weekly Argus, Saturday, October 3rd, 1914, which gave the news that Robert was missing and also that his Brother Fred was serving in the Navy on H M S Speedwell at the same time
Extract of letter from his brother Fred showing the bitterness he felt at Robert’s death
