CH/158579 PO 1 George Spillett, Royal Navy.
Born at Faversham, Kent on 21 October 1875, George enlisted into the Royal Navy in approximately 1891 on long service terms. A married man whose home address was Victoria Street, Rochester, he was, by May 1916, serving on the newly-commissioned light cruiser HMS Chester. Involved in the sea battle at Jutland as part of the 3rd Battle Cruiser Squadron, HMS Chester was hit by seventeen 150mm shells and suffered 29 dead and 49 wounded. (One of the other wounded from the fighting on this vessel, who was to die later, was John Travers Cornwell, awarded the VC for his part in this action.)
George was buried at sea following the battle and is thus commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.
31 May 1916
NB The image of PO George Spillet also appears on Naval-History.net, added there by Jason Smith, George's great-grandson. There you can also see George's Spillet's service record.
Research by: David O'Mara, Croonaert Research Services.
