Herbert Thomas Davies, J/28606, Ordinary Seaman, Royal Navy.
Herbert “Tom” was born at Carew in 1897, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Davies, later of Glanteifon Cottage, St. Dogmaels.
He served aboard the Battleship, HMS Queen Mary, which was launched in 1912, joining the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet.
At the outbreak of the Great War, the Queen Mary was in the North Sea, and took part in the successful Battle of Heligoland Bight on 28 August 1914. During the first two months of 1915 the Queen Mary undertook a refit at Portsmouth, before again rejoining the Grand Fleet.
During May, 1916 the Grand Fleet faced what was to become their sternest test of the war. Information had been received that the mighty German High Seas Fleet were assembling, and on 30 May the Grand Fleet put to sea.
During the following afternoon of 31 May 1916, the great fleets sighted each other, and began what was to be the greatest Naval Battle in History, with the Queen Mary in the thick of the action. After exchanging heavy salvoes with their German opponents, the Queen Mary suffered direct hits from the Seydlitz and Derfflinger, and blew up with the loss of 1,266 crew.
Tom was one of these poor souls to lose his life in the tumultuous explosion caused by the direct hits, and so he is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Devon.
He was just 18 years old. Tom is not commemorated on the Carew War Memorial..