The centenary of the North Sea Battle of Jutland fell on Tuesday, May 31st, and the Ross-on-Wye branch of the Royal British Legion hosted a commemoration ceremony to honour the men of the Naval Services from the local area who gave their lives for this country during this encounter.

A crowd gathered by the War Memorial at The Prospect on a windy, but warm morning on Tuesday. Reverend Colin Leggate told the group that the centenary was going largely unmarked throughout the country, but Ross-on-Wye is lucky in that there are an extremely dedicated Royal British Legion team.

Rev’d Leggate said that of the 250 ships that took part in the battle, there were 151 British and 99 German. There were approximately 100,000 men engaged in the fighting, and more than 8,500 of these were killed. He said:?“Unfortunately, despite this huge loss of lives, there was no clear winner in the battle.”

Air Commodore Vivian Warrington, President of the Ross branch of the RBL said that Ross and District lost four brave men during the battle on May 31st 1916, and it was important to remember their sacrifice. These men were; Leading Stoker CH Bland, aged 28 of the HMS Queen Mary, Lieutenant Commander RL Clayton, aged 31 of HMS?Queen Mary, Able Seaman FA?Green, aged 22 of HMS Black Prince, and Engineer Lieutenant FL?Mogg, of HMS Invincible.

Two further local men were killed, a few days after the four. These were Able Seaman GP?Wilden, aged 21 of HMS Hampshire, who drowned with all hands on June 5th 1916, after the ship was struck by a mine off the coast of Orkney. There was also Field Marshall Earl Horatio Kitchener, who was lost that same day as he travelled onboard HMS?Hampshire for negotiation talks in Russia.

The exhortation was then read out by Graham Aplin, Chairman of the Ross RBL, and a two minute silence was marked. Members of the Sea Cadets then laid a wreath of poppies against the War Memorial.