Edgar Jesse Forbes of the Royal Navy

By John D Ellis

Edgar Jesse Forbes was born on the 6^th of March 1892 at Montego Bay on the Island of Jamaica. A General Labourer, he enlisted in the Royal Navy in April 1915, for the duration of the “Hostilities”. On enlistment he was described as 5 feet 9 and ¾” tall with black hair, brown eyes and a dark black complexion and, on his left forearm, he had a scar which was 6” long and 5” wide.

His Royal Navy service records include a typed note that confirm his description, identify his next of kin (his mother – Mrs Margaret Forbes of John’s Hall, Jamaica), and provide a residential address (7 Jockey Street, Swansea). The same note also reveals that he had enlisted in December 1914, but that after briefly serving with the Royal Naval Division he had been transferred to Aberdeen for minesweeping service. On arrival at Aberdeen he was “refused” and returned to the training depot. Quite who refused him and why was not noted.

Like a number of other men from the Caribbean he served at the shore Base HMS Pembroke (in Chatham). Initially, in the case of Edgar J Forbes, it seems that he was serving as a Stoker with the ‘Royal Naval Division’. Stoker, like steward and cook, was often a racially defined role for Black ratings.

During the First World War he served at HMS Chatham (three times) and as a stoker on HMS Cormorant, HMS Blenheim and HMS Shannon. He was subsequently awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

At the parish Church of St Paul’s, Herne Hill on the 17^th of November 1918, just less than a week after the armistice, Stoker 1^st Class Edgar Jesse Forbes married Margaret Katherine Shelley (a spinster of 72 Milkwood Road^[1]Milkwood Road and the surrounding streets were badly damaged by German bombs during the London blitz and the house Katherine Shelley lived in at No.72 no longer exists … Continue reading His father was identified as William Wilson Forbes (a baker, deceased) and hers as Henry Shelley (a labourer).

Edgar J Forbes was demobbed from the Royal Navy in 1919. Shortly after demob he re-enlisted, this time in the British Army. In 1921, he was serving in the rank of Driver in the Royal Army Service Corps, being stationed at Battersea Park Camp. Although noted as being married, Margaret Forbes was not residing with him in the barracks.

In 1939, an Edgar J Forbes, born on the 6^th of March 1892, was living at 17 Hampton Park, Bristol and working as a Dock Worker.

Residing with him was one Ethel R Forbes, born in 1914. The whereabouts of Margaret Forbes and the relationship between Edgar J and Ethel are unknown. Between November 1940 and April 1941, the Luftwaffe launched 77 raids on the city of Bristol in what became known as ‘the Bristol Blitz’. Over 1200 civilians were killed and over 1,300 were seriously wounded. Amongst the survivors were Edgar and Ethel, who married in 1943, suggesting that whatever had happened to Margaret, by 1939 Edgar and Ethel were common-law partners. In July 1965, Edgar J Forbes became a naturalised British citizen. His date of birth was recorded as the 6^th of March 1892, and his place of birth given as William’s Field, Jamaica. Edgar Jesse Forbes – veteran of the First World War and survivor of the ‘Bristol Blitz’, died in Bristol in 1979.^[4]TNA ADM 171/102. TNA ADM 188/918/25800. TNA ADM 337/1/325. TNA ADM 339/1/12873. For the marriage of Edgar and Margaret see: London, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938. LMA (London … Continue reading