George Alexander Bartholomew Green, a ‘man of colour’ in the Royal Navy from 1903 to 1925

By John D Ellis

George Alexander Bartholomew Green was born on the Island of Barbados on the 15^th of September 1877. A cook by occupation, he enlisted in the Royal Navy in February 1903 and was to serve until discharged on a pension in April 1925. On enlistment he was 5 feet 8” tall with black hair, black eyes and a black complexion. He was also described as “a man of colour”.

Initially employed as a ‘Domestic’ (a servant), by 1907 he was serving as an Officer’s Cook, a role he was to undertake for the remainder of his service. George Green served in no less than 29 Royal Navy vessels and shore bases during his career. During the First World War he served on HMS Invincible (at the battles of Heligoland Bight and the Falkland Islands in 1914), HMS King Edward VII (when it was sunk by a German mine off the coast of northern Scotland in 1916), HMS Dominion, HMS Dreadnought, HMS Pembroke (a depot ship at Chatham), and HMS Terror (during the bombardments of Zeebrugge and Ostend, 1917).

George Green was subsequently awarded the 1914 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

In 1921 he was serving at HMS Osea a Royal Navy base for coastal motorboats located on Osea Island in the River Blackwater, Essex (apparently, the Barbadian singer Rihanna rented the island in 2019 to record an album). An Officer’s Cook 1^st Class, he was single, born at Barbados and a British Subject.

In 1939 he was one of seven people residing at 27 Middle Street, Gillingham, Kent. His name was the first on the list, suggesting that he was the head of the household. It was noted that he was a General Labourer, single and had been born on the 15^th of September 1877.

George Alexander Bartholomew Green is believed to have died in 1950.^[1]TNA ADM 171/103. TNA ADM 188/549/361101. 1921 Census of England and Wales. findmypast.co.uk 1939 Register. RG 101/1731/010/11. Letter Code: DHSD. findmypast.co.uk