War Memorial
On 18 May 1913 William James Upton took the service number K19637 when he re-enlisted in the Royal Navy for a twelve-year term. He had first joined up five years earlier, serving aboard seven ships during an engagement of five years that began with his enlistment as SS107108 on 11 May 1908. From his re-enlistment onwards he served only aboard HMS Cressy.
His parents were William and Francis, and their son was born on 9 May 1890, being baptised on 8 June that year. By the 1901 census his household in Bidborough consisted of a widowed father and a thirteen-year-old sister; William himself was recorded as aged ten.
Patrolling the 'Broad Fourteens' off the Dutch coast, HMS Cressy, HMS Aboukir and HMS Hogue formed a squadron of armoured cruisers. The Admiralty had expressed doubts over assigning such ships, which were old, slow and under-gunned; sailors called the trio the 'Live Bait Squadron'. On 22 September 1914 the German submarine U-9 torpedoed all three vessels. Many of the dead were cadets or reservists; the action cost 1,459 British sailors their lives. Upton was among those drowned in the North Sea that day.
He is remembered on the Leigh War Memorial and on Chatham War Memorial.