George Wood (18.9.1942)
Date of birth: 1920
Date of death: 18.9.1942
Area: Wrenthorpe
Regiment: Royal Navy
Family information: Son of George and Jane Wood nee Smales
Rank: Engine Room Artificer
Service number: C/MX 77710
War Service
George was C/MX 77710, an Engine Room Artificer 4th Class in the Royal Navy with H M Submarine Talisman. He was 22 when he died on 18th September 1942.
George was serving on the submarine Talisman which was a T-class submarine launched on 29th January 1940. The Talisman left Gibraltar on 10th September 1942 carrying supplies to Malta. She reported sighting a U-boat off Algeria on 15th September but was not heard from again. She was due to arrive on 18th September.
Family Life
George’s parents were George and Jane Wood according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and I found a George and Jane Wood living at 19, Bowling Avenue in the 1939 Register.
I believe that George’s parents were George Wood and Jane Smales who were married at St John’s Church on 24th August 1914 – George was a 20-year-old miner from Newton Hill and Jane was the same age and of Providence Street. In 1915 they had a daughter Nora followed by Florence in 1916, Annie in 1918, George in 1920 and James in 1926.
The electoral register revealed that they had lived at 26, Red Hall Lane for some years before moving to Bowling Avenue about 1937. George junior would not have been eligible to be on the electoral roll until after 1939 and on the 1939 Register I think he is one of the two closed records – only Annie is an open record and presumably the older children Nora and Florence had left home.
Chatham naval memorial
