Hubert Jowett

War Service

Hubert was on board HMS Stanley which was a Royal Navy Destroyer. It was used to escort convoys and had left Gibraltar on 14th December 1941. At 04.15 hours on 19th December she was hit by two torpedoes from U-574 and immediately sank about 330 miles west of Cape Sines, Portugal. Out of the 161 men on board, 136 lost their lives including Hubert.
On 10th January 1942 the Wakefield Express printed the following:
“KIRKHAMGATE SEAMAN PRESUMED KILLED
Mrs Hubert Jowett of East Ardsley, has received a telegram informing her that her husband, Leading Seaman Hubert Jowett is reported missing presumed killed. Jowett, who is 28 years of age, since marrying Miss Edith Bedford of East Ardsley, has made his home there, but he is better known to the people of Kirkhamgate. He is the only son of the late Mr and Mrs Ezra Jowett and up to the death of his parents he went to the Kirkhamgate Council School and always spent his leave in the village. Up to joining the Navy about ten years ago he worked on farms.”
There were also memorials from Hubert’s only sister Emily, her husband Horace (who also appears to be in the Royal Navy) and their son Derek and his in laws the Bedfords of East Ardsley.
Hubert is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.
Incidentally the ship HMS Stanley had been adopted by Stanley Urban District Council, which included the parish of Wrenthorpe, only three months before it was sunk, with funds raised to send to the crew. The Malt Shovel Hotel was particularly active in this fundraising.

Family Life

From the Commonwealth War Graves Commission record I found that Hubert was Leading Seaman D/JX 154274 who died on HMS Stanley on 19th December 1941 aged 28. It must be noted, however, that on this record they spell Jowett with an “i”. It also records that his parents were Ezra and Florence and his wife was Edith of East Ardsley.
According to the British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death records he was born on 19th December so in fact died on his 28th birthday. I found the birth registration of Hubert Jowett in the first quarter of 1914 and his mother’s maiden name was said to be Wilson. The only marriage in Wakefield between an Ezra Jowett and a spouse called Wilson was in 1909 and he married an Elizabeth Wilson. I found the couple living in New Row, Kirkhamgate in the 1911 census with Ezra an iron moulder. They had a 6-month-old baby called Emily. I think Elizabeth died in 1919 aged 34, being buried in Alverthorpe Churchyard on 5th March 1919 and Ezra died in 1926. Ezra may have taken another wife as Hubert would have only been 6 when Elizabeth died (although I have found no record of another marriage) or perhaps the name Florence in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records may have been incorrect. In 1939 Hubert married Edith Bedford. They had no children as far as I know.

Plymouth Naval Memorial