Bertie Tate

War Service

Shortly before his nineteenth birthday, on 5th January 1915, Bertie Tate enlisted in the Royal Navy at Portsmouth. He signed for 5 years service with the Fleet and 7 years in Reserve. Assigned as a stoker, Bertie Tate joined the ship’s company of HMS Warrior, on 21st July 1915 and six weeks later was rated Stoker 1 Class.
HMS Warrior was an armoured cruiser, launched at Devonport Dockyard in November 1905. She was completed on 12th December 1906 and initially served in the Home Fleet. In 1913 she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet, but in December 1914 joined the Grand Fleet.
In May 1915, at the Battle of Jutland, HMS Warrior was part of the ill-fated 1st Cruiser Squadron, which suffered heavy losses during the battle. At 18.05 hours on 31st May, when attacking German light cruisers, HMS Warrior came under fire from the German battle cruisers. She was badly damaged by the gunfire, with her engine room wrecked and flooded. However she successfully turned away from the battle and was taken in tow by the seaplane tender HMS Engadine, who took off 743 of her surviving crew. At 08.25 hours on 1st June, HMS Warrior, with her upper deck only 4 feet above the water line, was abandoned in rising seas. She subsequently founded and sank.
Bertie Tate was one of the 68 crew members, mostly stokers, who did not survive and went down with the ship. As they have no known grave, their names are remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, which is situated on Southsea Common, overlooking the Promenade. The Memorial, in the form of an obelisk, was one of three identical memorials erected to commemorate those members of the Royal Navy who lost their lives at sea. The Portsmouth Memorial commemorates 9,667 sailors of the First World War and 14,918 of the Second World War. The other two memorials were erected at the naval manning stations of Chatham and Plymouth.

Family Life

Born on 10th February 1896, Bertie Tate was the second son of Arthur and Emily Tate, of Bread Baker Lane, Outwood. His father, Arthur Tate, was an engine stoker and worked at a local colliery. On leaving school Bertie obtained employment at a local colliery, starting work as a pony driver below ground and later becoming a coal miner.

Portsmouth Naval Memorial