In memory of Hugh Donald Wynne
In memory of Hugh Donald Wynne
Hugh Donald Wynne was born on 9 June 1890, writes Mark Sijlmans of Noordwijk, Netherlands. Hugh’s father was George Wynne, originally of Rhuddlan, a “surveyor and inspector of nuisance” or sanitary inspector. His mother was Mary Angharad Wynne-McDonald, who was born in 1868 Trefriw and died in 1964 in Llanrwst. The family lived in Salisbury Terrace, Llanrwst.
After leaving school, Hugh lived with his wife, Lena Meredith Wynne, at 48 Redvers Drive, Orrell Park, Liverpool. He was a merchant marine master who served on SS Cameronia, but left that ship before it was torpedoed.
He joined the Royal Naval Reserve and was killed on 20 July 1918 while serving on HM Submarine E 34, a mine-laying submarine. The submarine hit a mine, possibly a British one. All hands were lost and bodies were later found on Dutch beaches. A local farmer found Hugh’s body on 7 August 1918 on the Frisian island of Vlieland. On the body were an officer’s identity passport, B 1077, for officers stationed in Harwich garrison, also a certificate of competency as master of foreign-going steamships dated 26 May 1917 and issued in Glasgow.
This enabled the local constable to identify him. Many of his comrades carried no such documentation and were never identified. According to the report of the local constable, Hugh was about 1.80 metres tall, slender, and carried what the constable called a “boy scout knife” (possibly a standard Navy knife), a silver cigarette case with the monogram H. D. W. , and a smooth golden ring. He was buried, with military honours, the next afternoon in the locality.
In 1920 he was reburied in Noordwijk as the bodies of Allied war dead buried on Dutch soil were concentrated in four centres in the Netherlands.
