Fred Fairchild

1892-1915

One of the most sensational disasters of the Great War was the sinking of the SS Persia, a P & O passenger liner which was torpedoed by a German U-boat without warning on 30th December 1915.

The 8,000 ton vessel went down off Crete while the passengers were having lunch, sinking within ten minutes and claiming the lives of 343 of the 519 aboard. The engagement was highly controversial because it was in breach of naval international law which requires passengers to be given an opportunity to disembark before combat commenced. A warning shot across the bow should have been given first but instead, the U-boat fired its torpedo without warning.

The Persia was carrying a large quantity of gold and jewels belonging to the Maharaja Jagatjit Singh and among the passengers to survive were John Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 2nd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu although his secretary and mistress, Eleanor Thornton, the model for the Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy mascot by Charles Robinson Sykes, died.

Also on board was a local man, Fred Fairchild, from Thurlby, near Bourne, who was serving as a baggage steward. He went down with the ship and his body was never recovered but he is remembered on the War Memorial in the village church where a moving service of remembrance was held on Sunday 16th January 1916.

Fred Fairchild, aged 23, was the youngest son of Joseph and Sarah Ann Fairchild, and was well known in the village. He attended Thurlby Board School and was a Sunday school scholar and chorister at St Firmin's Church but left home to become a sailor, later joining the crew of the SS Persia and was aboard when the ship left London bound for Bombay on 18th December 1915.

The memorial service was conducted by the Vicar of Thurlby, the Rev John Pettifor, who based his sermon on the text from Thessolonians I.iv.13: "I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep."

Reporting the service on January 21st, the Stamford Mercury said: "The rev. gentleman alluded in feeling terms to the sad event and said they had met together at a time when their parish had been plunged into deep sorrow by the loss, under peculiarly sad and revolting circumstances. His death was the result of one of those inhuman acts of which the Germans alone were capable."

The vicar said that he personally felt the loss most acutely for he whom they mourned had been well known and well beloved by him from childhood, first as a scholar in the Sunday school and later for a number of years as a valuable member of the church choir. He was, said the vicar, one of their most highly respected young parishioners, a young man who was held in the highest esteem by all who knew him. The report added: "The church was packed by a respectful congregation, giving ample evidence of the genuine sympathy with the deceased's friends in their bereavement".