Hugh Martin Donald Gore Whitcombe was born in Holbrook, Suffolk, England, on the 23rd December 1893, the son of John Walker and Katherine Louisa Whitcombe (née Linnall). His father was a land steward and later a time keeper in a cement works. Hugh was one of six children and by 1911, the family home was at 'Dudbrooke House', Sevenoaks, Kent, where his mother ran a boarding house.
On completion of his education, he became a trainee motor engineer with the Daimler Motor Company in Coventry, Warwickshire, before he immigrated to Havana, Cuba, in 1912 to work as a chauffeur.
Following the outbreak of the Great War, he decided to return to England to enlist in the British Army, and as a consequence, he booked his passage back home to England on the Lusitania, which was to sail from New York on 1st May 1915. Having left Havana, he then made his way to New York in time to catch the sailing from there, as a second cabin passenger.
One week later, when the liner was torpedoed and sunk, Hugh Whitcombe managed to survive, probably because he was able to get into one of the lifeboats which was successfully launched. Having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, he eventually made it back to Kent.
In the summer of 1915, he successfully applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund for financial aid to help make up the loss of all his personal effects. The fund was originally set up by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local dignitaries to help passengers left without means by the sinking.
Not suffering any serious injuries as a result of his ordeal, Hugh Whitcombe enlisted in the British Army on the 13th May 1915. As M2/098057 Private Hugh Donald Whitcombe, he served with the Army Service Corps in France from September 1915 until August 1918, being promoted to the rank of corporal. Then, in August 1918, he transferred to the Royal Air Force, being assigned a new service number – 321102, and a new rank – cadet!
In October 1915, he received a letter from Mrs. Prichard, who was seeking information about her son, Richard Preston Prichard, who was a second cabin passenger, and of whom nothing had been heard of after the sinking. Mrs. Prichard wrote to all the survivors of the sinking she could obtain addresses for. Hugh Whitcombe wrote: -
Headquarters
25th Division
B.E.F.
Oct. 25th 1915
Dear Madam,
I have received your letter sent on from home, & I deeply regret to say that I do not recollect your son at all. I myself was on board the Lusitania till (sic.) about three minutes before she sank & then I dived off and was not picked up till about five by one of the destroyers out of Queenstown. During this time I was on some wreckage with eleven others. I know Miss Dodd’s address at Bristol & have written home for it & asked them to send to you. As you will see by address that I am out here and you may rest assured should the opportunity arise of me avenging the sinking of the Lusitania, & those many lives I shall to my very utmost. Please accept my sincerest sympathy.
Believe me
Yours truly
Hugh D. Whitcombe.
No trace of Richard Preston Prichard was ever found.
When hostilities ended, Hugh Whitcombe assisted the War Graves Commission in France, and in February 1920, travelled to Salonika, Greece, for the same purpose.
Cadet H. M. D. G. Whitcombe died of sunstroke in Salonika on the 23rd July 1920, aged 26 years. He is buried in Mikra British Cemetery, Kalamaria, Greece. He left his estate of £35-7s.-8d. (£35.38p) to his mother.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, UK World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914 – 1920, UK British Army World War I medal Rolls Index Cards 1914 – 1920, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, IWM GB 62, Kent Messenger & Gravesend Telegraph, Sevenoaks Chronicle & Kentish Advertiser, London Gazette, Liverpool Record Office, Probate Records, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.