Henry James Walters was born on 6 June 1877, the son of a Royal Navy sailor. He joined the Navy in June 1894 as a Boy 2nd Class, aged 17. He became a torpedo specialist, qualifying as a Torpedo Gunners Mate Higher Standard - the Navy's highest qualification for torpedo gunners.

Henry served three tours as an instructor at HMS Vernon (torpedo training school, Portsmouth); on torpedo armed battleships (HMS Collingwood, Rodney, Empress of India, Good Hope); and specialist torpedo fleet depot ships (HMS Vulcan, Hecla), in the Mediterranean and North Sea. He was promoted to Leading Seaman in 1899, Petty Officer in 1900, and Chief Petty Officer in 1914, and was awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct medal in 1910.

When WWI broke out he had already almost qualified for his Naval Pension, and he could have served out the war in relative safety as a senior torpedo training instructor at HMS Vernon where he was based. Instead he volunteered immediately to join HMS Good Hope. She sailed at 2 hours notice, and although he sent a message to his wife to meet him at the dock gates he couldn't tell her why. She didn't go; so they never had a chance to say goodbye. 

HMS Good Hope was lost with all hands when she blew up whilst attacking the German battle cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile, 1 November 1914.

Giles Cockerill