Edgar Dickenson died at the Battle of Jutland. He was a 4th class Engine Room Artificer on board HMS Black Prince, a Duke of Edinburgh class armoured cruiser. A 4th Class Artificer was a Chief Petty Officer who had passed an exam to ‘be acquainted with the first four rules of arithmetic, to read and write sufficiently well to be able to note in the Register the particulars of the working of the engines and boilers; be generally acquainted with the names and uses of the different parts of marine engines; understand the use and management of the various gauges - of the feed, injection, and blow-off cocks; know how to ascertain the density and height of the water in the boilers, and what should be done in the event of priming; also know what should be done in the event of water passing into the cylinders, or of a bearing becoming heated; and how to act on the occurrence of any of the ordinary casualties of an engine room’.  In the battle, at about midnight, HMS Black Prince was hit by at least twelve heavy shells, sinking within 15 minutes. There were no survivors, all 857crew being killed. They are remembered on the Portsmouth Naval memorial.

Edgar was born in Warsash and was the grandson of James Dickenson who had been a stalwart of the Congregational Church and manager of the chemical works in Newtown Road. Edgar’s parents, John and Elizabeth, and the family had moved to Ryde prior to the war.

Jenny Paterson