Harold Courtenay Woollcombe-Boyce was killed in action on this day in 1917

Harold Courtenay Woollcombe-Boyce was born 30 March 1887 in Hammersmith, London. His parents were Arthur Courtenay Woollcombe-Boyce, a solicitor, and Mary Eleanor née Jones. In 1891, the family was living in Leckhampton in Cheltenham. On 11 January 1892, when Harold was 3 years old, his father died from acute pneumonia followed, 3 days later, by his mother (cause unknown).  He went to live with his grandfather and his aunt who also lived in Cheltenham.

He was educated at Brandon House in Cheltenham and entered Dartmouth, on the training ship Britannia, as a Naval Cadet in September 1903.

Regular promotions saw Harold become Lieutenant in September 1909. A month before the outbreak of war, he was given command of HMS Ghurka, a Tribal Class destroyer built and launched in 1907. The ship served as part of the Dover Patrol during the war.

On 8 February 1917, HMS Ghurka sank in heavy seas after hitting a German mine off Dungeness. The mines had been laid on 7 February 1917 by UC-47, under the command of Lieutenant P. Hundius.

At about 7.45pm, an explosion occurred in the forward part of Ghurka. She sank within minutes but the armed trawler Highlander which was first to arrive on the scene managed to save five men from the sea. The remaining 75 men of the crew perished.

The HMS Ghurka remains on the seabed just off Dungeness. In 2006, the ship was officially designated a protected place and war grave status. One crew member – Chief Artificer John Corner - is buried in Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham.

Harold is commemorated at the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Lieutenant Harold Courtenay Woollcombe-Boyce, Royal Navy