Herbert Howard Gandy was killed in an air raid on this day in 1917

Herbert Gandy was born in Steyning, Sussex in 1890, the son of John Ripley of Hove and Agnes Elizabeth (née Page) of Brighton.

At the 1891 Census the 8 month old Herbert was and at home, 95 Ellen St, Hove, with his mother (a laundress) and five siblings: Ellen 17 (a laundress), Arthur 16, Ripley 12, Frederick 7 and Daisy 2. His father was not at home. His mother died in 1900 and his father died in 1904.

By the 1901 Census, Herbert, now age 10, was living with his older sister Ellen, her husband and family along with his sister Daisy (now 12). Ellen was 27 by this time, her 28 year old husband Austin Bampfylde (a laundry engineer). They had their own young children, Austin 5 and Sydney 3 and they lived at 40 Robertson Road, Preston (Brighton) next door to the 'Water Laundries' which we may assume was where husband and wife worked.

Herbert first worked as a storeman then, aged 16, joined the Navy in February 1906. He began on the training ship HMS Impregnable from 6 August that year. (His much older brother Ripley had done the same in 1894). The Register of Seamen's Services gives the 18 ships Herbert served on, when and in what capacity from 1906 to 1916.

1911: Age 20, Herbert was on leave from HMS Glasgow and was visiting the Flint family and their six children at 1 Stanley Street, Melton Mowbray. The following year, 1902, the 21 year old Howard married Rhoda Ray.

He was serving in HMA Philomel in Australia on the outbreak of war, afterwards he was in HMS Empress of India and HMS Suva which were engaged in patrolling the Red Sea.

Gandy was promoted to Gunner in November 1916 and appointed for gunnery duties to HM Torpedo boat No.7. In early June 1917 he came ashore at Sheerness 'for recreation' and was killed during an air raid there on 5 June 1917. He was buried in Hove Old Cemetery.

Gunner Herbert Howard Gandy, Royal Navy