CPO Jabez Skelhorne ERA
"One of the unlucky ones" - Cyril Hely
Jabez daughter, Rita, received a hand painted
card from her Dad on her eighth birthday, the 29 September
1942. She looked forward to seeing him at Christmas and saved up
her pocket
money to make a handkerchief
as a gift for her Dad - but he never came home. She never forgot
him and as Simon Skelhorne explains, "Every
year my Mum put a small brown paper parcel tied up with string under
the Christmas Tree with 'Dad' written on the front in pencil."The small packet contains the
handkerchief she made in 1942.
Jabez
was born in Golborne, Lancashire, to John and Mary Skelhorne in 1915. He
went to Newton-le-Willows technical college and became an apprentice
engineer and mould maker at Naylors Foundry in nearby Golborne. He was a keen amateur
runner with Wigan Harriers. Naylors won a contract to build a large bridge in
Golborne but their yard was not big
enough and it had to be made in sections at Chepstow, transported to
Golborne by rail and assembled on site.
Jabe (he preferred to be called Jabe) was a 19 year old boilermaker and
plater when he married Mary Jones in 1934 and soon had a daughter,
Rita. He was too young to be considered for this large project so, ever resourceful, he
"amended" his birth certificate and re-located with his family to
Chepstow to work on the bridge which still stands on
Helen Street, Golborne.
Jabe stayed down south and got a job at Harland & Wolff's shipyard
in North Woolwich, East London, where Rita quickly picked up a Cockney
accent. When war broke out his wife was not keen on
living near London with the threat of air raids and the family moved
back to Lancashire. Jabe worked at William Niell's Bold Iron Works in St Helens but by 1940 he had itchy feet and joined the navy to
"see the world". He became an Engine Room Artificer (ERA) on HMS Hecla. Rita (on right aged 8) remembered having dinner aboard Hecla
on
the Clyde, singing "Chattanooga Choo Choo" for the ratings in the
mess and being shown around the ship by a young sailor called Harry
Nelson. She often wondered what happened to him.
The Gulfoss
waterfalls Jabez visited in Iceland are still a popular tourist
attraction today
Courtesy
of Simon Skelhorne
Havelfjord:
Jabe on the far left pretending to
haul
up Hecla's anchor and third
from left in the photograph on the right
Courtesy
of Simon Skelhorne
HMS Hecla was stationed in Havelfjord, Iceland, as the destroyer depot ship for the convoy escorts. When Hecla
returned from Havelfjord early in 1942 Jabe brought back tubes of German cheese and a
large lump hammer salvaged from the captured U-Boat, U-570. The cheese
was a welcome supplement to rations and the hammer is still in use today.
Jabe left for South Africa
on Hecla
and his hand and wrist were injured when it was mined. While Hecla
was under repair in the naval dockyard at Simon's Town he
was promoted from Petty Officer to Chief Petty Officer. Jabe enjoyed
his service in the Royal Navy and was ambitous to go still further. He
began studying for the exams he would need to pass before he would be
eligible from promotion to Warrant Officer. He knew he would probably
have to stay on in the Navy after the war to achieve this. Back home
his wife proudly took Rita to Liverpool to collect his CPO hat and
badge from the naval outfitters and although the badge was never
mounted on the cap it is still kept by his grandson, Simon Skelhorne.
Jabe sent his wife an album of photographs taken on his Brownie box
camera in Iceland and South Africa many of which are on this web site.
Jabez Skelhorne ready to go ashore (left), on holiday in South Africa (centre) and his CPO badge (right)
Courtesy of Simon Skelhorne
He also sent a card
to his daughter, Rita, for her eighth birthday on the 29 September 1942. It was
drawn by Don Preece, the talented and popular rating who drew the
amusing "Crossing the LIne" certificate presented to Fred Lemberg by
Neptunus on Hecla's voyage
south.
"I read the
funeral service for our two shipmates", Lt Cdr Henry C.R. Alexander RN Photographed by Cyril Hely
Most of those who died that night have no grave ...
Jabez Skelhorne was one of nine survivors rescued by HMS Venomous who died from their wounds. Five were sewn into canvas
hammocks, weighted with shells at their feet and buried from the stern of HMS Venomous while
enroute from Casablanca to Gibraltar on the 14th November. Cyril Hely
photographed the burial and wrote on the reverse of his photograph:
"Thomas
Luxton, George Taylor, Charles Odey and Alfred Dutton were buried at
sea at latitude 34 degree 30 minutes North and longitude 7 degrees 30
minutes west."
Petty Officer George William Doyle
Minor, 37, from Exmouth, Devon, who died on 12 November is thought to
have been buried with them
After arrival at Gibraltar another four survivors who died later were
taken out to sea on a barge and buried by volunteers from HMS Venomous.
They included 35 year old Warrant Supply Officer, Herbert Douglas
Honey, from Canterbury who died of his wounds on the 14 November. The
bodies of Jabez Skelhorne, Charles
Stocker and Albert Thick were washed ashore on
the Moroccan coast and
now lie in the Santa Catalina cemetery in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Jabe was 27 years old when he died but
the age given on his grave is 31 as a result of him having claimed to be older than his
true age to work on the bridge contract at Chepstow.The grandsons of Albert Thick and Jabez Skelhorne
spent years uncovering the story of how they died and Simon Skelhorne
arranged for their graves to be restored by the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission. The photograph is of the grave in 2008 prior to restoration.
Every year Rita's Christmas present for her Dad is hung on the family Christmas tree
Rita died on the 12 September 2011 but her son Simon continues the family
tradition
and retells the story of the father who never came home to his own son, named Jabez after his great-grandfather.
Rita was
looking forward to Jabe's return at Christmas and saved up her pocket
money to make a handkerchief
as a gift for her Dad but never saw him again.
His young widow could not accept the death of her husband and continued
to believe he would return home one day. She turned to Spiritualism for
comfort and her failure to receive messages from him on the other side
merely confirmed her belief that he was still alive. Rita never forgot
her Dad and as Simon Skelhorne explains, "Every
year my Mum put a small brown paper parcel tied up with string under
the Christmas Tree with 'Dad' written on the front in pencil."The
small packet contains the handkerchief she made for him in 1942.
Left: Simon Skelhorne and his son Jabe, named after his Great Grandfather who lost his life 75 years ago when HMS Hecla was torpedoed off the coast of North Africa.
Simon Skelhorne grew up in
Earlestown at the house which his Grandfather left in 1942. Earlestown
is named after Hardman Earle (1792 – 1877), the Chairman of the London
and North Western Railway, who set up a “Model Town” within
Newton-in-Makerfield (now Newton-le-Willows) comprising a railway
station (the oldest in the world), the Manchester-Liverpool Railway
line and the Viaduct wagon works. Earlestown is the small town at the centre of Newton-le-Willows.
Jabez Skelhorne's name is recorded on the Earlestown War Memorial and every years the family lays a
wreath on the war memorial in the town where he lived in 1942.
"Jabe's younger sister Mary used to talk a lot about her brother, she
always missed him. She was 94 when she died last year but bright as a
button, and a very kind person. I miss visiting her as she used to give
me a wonderful insight into life in the Skelhorne household in the
1930’s and 40’s. Jabe’s death broke her parents heart. The house always
had visitors from Jabe’s mates which came to an abrupt end when he was
reported lost." (Simon Skelhorne).
This Christmas the gift Simon's Mother made for her father will once again hang on the family Christmas tree.
Jabe's
grandson, Simon Skelhorne,
has devoted a great deal of his time to researching Jabe’s life and
death
He scanned
the photographs from his grandfather's album and gave consent for their use on this
web site.
Click on the link to see a list of the 858 men recorded as being on HMS Hecla on the night she sank with links to further details of their lives Those who died on that night and those "missing presumed killed" are marked as killed or MPK
Return to the "Home Page" for HMS Hecla
to find out more about its history and the stories of other survivors
The story of HMS Venomous is told by Bob Moore and Captain John Rodgaard USN (Ret) in A Hard Fought Ship A Hard Fought Ship contains the most detailed account of the loss of HMS Hecla yet published Buy the new hardback edition online for £35 post free in the UK
Take a look at the Contents Page and List of Illustrations
Holywell House Publishing
88 Holywell Hill, St
Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 1DH, Britain
http://holywellhousepublishing.co.uk
Telephone: +44 1727 838595 contact online
Jabez
was born in Golborne, Lancashire, to John and Mary Skelhorne in 1915. He
went to Newton-le-Willows technical college and became an apprentice
engineer and mould maker at Naylors Foundry in nearby Golborne. He was a keen amateur
runner with Wigan Harriers. 
Most of those who died that night have no grave ...
Left: Simon Skelhorne and his son Jabe, named after his Great Grandfather who lost his life 75 years ago when HMS Hecla was torpedoed off the coast of North Africa.
