Early Life
Sidney Albert Treen was born on the 11th February, 1920, in Bishopsteignton, Devon. He was the son of William and Sarah ‘Laura’ Treen (née Groves); husband of Gladys Treen (née Sutton) of Teignmouth.
Sidney’s father, William Germon Treen, was born in Mortenhampstead. William and Laura married in January 1915, in Gloucester. That same year their first son William James was born and the family moved to 4, Manor Terrace, Bishopsteignton. William worked as a woodman/ agriculturist and Sarah was recorded as doing unpaid domestic duties.
Treen 1939 Census
At the beginning of 1941, Sidney married Gladys Lilian Mary Sutton of Teignmouth, in Newton Abbot, Devon.[1]
Military Service
Sidney Albert Treen served on HMS Gould in the Royal Navy, as a leading stoker, D/KX97510. The Royal Navy used the rank structure – ordinary stoker, stoker, leading stoker, stoker petty officer and chief stoker. The non-substantive (trade) badge for stokers was a ship’s propeller. Stoker (fireman/ boilerman) remains the colloquial term used to refer to a marine engineering rating, despite the decommissioning of the last coal-fired naval vessel many years ago. Leading Stoker (seaman) is a junior non-commissioned rank or rate in navies. It is often equivalent to the army and air force rank of corporal.[2]
H.M.S. Gould
HMS Gould (K476) was a British captain-class frigate of the Royal Navy in commission during World War II. Originally constructed as the United States Navy Evarts-class destroyer escort USS Lovering (DE-272), she served in the Royal Navy from 1943 until her sinking in 1944.
Death and Burial
On 26th February 1944, HMS Gould joined the British frigates HMS Affleck (K462) and HMS Gore (K481) in a depth-charge attack that sank the German submarine U-91 in the North Atlantic at position 49°45′N 26°20′W.
On 29th February 1944, HMS Gould was operating as part of the First Escort Group when she, Affleck, Gore, and the British frigate HMS Garlies (K475) detected the German submarine U-358 in the North Atlantic north-northeast of the Azores and began a depth-charge attack which continued through the night and into 1st March 1944 where the four frigates dropped a combined total of 104 depth charges. HMS Gore and Garlies were forced to withdraw to Gibraltar to refuel on 1st March, but HMS Affleck and HMS Gould continued to attack U-358. During the afternoon of 1st March, U-358 succeeded in torpedoing and sinking HMS Gould with a G7es – known to the Allies as “GNAT” – torpedo at position 45°46′N 23°16′W. Six other officers, and 116 ratings died in the sinking, and only 14 of HMS Gould’s crew survived. U-358 was soon forced to surface after 38 hours submerged and was sunk by gunfire from HMS Affleck at position 45°46′N 23°16′W. [3]
Location where H.M.S. Gould sank
Sidney Albert Treen died on board HMS Gould on 1st March, 1944.
Treen Memorial [4]
Plymouth, Plymouth Unitary Authority, Devon, England
Plot: Panel 89 Column 3
Memorial ID: 13306657
Descendants
Sidney Albert Treen is not survived by any direct descendants.
His wife Gladys Sutton lived to the age of 89.
If you are related to him in any way or have any information you would like to share with us, please contact us directly or feel free to comment below.
Sidney Albert Treen is remembered by the village of Bishopsteignton.
Treen Memorial [5]