Frederick Charles Paget

Early Life

Frederick Charles Paget was born 28 May, 1910 in Dursley, Gloucestershire.

Petty Officer Frederick Charles Paget

Little is known about his early years apart from his mothers name, Alice Rose was on his Baptism records on 16 July, 1910 in Wotton under Edge, Gloucestershire.

He married Mary Lilian Elisa Paget (née Wyatt) in June 1937. Mary was born 17 October 1913, in Bishopsteignton. Daughter of Henry Wyatt and Mabel Charlotte Wyatt (née  Apps), she had four sisters Florence Mabel (b 1911), Marjorie Joyce (b 1917) , Nancy Ellen (b 1920) and Pamela Christine (1925).  In 1911 Mabel and Florence lived with Mary’s Grandmother, Maria Apps at 1 Verbena Cottage, on Radway Street and by 1939 Mabel and Florence had moved to 5 Verbena Terrace. Mary’s father Henry Wyatt was also Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy serving from 1897 – 1918, on many ships including Devastation and the Defiance.

On 17 December 1938, Frederick and Mary had a son Henry C Paget whilst they were living at 7 Radway Street, Bishopsteignton. In 1939 Mary and Henry moved to 47 Bitton Street, Teignmouth with Marys sister Nancy Ellen Wuatt (who married Thomas Henry Saunders in 1940).

On 28 August 1940, Frederick and Mary had a daughter Inez Mary Paget. ^[1]

Military Service

Petty Officer

Frederick Charles Paget served on H.M.S. Prince of Wales in the Royal Navy as a Petty Officer, D/JX 136130. The rate of petty officer comes above that of leading rating and below that of chief petty officer. It is the equivalent of sergeant in the Royal Marines, British Army and Royal Air Force.^[2]

HMS Prince of Wales was a 35,000-ton King George V-class battleship of the Royal Navy, built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, England.

She had an extensive battle history, first seeing action in August 1940 while still being outfitted in her drydock when she was attacked and damaged by German aircraft.

In her brief but storied career, she was involved in several key actions of the Second World War, including the May 1941 Battle of the Denmark Strait against the German battleship Bismarck.

Also escorting one of the Malta convoys in the Mediterranean, and then attempting to intercept Japanese troop convoys off the coast of Malaya.

In August 1941, Prince of Wales transported Prime Minister Winston Churchill across the Atlantic for a secret conference with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Death and Burial

In her final battle which was three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, she was sunk alongside the battlecruiser HMS Repulse by Japanese bombers when they became the first capital ships to be sunk solely by air power on the open sea, a harbinger of the diminishing role this class of ships was subsequently to play in naval warfare.

The attack began at 11:00 with one torpedo striking the port side aft, causing uncontrollable flooding.

At 12:33, after several devastating hits, Repulse sank. Six aircraft from this wave attacked Prince of Wales, hitting her with three torpedoes. Finally a 1,100lb bomb hit the main deck causing massive damage and many casualties.

By 13:15 the order was given to abandon ship. At 13:20 Prince of Wales capsised and sank; Admiral Phillips and Captain Leach were among the 327 fatalities.

Winston Churchill described the sinking of this ship as the greatest shock of his life.

The wreck of Prince of Wales lies upside down in 223 feet (68 m) of water, near Kuantan, in the South China Sea at 3° 34’N, 104° 26’E.^[3]

HMS Prince of Wales Site ^[4]

Frederick Charles Paget died in the South China Sea on 10th December, 1941.

Descendants

Fredericks wife Mary Lilian Paget (née Wyatt), remained in Devon until her passing in Newton Abbot, on 6 November, 1999.

Their children, Henry C Paget and Inez Mary Paget continued to live in the area with their families.

The Apps Family (Mary’ mother) descends from the Martin family which has strong connections to Bishopsteignton dating back to the early 17th Century.

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