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PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:47 pm 
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Re: http://www.nhcra-online.org/20c/barritt.htm

FRED BARRITT RNVR (1895-1973)

HMS Nereide and the Mystery of Engineer Ivanoff
The story of an Lancashire RNVR officer
By Richard Taylor
Who was Engineer Ivanoff and why, on 29 January 1919, did he present and inscribed silver dish to the captain and officers of the H-class destroyer HMS Nereide?

The dish, which is mounted on a wooden base and carries on the front an image of a medieval warrior's head, is now owned by the niece of the late Fred Barritt, who was an RNVR lieutenant in the Nereide at the time.

Fred went on to become a RNVR Paymaster Lieut-Commander, as well as sales director of the Lancashire textiles firm Wainman & Co Ltd, at Parkfield Mill, Nelson. He joined up as a temporary a Sub-Lieutenant in February 1918 and was promoted to Lieutenant in March the following year, after which he was demobbed.

He rejoined the RNVR as a Lieutenant in 1921, becoming a Paymaster Lieutenant in March 1923, moving up to Paymaster Lieut-Commander exactly eight years later, retired in 1939.

Navy Lists show his only wartime posting as the 1911-built I-class destroyer HMS Druid from July 1918 but, apart from the silver dish from Engineer Ivanoff, there is other evidence that he served with the Nereide, probably in the Black Sea.

Some time between the war his mother, Hannah, had a serviette ring engraved with the names of the ships and shorebases in which he had served. The ring, which is also in the hands of his niece, lists the following postings, which do not include the Druid:

Vivid, HMT Maximus, Pembroke, Centurion, Renown, Effingham, Defiance, HMT Freesia, TB27, Vulcan, Vindictive, Colleen, Victory VI, Nereide, Columbine and Valiant.

Fred died at his home in Burnley in February 1973. Other items associated with his naval service have survived. These include his two First World War medals, two of his RNVR commissioning certificates, photographs and a litho printing plate for his visiting card, which as well as giving his name shows he was an RNVR Paymaster Lieut-Commander then living in Gibfield Road, Colne.

At one time there was a photograph of him aboard a British ship with a Russian girl. Later speculation suggested, probably optimistically, that this could have been Princess Anastasia! Unfortunately this picture has long since been lost.

Fred is buried in a family grave at Haggate Baptist Church cemetery on a wind-swept hill on the outskirts of Burnley.

* This is an edited version of an article, which appeared in the Summer 1995 edition of the NHCRA Review. What follows is Fred's personal chronology with notes on other family members.
Paymaster Lieut-Commander FRED BARRITT RNVR (1895-1973)
Awarded:
• 1 British War Medal (S.Lt F Barritt RNVR)
• 2 Victory Medal (named as BWM)

• 1895 Born the son of Ernest Barritt (b 9 July 1870) and his wife Hannah (b 7 January 1870, nee Dean) in the Burnley registration district
• March 1914 Awarded first-class bookkeeping certificate, senior grade, by the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes
• 28 February 1918 Joins Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as Temporary Sub-Lieutenant
• 20 July 1918 Navy List shows him posted to I-class destroyer HMS Druid (The 28kt Druid was launched on 4 December 1911 at the Denny yard. Almost all the class were in the Mediterranean by 1918 after service with the 1st Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet in 1914-16 and at Harwich or Dover in 1916-17. Druid was sold on 9 May 1921 to Ward at Briton Ferry.)
• 29 January 1919 Engineer Ivanoff presents an inscribed silver dish, carrying a medieval warrior's head, to the 'Captain and Officers of HMS Nereide'
• 1919 Demobilised
• Post-war Fred is in the textile trade. Either at this stage or later, he was with Wainman and Co Ltd at Parkfield Mill, Nelson where, in 1932, they had 970 looms. He became the company's sales director, regularly attending Manchester Cotton Exchange
• 2 March 1922 Appointed Lieutenant in the RNVR, with seniority from 3 October 1921. Navy List shows him with Mersey II
• 5 January 1929 Father dies
• 1 March 1923 Seniority as Paymaster Lieutenant from this date
• 1930 Only child, Winifred Mary, is born
• 12 July 1932 London Gazette announces his promotion to Paymaster Lieut-Commander from 1 May 1931
• 1933-37 Local directories list Fred with Wainman and Co.
• 4 June 1937 Mother dies
• 1930s During this period and later, Fred and his wife live at 55 Gibfield Road, Colne,until at least 1971. 1937 directory lists him at Parkfield Mill with Edgar, Harold and James Wainman
• 3 July 1939 Retires from RNVR
• 1941 Local directories list Fred as cotton manufacturer at Oak Mill, Skipton Road, Colne
• 17 October 1965 Wife Alice Winifred dies.
• 1969 Fred marries family friend Mary, a spinster and retired midwife. They move from Colne to Burnley
• 25 February 1973 Fred dies at his home at 298 Briercliffe Road, Burnley
• 8 February 1973 Interred at Haggate Baptist Church cemetery
• 1992 Fred's daughter, spinster Winifred Mary, dies aged 62 after a short illness
• 1993 Fred's second wife, Mary, dies


Fred Barritt’s grave http://www.briercliffesociety.co.uk/Gra ... arritt.htm


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