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St Oswald's Churchyard
THE "RESEARCH" DISASTER - 25TH NOVEMBER 1925.
The "Research" a 36 ton steam drifter floundered on Smethwick Sands,a large shoal in Bridlington Bay, during a blizzard. The drifter was heading towards the harbour at Bridlington when three huge seas struck the vessel in quick succession and capsized her. The crew were seen to scramble to the highest point as it sank quickly.
It was several days later before the identity of the vesel was determined: "Research" owned by T.Melrose & Sons of Hull and managed by Filey United Steam Trawling Company.
All the crew of nine were lost, eight of whom were Filey men, five belonged to one family and two brothers of the remaining three crew were distant cousins of that family.
The Filey men were John R. Jenkinson, two of his sons Robert and George F.B.; two sons in law George J.Crimlisk and William C.Cammish; the two brothers Edward and George Jenkinson; and Joseph Edmund Colley. All eight names are inscribed on the tablet in St Oswald's Church, shown right, that records the names of those Filey fishermen who perished at at sea and whose bodies were never found.
The family of John R. Jenkinson had already lost one son to the sea in 1911 when James H.N. Jenkinson, aged 19 was with his father when the herring coble "Swanland Hill" capsized off Ravenscar.
Another son, John Robert, would have been on the "Research" and also lost to the sea if he had not been ill at the time of the disaster.
What grief the wife and mother must have had to endure, losing a husband and three sons to the sea. She died aged 75 years in 1939 and her epitaph on the family gravestone in St Oswald's Churchyard reads:-
"She suffered much but murmured not"
In a local newspaper report of her funeral the following appeared:-
"The Sea took her Family; a Gallant Woman of Filey
"There will be few of the fisherfolk of Filey absent from the funeral of Mrs F.E. Jenkinson, from Whom the sea took husband, three sons a grandson and the husbands of two of her daughters.
"Just 75 years ago Mrs Jenkinson was born in Filey.Some 20 years later she married a local fisherlad and they brought up a family of 10 - 4 boys and 6 girls.
*(in fact 5 sons and 5 daughters)
"Just before the war one of the boys, fishing with his father from their coble was washed overboard and never seen again.
"In 1925 the drifter "Research" sank with all hands off Flamborough Head and took with her Mrs Jenkinson's husband, two of her sons and two of her son in laws.
"Mrs Jenkinson never despaired. She turned to comforting her 2 daughters, each mourning a husband.
"She was always a fine character, such a sturdy and sensible woman. Although the shock of her loss was terrible she refused to give in
"She was a grand lass"".
John R. Jenkinson
1862 - 1925 |
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died in the "Research" disaster |
| maried 9.4.1882 = |
Fanny Elizabeth Baxter
1864 -27.3.1939 |
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| Offspring:- |
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Mary Ann
1882 - 1954 |
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Jane Baxter
1885 -20.9.1931 |
Married George J. Crimlisk
1885 - 1925 |
died in the "Research" disaster |
Sarah Elizabeth
1887 - 1944 |
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Robert "Robin"
1890 -1925 |
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died in the "Research" disaster |
James Henry Newby
1892 - 13.12.1911 |
lost at sea when the herring coble "Swanland Hill"capsized off Ravenscar |
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Lilian
1895 - 6.8.1949 |
Married William Cappleman Cammish
1895 - 1925 |
died in the "Research" disaster |
George Featherstone Baxter
1897 - 1925. |
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died in the "Research" disaster |
John Robert
1900 - 1958 |
would have been on the "Research" but for being ill at the time of the disaster. |
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Alice
1902 - 1983 |
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Matthew
1905 - 1907 |
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The deaths of the two brothers, Edward Chapman Jenkinson, 1904 - 1925, and George Jenkinson, 1909 - 1925, are recorded on the family gravestone in St Oswald's Churchyard, seen here on the left.
The death of Joseph Edward Colley, 1902 - 1925, is recorded on the family gravestone in St Oswald's Churchyard, seen here on the right.
As can be seen from the gravestone the mother lost her husband, a son and daughter all within a five and half year period. Another example of the grief a wife and mother had to bear.
click here to see some photographs of the Jenkinson family
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