Served at the DEFENCE of ANTWERP.Later served in HMS BIRMINGHAM, THE BATTLE of JUTLAND.[BIOGRAPHY]Bertram Barrow was born on 23rd May 1891 at Downton, a small village just to the South of Salisbury in Wiltshire. The son of Mark & Alice Barrow & the younger brother of Gilbert. On the 1911 census the family is shown as living at 38 Morgans Vale, Downton in the parish of St Lawrence. The address still exists.
[HISTORY]Bertram Barrow, previously shown as a "Fish Hawker" (*This was a man who hand gutted and prepared fresh fish which he sold from a flat topped hand cart at local markets. Bertram almost certainly sold his fish at Salisbury Market which still takes place in the main square in front of the town hall). Age 18, he joined the Royal Navy at Portsmouth on 18th October 1909 on a 5 + 7 year engagement. He was a short man of 5ft 4" with brown hair & grey eyes and had a tattooed heart on the back of his right hand. He trained & served in various shore establishments before going to sea in HMS DOLPHIN on 21st April 1914. He was in this ship when war was declared on 3/4th August 1914. He then spent August & September ashore in Belgium, where, as part of the ANSON BATTALION he took part in the Defence of Antwerp. Avoiding the fate of many of his fellows who were interned in Holland for the duration of the war, he returned to the UK. On 19th September 1914 he is seen joining DRAKE BATTALION in which he served until 9th November 1914. A short period of shore service then preceded a move into HMS BIRMINGHAM on 10th November 1914 in which he served as an AB for two years until again coming ashore on 20th November 1916.
[THE BIRMINGHAM & THE SINKING OF U-15]Just before Bertram Barrow joined the ship the 5,400 ton light cruiser HMS Birmingham, which was part of a screen 30 miles ahead of the Grand Fleet, at dawn on 9 August 1914, observed through the mist a German submarine stationary on the surface. The sounds of hammering coming from the submarine, which was U15, suggested that her crew were trying to repair an engine fault. Commanded by Captain Arthur Duff, HMS Birmingham knocked out both the periscope and conning tower of German U-15 with a salvo of six shots from the light cruiser's guns east of the Orkneys while the submarine was attempting to move in for an attack.
Having done so, Duff issued instructions that the cruiser be directed at the U-boat at full speed, turning HMS Birmingham's helm she was brought around in order that her bows faced the crippled submarine.
Thus Duff rammed the German submarine at 25 mph, which quickly rolled over and sank, killing its crew of 23. The U-15 was the very first German submarine to be destroyed by the Royal Navy during the Great War.
The need for ships meant that only temporary repairs could be carried out to the Birmingham at first, so she retained two scars along her bows for some months before returning to Barrow-in Furness for repairs. The U15’s sister boat U13 also failed to return home from the cruise, probably after hitting a mine.
HMS Birmingham had previously taken part in the Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1914 and subsequently was in action during the Battle of Jutland.
While in HMS BIRMINGHAM Bertram Barrow took part in THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND. Between 20th November 1916 and 4th May 1919 when he was demobbed, he served in various UK shore establishments. On 5th May 1919 he joined The Royal Fleet Reserve in which he served until final military discharge on 4th June 1921, age 30. A VERY unusual group. Bertram Barrow clearly led a charmed life in that he narrowly avoided internment in Holland in 1914 and then survived the terrible loss of thousands of his fellow sailors at Jutland.After the Belgian debacles of later 1914 most of his R.N.D. comrades remained in the trenches of France where they fought many valiant actions until the end of the war. 
With copy service documents. Medals EF + on original ribbons, uncleaned with original surfaces, patina & colour. A superb group. £695