The HMS Vanguard 1817 project on Twitter caught my attention because had my maternal grandfather – Eric Walter Hare, who joined the Navy in May 1915 just a few of weeks before his 17th birthday – not been noted as having a severe case of severe case of rheumatic fever in August, then he may well have gone down in 1917. He recovered and was released from the Navy in March 1916 for being physically unfit.

He had an interesting WW2 as well.

He was a lovely man and died in 1970. A thoroughly good person, I remember him well but was too young to ask any questions. Whenever he came to stay he’d clean all the shoes in the house!