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Latitude: 50.7844 / 50°47'3"N
Longitude: -1.1358 / 1°8'8"W
OS Eastings: 461019
OS Northings: 98670
OS Grid: SZ610986
Mapcode National: GBR 9BX.MPQ
Mapcode Global: FRA 87H0.RB3
Plus Code: 9C2WQVM7+QM
Entry Name: HMS Thunderer Memorial
Listing Date: 5 February 2016
Grade: II
Source: Historic England
Source ID: 1428094
ID on this website: 101428094
Location: Haslar Royal Naval Cemetery, Clayhall, Gosport, Hampshire, PO12
County: Hampshire
District: Gosport
Electoral Ward/Division: Anglesey
Parish: Non Civil Parish
Built-Up Area: Gosport
Traditional County: Hampshire
Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Hampshire
Church of England Parish: Alverstoke St Mary
Church of England Diocese: Portsmouth
Tagged with: Memorial
Memorial and grave marker of 1876 to a fatal explosion on board HMS Thunderer.
Memorial and grave marker to a fatal explosion on board HMS Thunderer, 1876.
MATERIALS and PLAN: a square limestone slab, square pink granite plinth, and marble base and shaft.
DESCRIPTION: the memorial is an obelisk that stands on a stepped granite plinth, rising to an inscribed pedestal with a moulded shoulder at the junction with the shaft. It is inscribed with applied metal lettering: ‘THIS MONUMENT WHICH STANDS ON THE GRAVES / OF / MESS. TC SLADE CHIEF ENGINEER RN / AND ROBERT WINFIELD ENGINEER RN / IS ERECTED BY BROTHER OFFICERS / FELLOW WORKMEN AND FRIENDS / TO THE MEMORY OF ALL THOSE WHO LOST THEIR / LIVES THROUGH THE EXPLOSION OF A BOILER / ON BOARD HMS THUNDERER AT SPITHEAD ON JULY 14TH 1876. / THE GREATER PART OF WHOM ARE BURIED IN / THE GRAVES ADJOINING THIS MONUMENT.’
The other three faces list the names of the dead, ordered by rank and role. The granite plinth is signed with the name of the masons, White Bros.
HMS Thunderer was a steam-powered battleship built to the designs of Edward James Reed and launched in 1872. On 14 July 1876 on the short journey from Portsmouth to Stokes Bay, one of her boilers exploded, instantly killing 15 of her crew and injuring 70, of whom 30 subsequently died at the Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar. The memorial, constructed by White Brothers of Landport, was erected at the Royal Naval Cemetery and marks the graves of the Chief Engineer, TC Slade, and Engineer, Robert Winfield, and commemorates the other lives lost.
The memorial to HMS Thunderer of 1876 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: marking the accidental explosion of the submarine at nearby Stokes Bay, in which 15 of her crew were killed immediately, and a further 30 of whom died subsequently, at the Haslar Royal Naval Hospital;
* Artistic value: a restrained, dignified design in good-quality materials;
* Group value: for its place in the Royal Naval Cemetery and its relationship with the other listed memorials and the cemetery chapel, and within the wider naval landscapes of Haslar, Gosport and Portsmouth.
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