Assistant Paymaster Seymour Gordon DUPREY RNR
HMS Ramsey, Royal Navy

Date of birth: 24th June 1888
Date of death: 8th August 1915

Killed in action aged 27
Commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial Panel 13
He was born at Enfield in Middlesex on the 24th of June 1888 the son of Seymour Duprey, merchant, and Lina Emily (nee Gardner) of The Corner House, Playden, Sussex.

He was educated at Doon House School in Westgate on Sea and at the King's School Canterbury from January 1903 to December 1905.

In January 1906 he went to work as a clerk for the Rye branch of the London and County Bank, which merged with the London and Westminster Bank in 1909. He served with the Queen's Westminster Volunteers until 1908 and was a member of Rye Golf Club.

On the 6th of October 1914 he enlisted as Private 1587 in the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps at 10 Stone Buildings Lincoln's Inn. At a medical examination, which took place on the same day, it was recorded that he was five feet eight and one half inches tall and that he weighed 126lbs. He was discharged on the 4th of November on being granted a temporary commission as an Assistant Paymaster in the Royal Naval Reserve on the 7th of November 1914 and joined HMS Victory until the 12th of November.

On the 13th of November 1914 he joined the crew of HMS Ramsey a steam packet ship, which had been commandeered by the Navy on the 28th of October 1914 and went into service on the 20th of November.

At 5pm on the 7th of August 1915 HMS Ramsay left her berth at Scapa Flow and by the next day was on patrol in the North Sea. At 5am she spotted a large tramp steamer flying the Russian flag. The vessel ignored the Ramsey's signal to stop and as she got closer the tramp hauled down the Russian flag and hoisted a German one. The vessel was the German auxiliary minesweeper Meteor and she opened fire with both machine guns and with two 4.6 guns. HMS Ramsey was then hit by a torpedo where the crew quarters were situated and she sank within four minutes with the loss of five officers, including the Captain Lieutenant Harry Raby RNVR, and fifty ratings and the capture of four officers and thirty nine ratings. The following day the Meteor was approached by strong British forces off Zeebrugge and after transferring the prisoners and crew into boats, the captain placed explosives and blew the ship up. The survivors were picked up by the light class cruiser HMS Arethusa.

He is commemorated on the Roll of Honour at Rye Golf Club.
 

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