Home  |   The Great War  |   Second World War  |   Other Conflicts  |   Useful Links  |   Contact Us

 

Sub Lieutenant Julian PURSER RNVR
HMS Burghead Bay Royal Navy Date of birth: 19th March 1923 Date of death: 23rd February 1946 Killed on active service aged 22 Commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial Panel 96 Column 2
Julian Purser was born in Buckinghamshire on the 19th of March 1923 the third son of Thomas William Purser, a farmer, and Victoria Anne (nee Ruffell) Purser of Manor Close, Wraysbury in Buckinghamshire. He was educated at Lancing College where he was in Heads House from May 1937 to December 1939. He was a member of the Boxing Team in 1938 and 1939. He was commissioned as an Acting Sub Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on the 19th of November 1943 and was promoted to Sub Lieutenant on the 19th of May 1944. He was appointed to the anti submarine frigate HMS “Burghead Bay" which was newly commissioned and was under the command of Lieutenant Commander M. Harris DSC. On the 21st of February 1946 the ship arrived to visit the Paignton area in Devon where the ship was opened to visitors. On the 23rd of February, while the ship was at anchor off Babbacombe, Julian Purser and three other crew members were sailing the ship’s whaler when the craft capsized in a squall two and half miles to the east of Teignmouth at between 4.30pm and 5.30pm. The whaler was found waterlogged and empty, and despite a search by both the ship and the Torbay lifeboat, no survivors or bodies were recovered. His mother received the following telegram dated the 25th of February 1946: - "Deeply regret to inform you that your son Sub Lieutenant Julian Purser RNVR has been reported as missing believed drowned as the result of a boating accident off Teignmouth. Letter follows shortly." The men lost in the accident were:- Sub Lieutenant Julian Purser RNVR Ordnance Artificer 4th Class Anthony Howard David Electrical Artificer 4th Class Robert Eric Roche Leading Seaman Cyril Eleander Moore His brother, First Officer Richard Purser OL Air Transport Auxiliary, was killed on active service on the 14th of September 1941.

Heads House