PROBERT John William

Appears on the Royal Navy casualties list for Worcestershire.

John Probert attended Worcester Royal Grammar School from 1923 to 1927. He enlisted in the Royal Navy in July 1940 and was based at HMS President III. He was onboard the Dutch owned SS Hontestroom which the British had chartered as a Rescue Ship to travel with a convoy’s naval escorts in order to pick up any survivors from ships sunk in the Western Approaches of The Atlantic. On 2nd June 1941 the ship was roughly midway between Iceland and the Faroe Islands when she was machine gunned and bombed. John Probert was the only casualty of the attack.

Source for additional information: In Dedication to a Future World By Mark Rogers, 1999.

HMS President III was a shore establishment. Based initially in Bristol and then in Windsor, it was the headquarters and accounting base for personnel on Defensively Armed Merchant Ships.

A letter from the Reverend Clement Ostrehan, Rector of Kington and Dormston, Kington Rectory, Flyford Flavell dated 30th April 1950 can be found within war records held at Worcestershire Archives requesting that John William Probert, A.B., be added to the county roll of honour.

The inscription on the memorial reads:
KINGTON & DORMSTON MEMORIAL
THIS SHELTER WAS ERECTED
TO THE HONOUR AND MEMORY OF
THOSE WHO SERVED AND CARRIED ON
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD WAR
1939 – 1945

The following information is courtesy of Angela Jones:
John Probert, known as Jack to his family, was born at Wichenford Court, Wichenford, Worcester. He had 4 brothers – Reginald, Donald, Leonard and Peter and 2 sisters – Betty and Mary. They were part of a large family that originated in Wales and then settled in Herefordshire in the 1880s. Jacks’ brothers all served during World War 11. He was recorded as a milk recorder in the 1939 census and lived at Kington Mill with his father.

KILLED IN ACTION A.B. JOHN WILLIAM PROBERT

John Probert has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on Plymouth Naval Memorial.