JOBLING Annie

Daughter of Thomas E. Jobling and Elizabeth Jobling; stepdaughter of Helen M. Jobling, of Blackpool, Lancashire.

Annie Jobling was born on the 5th August 1907 and baptised in Burnley Parish Church on the 1st September 1907, the daughter of Thomas Ernest and Elizabeth (nee Lambert) Jobling. Thomas was employed as a law clerk and the family resided at 16 Lansdowne Street, Burnley, Lancashire. Elizabeth died on the 19th December 1917.

On the 4th May 1921 the Burnley News reported on the marriage of Mr T.E. Jobling, solicitor, of the firm of Messrs. Lawson and Jobling, Grimshaw Street, to Miss Helen Gordon, elder daughter of Mrs Gordon and the late Mr Gordon, of Macduff, Banffshire, Scotland. Miss Annie Jobling, daughter of the bridegroom was one of two attendants. It was noted that she wore a cream serge costume and a white Tuscan hat and carried a large bouquet of white carnations. After the newly married couple’s honeymoon in the Lake District, the family would be residing at “Springwood”, Burnley.

In 1929 Annie moved to London to commence nurse training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, qualifying as a Staff Nurse in 1933 and joining the Register of Nurses on the 23rd June that same year.

Burnley Express 15th July 1933
NURSE’S SUCCESS – Miss Annie Jobling, daughter of Mr T.E. Jobling, of Burnley, has been successful in passing the final State examination of the Nursing Council. Miss Jobling, who is a former Burnley High School girl, has carried out her training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London.

By 1939 Annie was working as a Night Sister at Northampton General Hospital in Billing Road. She had also enlisted as a Sister with the Territorial Army Nursing Service and on the 12th February 1940 she disembarked in France for service at No 17 General Hospital. Currently, no further information on Annie’s wartime service from 1940 to 1943 has been located.

On the morning of the 2nd July 1943 the British Merchant Steamer SS Hoihow left Port Louis, Mauritius bound for Tamatave, Madagascar carrying a total of 149 people, Annie Jobling being one of them. The ship was unescorted and after being pursued by a U-boat for several hours, at 21.07, 105 miles west-northwest of Mauritius, SS Hoihow was hit by two torpedoes fired from U-181. She sank within 3 minutes with the loss of the Master, 90 crew, 7 gunners and 47 passengers. Just 3 crew members and one passenger survived and were picked up by the American steam merchant Mormacswan.

Annie is commemorated on Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial, Surrey. She is also remembered on the Nurses Memorial Window in St Bartholomew the Less Church, London, the Nurses Memorial plaque at Barts Hospital, London and on a family grave at St John the Divine Churchyard, Cliviger, Lancashire.

With thanks to Sue Longworth from the Museum and Archive at Northampton General Hospital for informing me of the family grave in Lancashire with the following link: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/233017326/annie-jobling

Information on the sinking of SS Hoihow from:
https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/2970.html