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The Kindness of Strangers
Summer 2001 and Revised 28 Mar 2001
On 24 Mar 2001 we came across an email at LANARK-L@rootsweb.com from Annie Stuart at billannieliam@ozemail.com.au. There are no Prentices involved, but it relates a heartwarming incident which we thought worth sharing with out readers. It reads as follows:
Jock West's Story and The Kindness of Strangers.
My grandmother's brother Arthur Sydney West known as Jock was born on the 26th of June, 1889 at Enfield in Sydney the eighth child of William Luke and Mary West who immigrated to Australia in 1880 from Tavistock in Devonshire, England.
Jock was a toolmaker by trade. He was unfit for service in World War 1 so he paid his own way to England on the P and O ship "Arabia" to work in a munitions factory. On the voyage The Arabia was torpedoed at about 11 am on 6 November 1916 about 180 km south west of Cape Matapan, Greece. She took a little over an hour to sink but fortunately most of the crew and passengers including Jock were saved.
After his arrival in England Jock was sent to work at Crayford Works in Kent as a toolmaker in the Rifle Stock department and on the 8th of November 1917 he was killed in a terrible accident. He fell into a band cutting machine and died from internal haemorrhage following injuries to his ribs and lungs. The Crayford Works magazine published an epitaph to Jock.
"As a mechanic he was keen, energetic and thorough. As a man and a comrade he was appraised by all who knew him. In the midst of any worry he was always well met and his smile so nearly approached permanency that he appealed to all as the personification of content. Only 28 years of age, in the bloom of manhood and under extremely ghastly and unfortunate circumstances, he met his death as a true born soldier, in the course and execution of his duty. He was buried at East Hill Cemetery, Dartford on November 13th, 1917.
His friends and fellow Australians accompanied his remains to their last resting place. Many beautiful floral tokens bore tribute to the esteem and affection in which he was held by all. He will ever be remembered and his name will be held sacred by his fellow Australians, who will sadly mourn his decease."
Photographs of Jock's grave were sent home to his family in Australia as it was impossible to travel in war time. This all happened a long time before I was born but I knew the story of Jock 's tragic death from my grandmother who often spoke about her brother with tears in her eyes.
I have Jock's death certificate and an old photo of his grave. A few weeks ago I began to wonder if Jock's grave was still standing in Dartford Cemetery so I sent an e mail to the Kent mailing list on the internet telling of Jock's death and asking if anyone living nearby could check the grave for me.
I only received one reply from a man in Kent named John.. Yes he lived near the cemetery and yes he would gladly go and check the grave. But John did so much more than merely check the grave. Firstly he went to Dartford found the grave and sent me a photo via email. Then he offered to put flowers on the grave with a note to say that Jock had not been forgotten by his Australian family.
"What a truly kind man this is," I thought. But there was more to come. Yesterday in the mail I received a beautifully bound album containing photos of the grave before and after John and his wife Jackie had restored it. The album brought tears to my eyes.
You can see their wonderful efforts in the before and after photos. In a letter on the first page of the album John wrote :- "Annie I hope that you accept this photograph album from Jackie and myself as a token of thanks for all the help and support that the Australian country and it's people have given us in the past and for the future." All this from a couple on the other side of the world with no personal interest in Jock, completely unknown to me until now and at their own expense.
By restoring the grave so beautifully John and Jackie have shown that someone apart from me still cares about a brave half forgotten man who lost his life so far away from his home doing his "bit" for the war effort. I can do little from here in Australia but they have seen to it that Jock is remembered.
On the last page of the album John wrote:- "A man is not dead until he is forgotten." Thank you John I will never forget you.
If you have any information about the folks mentioned in this article, please contact us at dewald@prenticenet.com and please include the title and date of this article.
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