George Tredew Mudford Biography
Born 14 December 1892 in Midsomer Norton in Clutton District. His father was Joseph Mudford, a farm labourer. His mother was Mary Mudford, formerly Hillier. Mary Jane Mudford registered his birth on 25 January 1893.
In the 1911 Census he was boarding with the Withers family in Vobster Coleford Batch, Kilmersdon, Frome, Somerset, his occupation being a Tub Man below ground. The following year he signed up with the Royal Navy for 12 years. He started off at HMS Vivid II, the on-shore Stokers and and Engine Room Artificers School in Devenport before moving on to HMS Darmouth in October 1912.
He was killed in WW1 when his ship, HMS Dartmouth was on active duty in the Dardanelles. He was one of 11 stokers killed when a boiler exploded during a Dardanelles Naval Attack. The Certificate of the Inspector of Seamen's Wills sent to the next of kin, Arthur Thomas Mudford, his brother, confirmed this. He was a Stoker in the Royal Navy. His Navy number was I. O.N. K.15068. His middle name is a different spelling of his maternal grandfathers Christian name.
His name appears on the Chilcompton, War Memorial
The following data was found in the Commonwealth War Graves Commemoration register:
In Memory of Stoker 1st Class GEORGE MUDFORD H.M.S. "Dartmouth.” Royal Navy Who died aged 22 on Monday 15th March 1915
Stoker 1st Class MUDFORD was the son of Mary Jane Forchan (formerly Mudford), of Britannia Yard, Chilcompton, Bath, and the late Joseph Mudford.
Remembered with honour. In the perpetual care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Commemorative Information.
PLYMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL, Devon, United Kingdom Panel No 6
The Memorial is situated centrally on The Hoe, which looks directly towards Plymouth Sound. It is accessible at all times. After the 1914-1918 War, an appropriate way had to be found of commemorating those members of the Royal Navy who had no known grave, the majority of deaths having occurred at sea where no permanent memorial could be provided. An Admiralty Committee recommended that the three manning ports in Great Britain - Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth - should each have an identical memorial of unmistakable naval form; an obelisk which would serve as a leading mark for shipping. The memorials consist of a stone tower supported by four corner buttresses, each with a lion couchant. Towards the top, the tower branches out in the form of four ships' prows. Above them are representations of the four winds, which in turn support a larger copper sphere symbolising the globe. The names of over 7,000 sailors commemorated on the memorial at Plymouth are cast on bronze panels placed on the buttresses, and the sides of the tower bear the names of the principal naval engagements fought in the war and an inscription that reads:
IN HONOUR OF THE NAVY AND TO THE ABIDING MEMORY OF THOSE RANKS AND RATINGS OF THIS PORT WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES IN THE DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE AND HAVE NO OTHER GRAVE THAN THE SEA.
British Light Cruisers 1909(Jane's WW1 ships) - HMS Dartmouth (Builder Vickers)
Displacement 5220 tons. Complement 433. Length (p.p) 430 ft. Beam 481/2 feet. Mean draught 15 feet (max 171/2). Length overall 453 ft.
Guns (Dir.Con) 8-6inch(M.XI);1-3inch anti-aircraft; 4-3pdr; 4 machine (1 landing);Torpedo tubes(21 inch);2 submerged.
Armour:Nickel 2" Deck Amidships; 1"-3/4 deck (ends) (C.T.removed).
Machinery: Parsons turbine(compound re-action), 4 screws, Curtis 2 screws
Boilers: 12 Yarrow. Designed H.P. 22,000=25; Coal:normal 750 tons; maximum 1290 tons + 260 tons of oil=5600 miles at 10 kts.
Laid down Nov '09, completed 1911 Trials 30hrs at 3/4 18,839 = 24.95 8hrs full power 23,467 = 25.90. Average cost 393,363 poundssister ships:-Weymouth,Yarmouth,Falmouth (sunk 20 Aug 1916).
Note from Philip Clements (Midsomer Norton Historian) received by E-mail
I notice that Shaun Mudford is your third cousin. I went to school with him as a child and because he lived at Greenhill, just behind my grandparents I used to see him a lot in the holidays and at weekends and had many a meal at his house. (It was the first and only time I had ever eaten spaghetti out of a tin - and I've never liked it since). I haven't seen him since 1968 when we went to separate schools.
A couple of years ago, I was in the central library in Taunton where they have copies of the local newspaper, the Somerset Guardian on microfilm. I was looking for a particular story from my own family which occured in 1915 and I remember at the time seeing a picture from the Roll of Honour - the men who were killed in the war. It was a picture of a naval man whose name was Mudford and the reason why it attracted my attention was that it was the spitting image of Shaun Mudford when he was a boy. I didn't take the details at the time but I notice from your information that your grandfather's brother, George T Mudford, was buried at sea in March 1915 and I'm sure that was the picture I saw.
The 1901 Census Redhouse Farm, Stratton om Fosse, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England
| Name | Position | Age | Where Born | Occupation | BK No |
| Mary Mudford | Head | 40 | Kilmersdon | Milker on Farm | 50 |
| Joseph W Mudford | Son | 14 | Midsomer Norton | Farm Labourer | 52 |
| Ethel Mudford | Daur | 11 | Midsomer Norton | 1568 | |
| George Mudford | Son | 9 | Midsomer Norton | 51 | |
| Mary Mudford | Daur | 6 | Chilcompton | 321 | |
| Mabel Mudford | Daur | 4 | Chilcompton | 566 | |
| Edwin Mudford | Son | 3 | Midsomer Norton | 69 | |
| Emily Mudford | Daur | 4m | Stratton on Fosse | 734 |