Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Thomas Inman King, who was known as Inman, was born on 17 February 1891 at Timaru, the younger son of Thomas and Jennie Alexandrina (Jean, née Stevenson) King. Presumably, he was named for the Inman Valley, the special place of his father’s childhood in South Australia. His father Thomas was from a large South Australian family, his mother born at Timaru to a large family with Scottish parents. Thomas and Jennie married in April 1884 in New Zealand (probably at Timaru or nearby), and had two sons and three daughters, all born at Timaru. It may be that Thomas farmed with his brother William at the Seadown Estate. Three brothers of Thomas settled in the Washdyke/Seadown area of South Canterbury - William, Edward and George. Edward King married Ellen Stevenson, a sister of Jennie, in October 1896 at Timaru. Thomas, junior, was educated first at Washdyke School, where he joined his three older siblings. At some time, he transferred to Australia, probably going there with his father. His oldest sister Drusilla left Washdyke School for Australia in August 1898, and his next sister Euphemia left for South Australia in November 1901, while the youngest of the family, Ellen Agnes, who started at Washdyke School in June 1900, a few months after her sixth birthday and in the guardianship of her uncle Edward King, also left for South Australia in November 1901. His mother, Jennie Alexandrina King, died on 5 February 1895 at Timaru Hospital, just 32 years old, and was buried at Timaru. Thomas, senior, was left with five little children, the youngest just 11 months old. Probably all five children went with their father to his home district, McLaren Vale, South Australia, several still of school age. Two returned to South Canterbury and married at Timaru - Leslie Eli in 1916 and Euphemia Mary in 1913. The other two daughters married in South Australia.

Nothing more is known of Thomas Inman King until his tragic war death in 1918. He was an Able Seaman with the Mercantile Marine. Perhaps he had taken to a career at sea from a much younger age. The liner “Llandovery Castle”, built in 1914 for the Union-Castle Steamship Company’s fleet, had been converted to a hospital ship in 1916 to transport Canadian troops across the Atlantic. In a letter home, a Taihape serviceman who had left Alexandria for Marseilles aboard the “Llandovery Castle” on 10 April 1916, mentions the threat of submarines. “During the passage of this part of the journey [Malta] we passed a lot of destroyers on the hunt for submarines, as this is a very dangerous spot, the Germans having submarine bases about the islands which our boats are unable to locate.” The Press of 4 July 1918 carried messages from London dated 1 and 2 July – “The hospital ship Llandovery Castle, carrying Canadian doctors and nurses, was sunk by a submarine on Thursday off Fastnet. Two hundred are missing.” “The survivors of the hospital ship Llandovery Castle declare that the submarine tried to destroy the boats and so leave no trace.”

The Press also carried this report – “We have to record to-day the loss of another hospital ship, which was torpedoed last week off the Fastnet Rock, which is a few miles south-west of Cape Clear, on the south coast of Ireland. From the fact that she is reported to have been carrying Canadian doctors and nurses, while no mention is made of any sick or wounded being on board, it may be assumed that she was on her way to England, and those on board, having sighted the Fastnet light, which guides the homing liners to Queenstown, might reasonably have hoped to reach shore in safety. The steamer, the Llandovery Castle, was presumably one of the famous Union Castle line, which in pre-war days used to run to South Africa. The Union Castle vessels appear to be well suited to the purposes of hospital ships, and, unfortunately, the Llandovery Castle is the sixth of them that has been attacked, and the fifth to be sunk by the U-boats during the war. . . . . . The earlier attacks on hospital ships during the war aroused the amazed anger of the civilised world, which, though compelled to believe much that was almost incredibly bad of the enemy, hesitated to think that he intentionally waged war on sick and wounded soldiers at sea. But it became only too evident as the war went on that the Hun was absolutely unhampered by the faintest considerations of humanity. In an attempt to “save her face,” Germany asserted that British hospital ships were used for the transport of munitions and soldiers on active service. The assertion was, of course, grossly false. . . . . .” [For a detailed account of how events unfolded, see the attached file.]

And the Press of 7 August 1918 reported – “It is little more than a month ago since the Canadian hospital ship Llandovery Castle was sunk seventy miles off the coast of Ireland, with the loss of some 230 lives. This was possibly the most fiendish crime of its kind, for the German submarine commander, not content with sinking the ship, drove his vessel madly among the wreckage, as if trying to sink the boat in which were the captain of the ship and a number of other survivors. He also fired a number of shells at some target not visible to these survivors, but suspected of being some of the other boats. He was also seen to be charging wreckage, to which it was only too probable that some unfortunate nurses and men wore clinging. The German’s excuse for sinking the Llandovery Castle — that she was carrying eight American flight officers — was, of course, absolutely false, but even if he had believed it true, it would not, under the rules of naval warfare, have justified his torpedoing of the ship. The Hague Convention gave him the right to stop the vessel, examine her passengers, and take off the eight officers, if they had been aboard. But he preferred to sink the ship on sight, and make his enquiries afterwards, thereby adding another to the long list of German naval and military officers who, if everyone gets his deserts after the war, will be hanged as common criminals.” The Australian newspapers, too, reported on the sinking of the “Llandovery Castle”. Survivors (24 in total) of the torpedoed hospital ship believed the German submarine charged amidst the wreckage, trying to sink the boats containing the survivors in order that no trace of the outrage should remain. The outrage was considered deliberate and premeditated. Only a few weeks later, an enemy submarine destroyed yet another British hospital ship, the victims including a large number of patients – a most heinous crime.

Among the victims of this criminal sinking was one Australian/one New Zealander – A.B. Thomas Inman King, H.M.H.S “Llandovery Castle”. He died on 27 June 1918, off the coast of Ireland, aged 27 years, drowning as a result of an attack by an enemy submarine. The ship was on route from Nova Scotia to England, when she was hit by a torpedo, in contravention of international agreements not to attack hospital ships. She sank within ten minutes without being able to send out a distress call. The attack on the survivors was seen as an attempt to eliminate witnesses to the crime. Just one lifeboat, with 24 on board, escaped to bear witness. Fortunately, there were no patients on board. (On her previous voyage the ship had carried 644 patients.) 164 crew members, 80 Canadian Medical Corps members and 14 nurses perished.

Although news of the disaster was reported in July, it was not until September that his father was advised of his death. Mr Thomas King, of McLaren Vale, Willunga, South Australia, was notified by the Union Castle line, that his son, Thomas Inman, was missing as a result of the sinking of H.M. Hospital Ship “Llandovery Castle”. The same notification was received by his brother, Mr Leslie King, of Washdyke, in October 1918. In 1919, his loving father, Thomas King, remembered Inman – “It is sad, yet true, though we cannot tell why, the best are the first who are called on to die.” His two sisters who were resident in Australia, also remembered; Drusilla and her husband Frederick McCallum – “His duty nobly done”; Agnes, her husband Arthur Lillie and family – “In our hearts your memory lingers, there is not a day, dear Inman, that we do not think of you.” Administration of Thomas Inman King’s estate in England – effects to the value of £104 6s. 2. – was granted to his attorney, Edwin King, company director.

Able Seaman Thomas Inman King is honoured on the Tower Hill Memorial, London, which commemorates the men of the Merchant Navy who have no grave but the sea. It is the official Commonwealth War Graves Memorial. He is remembered also on the Australian War Memorial and on the Australian Commemorative Roll which records the names of Australians who died during war but were not serving in the Australian Armed Forces. He is named in the New Zealand Merchant marine Roll of Honour, a more recent compilation which names New Zealand-born or -resident seafarers who died during the First World War. A.B. Seaman King is named also on the Merseyside Roll of Honour – H.M.H.S. Llandovery Castle, there being a number of local crew members lost in the tragedy. The Honourable the Minister of Overseas Military Forces of Canada, Sir Edward Kemp, K.C.M.G., having made careful enquiries into the sinking of the H.M.H.S. Llandovery Castle on June 27, 1918, authorized publication of an article in 1920. The information contained therein had been obtained and verified by personal interviews with the survivors and afforded convincing evidence of the deliberate intent and foul motive of the German outrage on non-combatants. The accounts in the document are personal, factual, detailed and harrowing. “Official verification of the facts surrounding the sinking of H.M.H.S. Llandovery Castle confirm two main points – the supreme devotion and valiant sacrifice of the medical personnel and the ship’s company, whose courage and resignation were in keeping with the proudest traditions of the British Army and Merchant Marine Service; and the utter blackness and dastardly character of the enemy outrage on this defenceless institution of mercy – a crime surpassing in savagery an already formidable array of murders of non-combatants by the Germans.”

Thomas King, the father of Inman, his brother and three sisters, died on 5 July 1930 at McLaren Vale, South Australia, aged 75 years, and was buried in the McLaren Vale Methodist Cemetery. He suffered an injury to the head and brain but there was no evidence to show the cause of the injury. A notice was inserted in the Timaru Herald for the beloved father of E. M. Dobier (Euphemia) and Leslie King, and brother of George King (late of Washdyke). His brother William who had died at Christchurch, NZ, in March 1930, was buried at Timaru. Edward had died in March 1906 at Timaru. Only George survived of the four brothers who had settled at Washdyke or Seadown; he died in September 1949 at Ashburton and was buried at Timaru.

So many close relatives of Thomas Inman King saw service in both World Wars, with either the New Zealand or Australian forces. His cousin, Alfred Hercules King, who was born in South Australia to Frederick King, served with the New Zealand Forces in World War One and, some time after being invalided ‘home’, returned to his native Australia. Washdyke born cousin, Frederick Carter King – son of William and Sarah Annie (née Dawe) King – also served with the New Zealand Forces in World War One. An Australian cousin, Thomas Albert Price, served with the Australian Forces in World War One, while his brother, Frank Edward Price, was listed on the New Zealand Reserve Rolls, having married at St Mary’s Timaru and been later buried at Timaru. Another Australian cousin, Herbert William King, served with the Australian Forces in World War One. Yet another Washdyke born cousin, Edward Henry King – son of Edward and Ellen (née Stevenson) King – served with the New Zealand Forces in World War One and was drawn in a ballot for World War Two.

Frederick Percy McCallum and William Bramley McCallum - sons of Inman’s New Zealand born sister, Drusilla Jane (King) McCallum �� served with the Royal Australian Air Force in World War Two, as did Mary Lillie – daughter of his New Zealand born younger sister, Ellen Agnes King; Sydney Dobier – son of another of Inman’s New Zealand born sisters, Euphemia Mary King – served with the New Zealand Forces in World War Two, his brother Inman Alan George Dobier was drawn in a ballot; William Wilfred King, Frederick Charles King and Norman Harold King – sons of New Zealand born cousin, William Henry King – all served with the New Zealand Forces in World War Two, another brother Stanley George King being drawn in a ballot; Wilfred Evan Price – son of his cousin Frank Edward Price – served with the New Zealand Forces in World War Two, his brother James Thomas Price being drawn in a ballot; Robert Eli King – son of cousins Lottie Drucilla Price and Herbert William King – also served with the Australian Forces in World War Two; Horace Raymond Barry Standfield, Walter John Standfield, William Standfield and Allan Standfield – sons of cousin Millicent Mary Price – all served with the Australian Forces in World War Two, as did cousins Frederick James King Price, Edgar John King and Lawrence Victor Hunter Cook; John Donald Perry, Thomas Bowyer Perry and Michael Frank Perry – sons of cousin Ethel Maud King – also served with the Australian Forces in World War Two, as did Gilbert Henry King – son of cousin Gilbert King. Others had their names drawn in ballots.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [25 April 2018]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [28 January 2018]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [28 January 2024]; Timaru Herald, 13 December 1886, 7 February 1895, 5 & 6 July 1918, 10 October 1918, 9 July 1930, Ashburton Guardian, 3 July 1918, Star, 4 July 1918, Press, 4 July 1918, 7 August 1918 (Papers Past) [20, 28 & 29 January 2018; 22 May 2024; 05 & 07 September 2024]; The Sydney Morning Herald, 3 July 1918, The Bundaberg Mail, 4 July 1918, The Riverina Grazier, 5 July 1918, The Muswellbrook Chronicle, 13 July 1918, 5 July 1919, The Express and Telegraph, 13 September 1918, The Register, 14 September 1918, Observer, 21 September 1918, The Advertiser, 16 September 1918, 27 June 1919 (Trove) [07 September 2024]; NZ & Australia Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [04 September 2016; 05 & 06 September 2024]; England Probate Index (ancestry.com.au) [28 January 2018]; CWGC [28 January 2018]; UK Commonwealth War Graves Memorial Commission – Mercantile Marine Memorial (ancestry.com.au) [28 January 2018]; New Zealand War Graves Project [28 January 2018]; Australian War Memorial record; Merseyside Roll of Honour (http://www.merseysiderollofhonour.co.uk/obits/ships/llandoverycastle.htm) [28 January 2018]; Sinking of the Llandovery Castle (per Port Alberni Public Library in Port Alberni, British Columbia; http://www.gwpda.org/naval/lcastl11.htm) [28 January 2018]; Merchant marine Roll of Honour (https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/merchant-marine/roll-of-honour) [02 November 2019]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file
• Other military personnel file

Related Documents

• KING Thomas Inman - newspaper clippings (pdf, 703.5 KB updated 24-Sep-2024)
• KING Thomas Inman - various documents (pdf, 604.5 KB updated 24-Sep-2024)

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