John Albert Ellerton was born on 10 April 1896 in Shoreditch, the youngest of the seven children of Edward Ellerton (1847-1911) and Charlotte Mary Ellerton née Perkins (1860-1935). His father was a shoemaker who had previously been married to a Fanny Annaline Nicholson (1851-1878).
On 24 April 1900 he was admitted into the Church Street Temporary School in Hackney and gave his address as 26 Cavendish Street, Hoxton. He transferred to their Mixed Department on 24 August 1903.
The 1901 census confirms that the whole family were still in residence at this address, but by the time of the 1911 census they had moved to 33 Shaftesbury Street, Hoxton, where his occupation was entered as 'nothing', by his father.
On 19 September 1912, aged 16 years, he joined the Royal Navy, service number J/20461, as a Boy Class 2 and was posted to HMS Impregnable, a training ship in Devonport Dockyard. He was transferred on 14 December 1912 to HMS Ganges, a shore based training establishment in Shotley, Suffolk.
Promoted to Boy Class 1, on 11 September 1913 he transferred to HMS Natal, a Warrior-class armoured cruiser and on his eighteen birthday signed on for 12 years as an Ordinary Seaman.
On 30 December 1915, aged 19 years, his ship was lying at anchor in the Cromarty Firth, Scotland, when at 3.25pm an internal ammunition expolsion occurred in the rear of the vessel causing it to capsize within five minutes with the loss of over 390 people.
As he has no known grave he is commemorated on Panel 10 on the Chatham Naval Memorial, Great Lines Heritage Park, 61 King's Bastion, Gillingham, ME7 5DQ.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan
