Rank:
Sub Lieutenant
Birth date:
24.01.1892
Birth Place:
Auckland, New Zealand
Date Joined:
18.05.1916
Date Discharged:
Killed In Action
Death date:
29.12.1916
Place of death:
HMS Ludlow, Felixstowe, United Kingdom
Display No. 7H
FRY, William Meryvn
William Mervyn Fry entered the Merchant Marines as a cadet. He served in the Joan Craig, a small steamship on routes between Australia and New Zealand, qualifying as a second mate in 1912-13. However a failed eye-sight examination meant he instead turned his hand to farming, being employed in South Hillend, north of Invercargill. At the outbreak of the First World War, three of Fry’s brothers enlisted: Roland in the Royal Navy Auxiliary Patrol serving in small boats, Ivan in the Royal Naval Air Service, and Guy (Hugh), who was awarded the Military Cross, in the Royal Engineers. His sister Winifred served as a nurse in Malta. It wasn’t until conscription was introduced in 1916 and the medical criteria relaxed, that Fry was accepted for the Navy. He travelled to England and was commissioned as a temporary sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) training in minesweeping and gunnery. Fry was posted to the paddle mine-sweeper HMS Ludlow. On 29 December 1916, HMS Ludlow struck a mine off the Shipwash Shoal, near Felixstowe and sank. Fry, aged 24, and five ratings were killed. His name is engraved on the Chatham Naval Memorial.
The First World War Memorial Plaque
Awarded medal(s)
Medal Description:
The First World War Memorial Plaque
The First World War Memorial Plaque was awarded to the next of kin of New Zealand servicemen and women who were killed while serving overseas, or who died of wounds received while serving overseas, during the First World War. The plaque is not designed to be worn. The next of kin of New Zealand Mercantile Marine personnel who lost their lives through enemy action during the First World War, or later died of injuries caused by enemy action, were awarded the Mercantile Marine Memorial Plaque.