John Saker was the third son (and fourth child) of Robert Saker, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Betsy – born in Wacton, Norfolk. John would later give his birth date as the 13th December, 1893, but his birth was registered in Depwade at the beginning of 1893 (his mother’s maiden name of Calver is also on the record, so we know we have the right baby); he was actually born on the 13th Dec 1892. You can read more about the Sakers’ family background here.
John was admitted to Carleton Rode school when the family moved to the village in October 1898, along with his oldest sister, Martha, and brothers, Maurice, James and Robert. He left at the end of 1905 when he turned 12 (or 13!). The school received a Labour Certificate for him in January 1906 which meant he would have found employment, probably locally at first until he was older (and stronger) and able to find work further afield.
Considerably further, as it turns out, because on the 1911 Census he is living and working as a waggoner on a farm in the district of Osmotherley in North Yorkshire. Harborough Farm was in the small village of Kirby Sigston, about 4 miles east of Northallerton. A century ago, the farm was in a remote location and sparsely populated – and even today, not far from the busy A19, the village has a population of less than 100. Although it has a Norman church, it has never had a shop, post office or pub – and the small school was closed in 1944. Perhaps this isolated life was one of the reasons for wanting something better, or perhaps it was the poor wages for agricultural labourers which led many farm workers to emigrate to Canada during this period (and indeed his brother, James had done just that the previous June). Whatever the motive, John joined the Royal Navy, signing up in February 1913 for 12 years – and his younger brother, Robert, signed up (also as a stoker) two weeks later.
John worked this way through the ranks over the next few years – from Ordinary Stoker 2nd Class, Ordinary Stoker 1st Class to Leading Stoker.
Following the outbreak of World War 1, he was deployed to HMS Halcyon from October 1914 to May 1915, a ship that yet another brother, Herbert (who had signed up in June 1914), was also aboard as a stoker. Originally a torpedo gunboat, the Halcyon was converted to a minesweeper at the start of the war and stationed at Great Yarmouth. On the 3rd November 1914, she was the flagship patrolling the North Sea port and town when the German Navy attacked with two squadrons of battleships. This was the start of the ‘Raid on Yarmouth’, and the Halcyon immediately engaged with the enemy and came under heavy fire during which at least one seaman aboard was killed. Other destroyers arrived in support and although it is not regarded as a major naval engagement, 235 men were killed in this action.
John served on many ships throughout the war, continuing to be part of the fleet that guarded and defended the Channel. This was often several months at sea followed by a short shore leave back in Chatham. In July 1916, he was aboard HMS Victorious after it had been converted to a repair ship and was sent up to Scapa Flow to support the Grand Fleet.
Early in February 1917, John was sent to join the crew of HMS Juno in Muscat, the port capital of Oman, a British Protectorate at that time. The ship’s detailed log gives a fascinating insight into the lives of the men on board. The Juno was part of a fleet patrolling the Persian Gulf and was making regular journeys between Oman, Aden (the Yemen), Somaliland (Somalia), Kuwait, Persia (Iran), India and Sri Lanka.
The log shows regular contact with other ships and crews, supplies being taken onboard (including more unusual vegetables and even tinned rabbit!) and exchanges with the local population. In between the regular sea voyages, there were frequent parties of men going ashore to play football, and sometimes cricket – as well as shore visits in April for non-conformists (presumably for Easter services). Concert bands were landed to entertain the men, as were regular consignments of beer.
The log also records the occasional tragedies of death through disease and being lost overboard. However, for the two years that John was on the ship, there was little enemy action.
The Juno arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka in May 1918 for a refit. It then provided guard duty for other ships being refitted, welcoming the Governor of Ceylon on board in October of that year before heading to Aden. Very soon afterwards there was an outbreak of the Spanish ‘Flu which resulted in eleven percent of the crew being confined to sick quarters, although there were no reported deaths unlike other British ships in the area.
Whilst in Aden, the log records the end of hostilities with a ‘decorating party’ landing at 6am on the 14th November – and at 8am a public holiday was declared with masthead flags flown in celebration. A Church of England party boarded later that morning from HMS Odin and a Thanksgiving Service was held. At midday, a royal salute was fired by the Odin and the ships cheered His Majesty the King and the Allies. During the evening there was a searchlight and firework display and a 31-gun salute fired by the Fort in Aden. The log also records that at 11:20pm, the ‘libertymen’ (those allowed free time on shore) and the patrol returned – and six ratings were immediately placed under the sentry’s charge! Two days later, more libertymen and a football party were landed and warrant number 177 was read – easy to surmise what that meant…
In spite of the ending of hostilities, the Juno was sent to Hodeida in Aden on the 13th December, which was still held by Turkish troops and their Commander was refusing to surrender contravening the Armistice. The Captain of HMS Juno and military officers landed under a flag of truce to try to persuade the Turks to surrender. They returned without success and by early evening were at ‘action stations’; troops were landed through the night. Juno was joined by two other ships and just before 7am, she opened fire on the South Fort held by Turkish troops. It was then captured by British forces. Later that morning, HMS Juno, along with HMS Suva and HMS Proserpine, opened fire again and the Turks surrendered just before 11am. This was the only enemy action that John was involved in during his service on the Juno.
On Christmas Eve the ship’s company were photographed and Christmas Day was declared a holiday – and it is easy to imagine the celebrations as during the course of that day, 18 men were placed under the sentry’s charge!
The ship headed for Suez in January 1919 and then onto Malta before arriving in Marseilles. By February they had reached Gibraltar and they arrived in Plymouth before heading to Sheerness. John continued to Chatham and remained at base port until that summer.
From July 1919, he was a Leading Stoker aboard HMS Hawkins, the newly launched flagship of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron based in the China Station (a naval area of responsibility along the coasts of China and its navigable rivers, the western part of the Pacific Ocean, and the waters around the Dutch East Indies), and where he remained until April 1921, although the ship was stationed out there until 1928. Tantalisingly, there is a photograph album kept at Royal Museums Greenwich which contains 531 photographic prints that document HMS Hawkins, and crew, starting with her departure from Chatham Dockyard in July 1919 and visually recording the next two years of voyages on the China Station, covering many aspects of life on board – as well as all the extraordinary sights and encounters along the way. The link here to the museum website gives an outline of what can be found in the album – and we are certain that John will be included in those photographs. It is not on display – and has not yet been digitised – but one day …
On returning to Britain, John spent the next two years based both at Chatham and Port Edgar, a naval base on the Firth of Forth before another six-month spell on the China Station (from April to November 1923). However, his health had begun to deteriorate (and his service records has two ‘strikes’ that coincide with his time in Port Edgar which also had a naval hospital – so perhaps this was not his first period of illness?) and when John arrived back in Chatham, he was admitted to its RN Hospital. He was diagnosed with pulmonary infarctions (blood clots in the lung) and invalided out in February 1924, having served 11 years.
On his naval record, his character was always VG (very good) and his ability goes from Sat (satisfactory) to Supr (superior) when he was made a leading stoker in 1917.
On leaving hospital, John returned to the village to live with his parents, Robert and Betsy, who cared for him at their Mile Road home (a cottage near the now-demolished pub, The Farriers Arms) until his death at the very early age of 33 in February, 1926. John is buried in Carleton Rode cemetery.