Apprentice, SS Waratah which sank 27th July, 1909

Harris Archibald Gibbs was an apprentice on the ill-fated SS Waratah which was lost with all hands off the east coast of South Africa on 27th/28th July 1909. He was born in Bognor late 1890/early 1891 and his parents were Harris Hornsby Gibbs (born in Littlehampton) and his wife Ella (née Plucknett) who married in 1878.

Harris's father was a builder who developed Ellasdale Road (the road that St. Wilfrid's is accessed from) and named the road after his wife; he also built houses in Sylvan Way.

At time of the 1891 Census the family were living at Sefton Lodge, Lyon Street, and young Harris was 3 months old.

In 1900 they were still there. By 1910 they were at Normanhurst, Sylvan Way, one of the houses built by Harris senior.

In 1972 (the date of my last Bognor directory) there was still a Gibbs family in the house.      

Above information kindly researched by Research Historian John Hawkins, June 2009

The 100th anniversary of the loss of the SS Waratah will be on 27th July 2009

A top heavy British ship, on its return leg from England to Australia after calling in at Durban, seems in a storm to
have gone down like a stone with 211 people on board (incl 89 passengers - men, women and children) 3 years before the Titanic disaster.

Above information kindly provided by John Wright, June 2009