EDWARD WILLIAM PHIBBS
9 December 1882 - 4 May 1917
At School 1896 - 1897
Pte M/301284 907th Motor Transport Coy Army Service Corps
Edward was born in Manchester and in 1891, aged 9, was living at Ash Villa, 116 Burton Road, Didsbury with father Robert, a Buyer and Salesman in the Textile Industry, mother Hannah, older sisters Florence, Beatrice, Lille and Miriam, and younger brothers Robert and John. Robert was also a Hulmeian and also died in the war. By 1901, Edward had left School and was working as a bank clerk. Edward's father died in 1906 by which time the family had moved to 33 Lingard Road, Northenden. In 1911 the three boys were still living at home, Edward still working as a bank clerk, Robert now working as an assistant buyer for a Shipper, and John as an Electrical Engineer. Edward's service records survive and show he was called up on 16 March 1917 at Chester,
following a medical held on 9th March 1917, where he is described as 5 ft 3 3/4", weighing 128 lbs.
He was drafted into the Army Service Corps and posted to the 1st Motor Transport reserve Depot at Grove Park in London, arriving there on the 17th. Grove Park or "Grove Park Hospital" as it was, was built as a workhouse for the poor of Greenwich in 1902. With the outbreak of the Great War, the
400 residents of the workhouse were expelled to other institutions when the building was taken over by the Army Service Corps as a mobilisation and training centre. Between 1914 and 1919 nearly 300,000 men and women passed through it. Edward was at Grove Park for just over a month when he was posted to the 907th Motor Transport Company bound for Egypt. On 26 April 1917 he embarked at Southampton arriving in Le Havre the following day. From there
he entrained to Marseilles where he boarded the troop ship Transylvania which left for Alexandria on 3rd May.
Unfortunately the journey was cut short when the ship was torpedoed and sunk with heavy loss of life by the German U-boat U-63. A detailed account follows:
From "Dictionary of Disasters at Sea during the Age of Steam" by Charles Hocking:-
"The liner Transylvania, completed just before the outbreak of the First World War, was taken over for service as a transport on completion. She was designed to accommodate 1,379 passengers but the Admiralty fixed her capacity at 200 officers and 2,860 men, besides crew.
She was carrying nearly this number when she left Marseilles for Alexandria on May 3rd, 1917, with an escort of two Japanese destroyers, the Matsu and the Sakaki. At 10 a.m. on the 4th the Transylvania was struck in the port engine room by a torpedo from a submarine. At the time the ship was on a zig
zag course at a speed of 14 knots, being two and a half miles S. of Cape Vado, Gulf of Genoa. She at once headed for the land two miles distant, while the Matsu came alongside to take off the troops, the Sakaki meanwhile steaming around to keep the submarine submerged. Twenty minutes later a torpedo was seen coming straight for the destroyer alongside, which saved herself by going astern at full speed.
The torpedo then struck the Transylvania and she sank very quickly, less than an hour having elapsed since she was first hit."
412 lives were lost in the sinking and Edward was presumed drowned.
His body was never recovered or identified and he is remembered on the Memorial in Savona Town Cemetery, some 24 miles west of Genoa, which commemorates 275 of those lost who have no known graves.
Administration of Edward's estate was granted at Chester on 3 January 1918 to Hannah Phibbs, widow. Effects £160 7s 1d
