| Pic 1 - Cadet on Worcester Deck 1937.<br />Pic 2 - Newspaper headlines kept secret.<br />Pic 3 - , Letter from Alexandria 1941.<br />Pic 4 - Letter from Alexandria 1941.<br />Pic 5- Letter from HMS Barham.<br />Pic 6- Dedication window, Nunthorpe Church.<br />Pic 7 - Andrew as cadet approx age 15.<br />Pic 8- Andrew and friend 1939<br />Pic 9 Andrew Thames Nautical Training College<br />Pic 10 - Andrew & friend 1937<br />Pic 11- Taken 1940<br />Pic 12 - Andrew on deck, Worcester (1).<br />Pic 13 - Andrew (left)<br /><br />Andrew Edmond Hutton, Midshipman RNR, youngest son of Major & Mrs A.J.Hutton, Sunnyside, Nunthorpe, Yorkshire. Born April 11th, 1922.<br /><br />Andrew was raised in Nunthorpe village and <br />went to Guisborough Grammar school. At the age of 15 he passed the entrance exam to the Worcester Nautical Training College, London, and was automatically enlisted into the Naval Reserve when war broke out.<br /><br />I believe he served on the H.M.S. Hero as I have a Hero Christmas card from him dated 17th October 1940. Eventually he was assigned to the H.M.S Chitral in 1941. I have a photo of him at the helm of a sailing dingy while a member of the Alexandria yacht club. His other hobbies were photography, and he was an avid stamp collector.<br /><br />It was while he was on a tour of duty in Alexandria in the Mediterranean, that he was assigned to H.M.S Barham to attend a gunnery course for a few weeks.<br /><br />Whilst in Alexandria, Andrew mentions the costs of 1 pound 3 shillings for 50 cigarettes, and the lack of good beer, as he had to contend with a �rotton local and American brews�.<br /><br />I am somewhat puzzled by the comment in one of his letters home. He refers to mother walking ahead of the boat. His father indeed had sand dredging craft on the Tyne-Tees, that were commandeered by the Admiralty for channel clearing. It could be his sense of humor, or him referring to an inside family joke.<br /><br />On that fateful sad day when the H.M.S. Barham was sunk, and took his life, it was his sister Yvonne�s (my mother) 21st birthday and engagement party. Although news of the sinking did not become known for several months, there were mysterious repeated knockings at the front and back door on that night! Perhaps a final farewell?<br /><br />There is a window dedicated to him in Nunthorpe-Guisborough church, as well as his name engraved on a placard at the Worcester College 1939-1945 War Memorial (A.E. Hutton, middle row , 4th down).<br /><br />I am his nephew, Andrew Hutton Burton (named after him) currently residing in Thousand Oaks, California. I also named one of my sons Andrew in memory of him.<br /> |
