LORD KITCHENER

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Lord Kitchener lost at sea at the age 66.

This is said to be the last picture that was taken of lord Kitchener before he was lost at sea. In this photograph he is pictured onboard HMS Iron Duke a short time before boarding HMS Hampshire. Lord Kitchener was said to be on "an important mission to Russia" when he joined the Hampshire in the Orkney Isles.
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Lord Kitchener is a British war hero and is probably most famous for his "Your country needs you" war poster campaign.

In June 1916 the British Commander-in-Chief Lord Kitchener travelled North to Thurso and then sailed the stormy Pentland Firth from Thurso to Scapa Flow onboard the destroyer HMS Oak. It is said that Kitchener was not and had never been a good sailor and during this crossing he was unwell. Kitcheners mission was to sail to St. Petersburg to attempt to persuade the Czar and his Generals to remain in the War.

Once he reached Scapa Flow Kitchener was met by Admiral Jellicoe and other officers of the British Grand Fleet. After what would be his final meal on the Admiral's flagship, Kitchener and his staff boarded the HMS Hampshire which was  took to sea by travelling through Hoy Sound.

It was on the 5th June 1916 that it was made apparent the Navy's 'blockships' had failed. We know now that the U-75 had crossed Scapa Flow  and travelled north to Birsay where it laid it's mines, one of which was the mine the Hampshire struck.
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The Hampshire was sunk within 10 minutes of hitting the mine with only a handful of survivors who were able to find their way  to shore in Birsay. These survivors were then instructed to say nothing of the events that had occurred that night.

After the War, a large monument was raised in Kitchener's memory on Marwick Head overlooking the massive cliffs on Birsay's western shore.

The plaque on the memorial reads: "This tower was raised by the people of Orkney in memory of Field Marshal Earl Kitchener of Khartoum on that corner of his country, which he had served so faithfully, nearest to the place where he died on duty.
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He and his staff perished, along with the officers and nearly all the men of HMS Hampshire, on 5th June 1916."

This memorial to Lord Kitchener can be found at St. Paul's Cathedral, London.

There are details of a Lord Kitchener death memorial card on the memorabilia page.

Crotta House, Kitchener's childhood home in Ireland.

Horatio Kitchener was born near Ballylongford, County Kerry in 1850 - Died 5th June 1916 on board the H.M.S Hampshire.

Water-colour painting of Lord Kitchener.

The water-colour painting of Lord Kitchener approx 9"x7" in size, has been forwarded to this site by Ann & Bryan Reader who say, the painting was found in an antique shop in Aldershot a few years ago. It was in an old fold over photo frame and in the back there was a newspaper cutting 1916 showing the scene where the Hampshire went down. There are two handwritten quotes on the painting which are as follows:

"Perhaps we shall meet thee and know thee again
When the sea gives up her dead."

"I hold it truth of him who sings 
To one clear harp in divers tones
That men may rise on stepping stones
Of their dead selves to higher things"

Its is signed M Taunton 1935 so obviously copied from a painting or photograph but it would seem from the quotes that the painter knew Kitchener and we wondered if anybody had any information on the artist.

KITCHENER REMEMBRANCE CARDS

Peter Eliot who is now living in Sydney Australia inherited family genealogy research material about Earl Kitchener, which he scanned and kindly emailed for all to see.