by Susan Flantzer

• They that go down to the sea in ships
• Timeline: September 1, 1917 – September 30, 1917
• A Note About German Titles
• September 1917 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

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They that go down to the sea in ships

Submarine warfare began during the American Civil War. During World War I, German and Austro-Hungarian U-boats (Unterseeboot, undersea boat) threatened Atlantic supply convoys on their way to the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. To protect the supply convoys, British and Allied submarines conducted operations in the Baltic Sea, North Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.

The HMS G9 was one of the fourteen submarines of the G-class submarines, specifically designed in response to a rumor that the Germans were building double-hulled submarines. The G-class submarines had a crew of 30 officers and other ranks. The role of the G class was to patrol the North Sea and German Bight in search of U-boats. The HMS G9 was commissioned on August 22, 1916, and was commanded by Lieutenant Commander The Honorable Byron Plantagenet Cary.

Lieutenant Commander The Honorable Byron Plantagenet Cary was the second of the three sons and the fourth of the six children of Lieutenant Colonel Byron Plantagenet Cary, 12th Viscount of Falkland and Mary Reade. Viscount of Falkland is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, first created in 1620 for Sir Henry Cary, an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1601 to 1622 and served as a courtier to Elizabeth I, James I, and Charles I. Byron’s elder brother Lucius Plantagenet Cary, who became the 13th Viscount of Falkland upon the death of his father in 1922, also fought in World War I as did Byron’s younger brother Major The Honorable Philip Plantagenet Cary.

In heavy seas and blinding rain squalls on the night of September 16, 1917, the HMS Pasley, a Royal Navy destroyer, was escorting a convoy from Aspö Fjord in Norway to Lerwick, the main port of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The Pasley displayed a white light halfway up its mast by night for guidance. Lieutenant Commander Cary sighted Pasley’s light. He had been warned that a U-boat was in the area, so he gave the order to attack. The HMS G9 fired two torpedoes at the Pasley believing it to be a German U-boat. One torpedo missed and the second failed to explode.

Realizing his error too late, Cary ordered the HMS G9 to signal the Pasley. However, it was too late to save the HMS G9 as the Pasley was on course to ram the HMS G9 believing it was a U-boat. The HMS G9 was rammed, cut in two, and sank less than one minute later with the loss of all but one of the 34-man crew, Stoker William Drake. The wreckage of the HMS G9 and the remains of the crew remain on the floor of the North Sea, 70 miles northwest of Bergen, Norway. At the Court of Inquiry held four days after the incident, it was decided no blame could be attributed to the HMS Pasley, concluding “that the process of reasoning which led the captain of HM Submarine G9 to mistake HMS Pasley for a U-boat is, and must remain.”

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Timeline: September 1, 1917 – September 30, 1917

• September – October – Operation Albion, a naval operation in the Baltic Sea, German capture of Oesel, Dago and Moon Islands
• September 1 – 3 – Battle of Jugla in Latvia
• September 20 – 26 – Battle of the Menin Road Ridge (Second phase of the Third Battle of Ypres) in Ypres Salient, West Flanders, Belgium
• September 26 – 27 – Battle of Polygon Wood (Second phase of the Third Battle of Ypres) in Polygon Wood, Flanders, Belgium
• September 28 – 29 – Battle of Ramadi in Ramadi, Mesopotamia (now in Iraq)

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A Note About German Titles

Many German royals and nobles died in World War I. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire. The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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September 1917 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or to The Peerage website.  If a person has a Wikipedia page or a website page with biographical information, their name will be linked to that page.

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Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Robert William Orlando Manners

• son of John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland and his second wife Janetta Hughan
• born February 4, 1870
• married 1902 Mildred Buckworth, had one daughter
• Lieutenant-Colonel in the 10th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers
• killed in action September 11, 1917 during the Battle of Passchendaele (also called Third Battle of Ypres), age 47
• buried at The Huts Cemetery in West Flanders, Belgium
• http://www.thepeerage.com/p1600.htm#i15993
• Official Blog of Wakefield Family History Sharing: Lord Robert William Orlando Manners, C.M.G., D.S.O.

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Lieutenant Commander The Honorable Byron Plantagenet Cary

• son of Lt.-Col. Byron Plantagenet Cary, 12th Viscount of Falkland and Mary Reade
• born January 25, 1887 in London, England
• unmarried
• Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Navy
• killed at sea September 16, 1917, age 30
• http://thepeerage.com/p28530.htm#i285295

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Sergeant Major The Honorable Jacob John Astley

• son of Sir George Manners Astley, 20th Lord Hastings and The Honorable Elizabeth Harbord
• born March 5, 1884 in London, England
• unmarried
• Sergeant Major of 2nd/5th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters
• killed in action September 26, 1917 during the Battle of Passchendaele (also called Third Battle of Ypres), age 33
• buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery near Passendale, West Flanders, Belgium
• http://thepeerage.com/p31898.htm#i318975

Note: Jacob Astley must have been the black sheep of his family. Originally, he was a 2nd Lieutenant in the 16th Lancers, but had to resign his commission when he was convicted of fraud in South Africa in 1913. He was convicted of the same offense in England in 1915. At that time, the judge described him as “a thoroughly fraudulent person” and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. When he was released from prison, he volunteered for active service and became Company Sergeant Major of 2nd/5th Battalion, Sherwood Foresters. Sergeant Major is a senior non-commissioned rank.

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