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In May 1940 HMS KELLY was torpedoed in the North Sea. Amongst those killed was Acting Yeoman of Signals, Frederick Arthur Kingsley. The ship was towed to the Tyne and docked for repair at Hebburn. The next of kin were informed and the casualties were buried in Hebburn Cemetery.
Yeoman Kingsley's father was Jetty Superintendent for Tunnel Cement at their Thames Wharfs. He worked under Mr W.E. Lunnon, Tunnel Cement's overall Traffic Manager. The latter granted him leave to go to Hebburn, and helped arrange his travel.
While at Hebburn, Mr Kingsley senior received from Lord Mountbatten, the Captain of HMS Kelly, a Union Jack which may have been worn by the ship, or perhaps had been on Yeoman Kingsley's coffin at this funeral.
Mr Kingsley senior gave the Union Jack to Mr Lunnon on the occasion of the Coronation in 1953. Mr and Mrs Lunnon, who moved to Devonshire after he retired, used to fly the flag at their house on "State" occasions.
Mr Lunnon gave the flag to Mr C.L.H Reckitt, who was Chairman of the Parish Council, on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee in 1978. Mr Reckitt offered it to HRH The Prince of Wales when he read of HRH's Presidency of The Kelly Reunion Association in 1983.
His Royal Highness attended an HMS Kelly Re-union Association Dinner aboard HMS President on the 25th of May 1984, at which he presented the flag to Captain W.W.F. Chatterton-Dickson, Commanding Officer of HMS Mercury, for safe keeping on behalf of the HMS Kelly Association.
The flag was then passed to the HMS Mercury Museum/Library and subsequently transferred with all the other exhibits to HMS Collingwood when the Royal Navy Signals School at HMS Mercury was decommissioned in 1993.
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