Mearns, William Mellis
Rank: Surgeon
Regiment: H.M.S. Formidable, Royal Navy
Biography: Son of William Mearns, medical practitioner, Gateshead-on-Tyne ; born Gateshead- on - Tyne, 7 December 1884 ; matriculated in Medicine, 1902 ; M.B., 1908. As a student Mearns served in the University Volunteer Company. He received a Commission as Surgeon in the Royal Navy, 6 Nov. 1908, and served till the outbreak of war in China, the Persian Gulf, etc. He was appointed Medical Officer to H.M.S. "Formidable", August 1914, and served with the Home Fleet. The official record of his death runs : "On 1 January 1915 this ship was torpedoed when going down Channel, and unfortunately this most promising officer lost his life. His reports show that he was an officer of high attainments."
Date of Death: 01 January 1915
Burial Details: Name recorded on the Chatham Memorial, Panel 9.
Publication: Roll of Service, edited by Mabel Desborough Allardyce. Published 1921.
If you have photographs of anyone listed in the Roll of Honour (preferably in service uniform) or have any questions about this resource, please email memoriam@abdn.ac.uk.