Alfred Bird was the first burial in the Catholic Naval Section, Rookwood Cemetery. Alfred was born 10 Dec 1875 at Greenwich Kent, he joined the Royal Navy on 19 Dec 1898 for a period of 12 years, his occupation on joining the Royal Navy was a painter. He was first sent to the receiving ship HMS Pembroke at Chatham, Kent for training. According to the RN’s records he was about 5ft 5 inches tall with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He remained there until he was sent to Australia where he joined the 3rd Class Cruiser HMS Katoomba of the RN’s Auxiliary Squadron based in Sydney on 13 Oct 1899 as a Stoker. Sadly, Alfred fell ill shortly after his arrival and died at St Vincent’s Hospital Darlinghurst on the 29 Dec 1899 from pneumonia.
Alfred rests in an unmarked grave, as the policy of the Royal Navy of the day was that the navy would pay for a sailors’ grave, but not his headstone. This was left to the ship to arrange usually by a collection among the officers and men. There are many examples of this within the Naval Sections of with the headstones reading “Erected by the Officers and Men of HMS” whatever ship the sailor served. It is my opinion that, Alfred having only been onboard the Katoomba for just over three months at the time of his death, he would not have had the time to form the strong bonds linking men living onboard a warship and for this reason was not accorded a headstone.
Informant on Death Cert Jno Henry Thomas Staff Surgeon HMS Katoomba. Died at St Vincents Hospital; single; 3 month in NSW
Sources
UK National Archives ADM188/468/290710
NSW Death Certificate #11912
The Australia Station, John Bach, NSW University Press, 1986
Australian Colonial Navies, Colin Jones, Australian War Memorial 1986
