Wansbrough, LBR
(1889 - 1914)
Key Facts
DATE OF BIRTH:
1st July 1889
YEARS ATTENDED THE COLLEGE:
1902 - 1903
HOME ADDRESS WHEN AT THE COLLEGE:
30 Chestnut Road, West Norwood
REGIMENT
Royal Navy
FINAL RANK:
Engineer Lieutenant
DATE OF DEATH:
1st November 1914
AGE AT DEATH:
25
WHERE HE DIED (or was wounded)
Coronel Sea, HMS Monmouth
LOCATION OF GRAVE OR MEMORIAL:
Plymouth Naval Memorial. 1
Engineer Lieutenant Lionel Bernard Ray Wansbrough
Born 1st July 1889, Lionel was the son of Richard Ray Wansbrough, a Lambeth paper merchant, and his wife Florence Amy. Upon leaving Dulwich in 1903 he joined the Royal Navy and attended the Royal Naval College, Keyham, for three years before being commissioned to the armoured cruiser HMS Natal. He then trained as a Military Branch Officer at the Royal Naval College, Osborne.
When war broke out Lionel was posted to the armoured cruiser HMS Monmouth, which deployed to South America. On 1st November 1914 Monmouth was sunk by a German shell during the Battle of Coronel. Lionel and every other of the 735 men on board went down with her. His name is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial.