Alan Wilsher

An Ordinary Signalman with H.M. Trawler Stella Sirius, Alan died on 25th of September 1940 aged 22. 

Alan was born at Lowestoft on 16 October 1917, a son of Herbert and Jessie Frances Wilsher. In 1921 his family lived at 12 The Gables, Oulton Broad, and by 1939 their home was at 45 Beccles Road.

In 1939 Alan worked as a window dressing instructor and lodged at 12 Lime Hill Road, Royal Tunbridge Wells. 

In September 1940 Alan was serving with the requisitioned trawler Stella Sirius. On 25 September the trawler was moored at the South Mole, Gibraltar, when Vichy French forces carried out an air raid and bombed the trawler. Several of the crew, who were shelter at the forepeak, were killed and the trawler set on fire. Because of the danger of explosion, the trawler was scuttled. 

Note: The Royal Navy War Graves roll gives the name of Alan’s ship as H.M.T. Esquimaux. It is not clear why this is given, and no vessel of that name has been traced.