South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 17 April 1943

Message from the King

A message of sympathy from H.M. the King has been received by Mr, and Mrs. J. Severn, 15, Carlyle Street, Mexborough, whose eldest son, A.B. Jack Severn (28), was recently reported “missing, believed killed.”

A.B. Severn was a gunner in H.M.S. Harvester, the ship which rammed the U-444 in action in the Atlantic. He has been in the Navy two years and was on his twentieth  voyage when the action took place.

On one occasion he as in the ship which carried the Prime Minister across the Atlantic

Before joining up A.B. Severn was employed at Barnburgh No. 6 pit as a foreman screen hand.

He is an old boy of Doncaster Road School. Mr. and Mrs. Severn’s only daughter, Freda (18), is serving in the W.A.A.F. and previously worked at the Yorkshire Co-operative Bakery, Mexborough.

The King’s message reads: ‘’ The Queen and I offer you our heartfelt sympathy in your great sorrow. We pray that your country’s gratitude for a life so nobly given in its service may bring you some measure of consolation.”

From C.W.G.C.:

Able Seaman JOHN SEVERN
Service Number: C/JX 262484
Regiment & Unit/Ship Royal Navy H.M.S. Harvester

Date of Death Died 11 March 1943
Age 28 years old

Buried or commemorated at CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL 69, 3.

Additional Info
Son of John Charles and Elizabeth Severn, of Mexborough, Yorkshire.