ALAN Burt got in touch with Looking Back to thank us for carrying the story of his grandfather Ted Burt’s battle to survive as a prisoner of the Turks during the First World War.

In the same Looking Back edition we also told the story of William Ansell, who died on HMS Good Hope.

The armoured cruiser was sunk by a German squadron in the Battle of Coronel on November 1 1914.

HMS Good Hope, together with the Monmouth, were sunk by German vessels under the command of Admiral Maximilian von Spee. There were no survivors from either of the British ships.

Coincidently Alan’s great uncle Robert William Burt (back row centre of the photo) was another of the four Weymouth men who perished on the ship.

Alan said: “William was also on the Good Hope as a stoker and would have been working alongside or near William Ansell.

“He was the eldest son of the Burt family.

“HMS Good Hope was a 14,100-ton Drake Class Armoured Cruiser launched on February 21 1901.

“During the Great War she was deployed to protect British Merchant Shipping as far south as the Falkland Islands.

“She then embarked on the search for the German East Asiatic Squadron, leaving Stanley on October 22, 1914, for the west coast of South America via Cape Horn.

“She was sunk along with HMS Monmouth by the German armoured cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau under Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee with the entire loss of her complement of 900 hands in the Battle of Coronel.”

Alan said Robert Burt is ‘remembered with honour’ on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

He added: “He was aged 29, he was the husband of Priscilla Burt of Derby Street, Weymouth.

“No doubt William Ansell’s name will also have been included on the same memorial.”

It just goes to show that life is full of coincidences.

Courtesy of Whitchurch Canonicorum researcher Sylvia Creed-Castle, we’ve got some information on another local man who died on HMS Good Hope.

Leading Cook’s Mate William George Edward Hansford was born in 1888 in Castle Cary, Somerset.

He was in the Royal Navy on HMS Good Hope and was awarded the Africa General Service Medal (Somaliland Expedition).

He was killed, aged 26, at sea off the Chilean coast on the HMS Good Hope on November 1, 1914, and his name is also on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

He was the son of Alfred and Elizabeth Hansford, Morcombelake, Whitchurch, and the husband of Rosalind Hansford.

HMS Good Hope was originally to be named HMS Africa, she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Cradock of the South American station during August 1914.

The Portsmouth Naval Memorial is located on Southsea Common overlooking the promenade.

After the First World War, an appropriate way had to be found of commemorating those members of the Royal Navy who had no known grave, the majority of deaths having occurred at sea where no permanent memorial could be provided.

The Portsmouth Naval Memorial commemorates 9,667 sailors of the First World War.

The names on the memorial are arranged according to year of death.

Those for the First World War appear on panels located around the obelisk.

Those for the Second World War appear on panels located on the surrounding wall. Within each year, the names are grouped by service then by rank and surname.