ANNIVERSARIES can be happy or sad occasions but whichever they are, they are undoubtedly something to be remembered.

For Marilyn Sealy next weekend sees the centenary of her relative’s death in the First World War and she was determined it should be marked in some way.

So she wanted to share the details of the life and death of her great uncle-in-law Petty Officer Stoker James Sargent Royal Navy with Bridport News readers.

James Sargent was Mrs Sealy’s grandfather Alfred George Hallett’s brother-in-law. Mr Hallett also died in the war on October 5, 1918, aged 40. In the picture of him you can see a black button on his uniform, which denoted a family member was a casualty of war.

Mrs Sealy is in turn indebted to her second cousin Eamonn Welch, James Sargent’s great, great nephew-in-law for the information.

James ‘Jim’ Sargent, was the son of a retired Royal Navy pensioner Amos Sargent. He was born in Preston, near Weymouth on April 24, 1884.

Originally working as a labourer, Jim joined the navy in July 1903, initially for 12 years, but by 1915 he had made it his full-time career.

Jim married Georgina Allman in 1908 and their only child Bertha, known as Birdie, was born at the end of that year. In the picture of the family Birdie is wearing a medallion which show the partial features of a well built man with a sailor’s lanyard which may have been the likeness of her father Jim.

Their home in Magdalen Lane, Bridport, was opposite Georgina’s sister Bertha Hallett and adjacent to Wm James & Co, netting firm’s warehouse, which was destroyed by fire in 1947.

As a well-built 6ft tall man he was well suited for the stamina required for work as a stoker and by 1916/17 had qualified as a petty officer.

Early in 1917, Jim’s ship, the destroyer HMS Paragon, was part of the force patrolling the straits of Dover.

To assist this task a ‘barrage’ of minefields and submerged nets stretched across the straits.

At 22.50 hours on Saturday March 17, 1917, the night was dark, misty and visibility poor.

The Paragon was back on a north easterly course, when the lookout men sighted enemy ships steaming across her bows.

Paragon’s signalman flashed a semaphore challenge, but the enemy attacked.

One of the two torpedoes fired hit the ship and very considerable damage was sustained.

The crew raced to action stations and under heavy fire managed to respond with a few rounds and torpedo.

More German shells and a further torpedo hit HMS Paragon and she sank just eight minutes after the first engagement.

From the ship’s crew of 77 only 10 men survived.

After two days Jim’s water-immersed body was recovered, placed in a lead-lined coffin and was returned by rail to his family home, with strict instructions that the coffin was not to be opened.

On Friday morning, March 23 the coffin arrived at Bridport railway station in St Andrew’s Road and from there conveyed to the Roman Catholic church in Victoria Grove.

The Rev Fr Ketele received it and after a short service at 3pm the coffin was taken to the cemetery by a detachment of the Bridport company Dorset Volunteers, under the command of Platoon Sergeant J Oxenbury and a contingent of sea scouts to charge of Chief Petty Officers Oliver, West Bay.

The coffin was borne on a horse-drawn carriage and the family mourners followed in two carriages loaned by Walter Trump of The Greyhound Hotel.

In the pouring rain at the cemetery, the final prayers were said and as the coffin was lowered into the grave three buglers sounded the Last Post.

Then a most unfortunate occurrence ensued.

Nobody had notified the grave diggers that due to Jim’s height and the lead lining of the coffin a larger grave was necessary.

The coffin lodged half way and would not move.

Two of the bearers stepped into the grave and jumped up and down until it settled.

The distraught widow and family could not be comforted.

To add insult to injury the escort then marched briskly away to the traditional ‘Keely Row’ - the tune more familiar to many as the coarse song ‘Monkey cock your tail up and show us all you ***’

The above account was verified by Bertha Hallet’s older children who attended the funeral.

Birdie incidentally married James Oxenbury in 1928. They had two daughters Maureen, who married Harry Standing and Diane, who married Michael Reid.

Neither had chidlren and both lived in the Brighton/Hove area.