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Search for relatives of evacuation ship children

Pamela Bilalova
BBC News, North East and Cumbria
SVLB A composite photograph of four portrait pictures of Sunderland children who died on board of SS City of Benares. Irene Smith is top left, smiling with her head tilted. She has short blonde hair, which is curly at the ends. The photo next to her is of Geoffrey Crawford, smiling at the camera. He is wearing wide brim hat and a black shirt and tie. In the lower left corner is Edith Smith, smiling in a red coat. Her short blonde hair is curly at the ends. the photo next to her shows Maureen Dixon, smiling at the camera. She is wearing a white shirt and has short straight brown hair and a fringe. SVLB
Irene Smith, Geoffrey Crawford, Edith Smith and Maureen Dixon were among the nine Wearside children who died on board the ship

Volunteers are looking for relatives of children who died on board a World War Two evacuation ship ahead of a memorial service.

Eleven children from Sunderland were travelling on the SS City of Benares when the vessel was torpedoed in the North Atlantic on 17 September 1940.

Two of them survived, with a service at Sunderland Minster in September set to remember the tragedy.

Rose Roberts, secretary of the Sunderland Volunteer Life Brigade (SVLB), which organises the event, vowed to preserve the future of the memorial.

It has been taking place every five years since 2000.

The ship was carrying 90 child evacuees to Canada, and 77 of them died.

The sinking of the ship put a stop to the short-lived policy of overseas evacuation.

Eleanor Wright and Billy Short were the only Sunderland children to survive the tragedy.

Mr Short, who was about nine years old at the time, had been attending every memorial service until his death in 2016.

SVLB Billy Short, in a grey suit jacket, white shirt and dark blue tie, is smiling slightly at the camera. His short hair is white and he is wearing glasses. Two women and a man, members of his family, are sitting next to him. SVLB
Billy Short (left) used to attend the memorial services

"Now that Billy's not here, as long as we can, we will continue marking the anniversary every five years," Mrs Roberts said.

Mr Short's younger brother Peter, five, was also on board, but did not survive.

"It's important the modern-day youngsters know what happened during the war and how children died and what a difficult time it was for the parents," Mrs Roberts said.

"I think they should be remembered so in future wars the same thing doesn't happen again."

SVLB A black and white photograph of Geoffrey Crawford standing next to a shrub outside of a house. His short dark hair is combed to the side. He is wearing a dark shirt, trousers and a tie. SVLB
Geoffrey Crawford lost his life while trying to help another child

Mrs Roberts said one of the Sunderland children lost his life while rescuing another child.

Geoffrey Crawford, 13, had made it safely into a lifeboat when he reached over to help another boy.

The boy survived, but Geoffrey lost his balance and fell in the water, she said.

The other Sunderland children who lost their lives were

  • Maureen Dixon, aged 10
  • Derek Leigh, aged 11
  • Edith and Irene Smith, aged 13 and 10
  • Thomas William, aged 9
  • Ann Jordeson Watson, aged 6
  • Dorothy Wood, aged 6

The SVLB is now calling for their relatives to share their stories, so they can be included in the memorial service.

It will take place on 21 September at 15:00 BST.

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