newsJune 6, 2016 at 12:01 am

In an event which was – despite the passage of time – an emotional evening for many, several hundred people gathered at the cliffside on Marwick Head, Birsay, tonight to pay tribute to those who lost their lives onboard HMS Hampshire, exactly 100 years to the day, and indeed the time, the ship went down after striking a German mine.

A special service of commemoration was held at the Kitchener Memorial at Marwick Head, at which the restored memorial and new commemorative wall were officially unveiled by Lord-Lieutenant of Orkney Bill Spence.

Also remembered on the wall is the crew of the HM Drifter Laurel Crown which was blown up on mine-sweeping duties just days after HMS Hampshire was sunk.

In 1926, the people of Orkney erected the Kitchener Memorial above the cliffs at Marwick Head, overlooking the site of the 1916 tragedy.

The Orkney Heritage Society has been carrying out a project to restore the memorial to its original condition and create the new commemorative wall.

The curved wall has been built from local stone and inlaid with panels engraved with the names of those 737 men who died on the Hampshire – and the nine servicemen killed when the Laurel Crown sank less than three weeks later.

As part of the poignant memorial service, offshore and above the wreck of HMS Hampshire, a gun was fired from onboard HMS Duncan to mark the beginning and end of a two-minute silence at 100 years to the minute that the Hampshire went down.

During the service the Northern Lighthouse Board vessel Pharos stood over the last reported position of the Laurel Crown.
A number of wreaths and other tributes were laid at the memorial wall, and from onboard HMS Duncan.

The service was streamed live on the internet and onto a screen at Birsay Community Hall.

HRH The Princess Royal visited Orkney earlier in the day when she unveiled a book of remembrance in the Birsay Community Hall, which lists those who were lost in the sinking, and met those behind the project, as well as decedents of those who were lost in the sinking.

The man who had the initial idea to “better remember” those who were lost onboard HMS Hampshire was Neil Kermode.
He then chaired the sub-group of the Orkney Heritage Society, which led the project.

Clearly emotional at the end of the commemoration service, he said: “I feel very honoured that we have had a chance to do this.

“I am so pleased that this has turned out so well, and so many people came, and so many people actually thought about the people who died in a way that simply was not happening five years ago.

“I feel very privileged to have played a part in making this all happen.”