Places > Book of remembrance for Tweeddale > Parish of West Linton

PARISH OF WEST LINTON. '- II
4. nl^i^6bipnlan 3. 1Ronal^ 1bcr6inan Jfac^.
11316 /lba]cstv'» Ship "tSoliatb."
1915— May 12.
James Ronald HerdmaN Faed was born in London on the 29th
May 1899, and was the eldest son of Mr James Faed, jun., artist, 38
Abbey Road, London, N.W., and Medwynhead. He was educated at
The Hall, Ovingdean, Brighton, and entered the Royal Naval College,
Osborne, in May 1912, being transferred to Dartmouth College two
years later.
On the outbreak of war, in August 1914, he was appointed Naval
Cadet to the battleship Goliath, and was promoted Midshipman on the
27th of that month. Midshipman Faed took part in the blockade of
the German cruiser Kouigsberg on the Runfijii River, German East
Africa, in October 1914, and in the operations at Dar-es-Salaam in the
following October. He lost his life on Thursday the I2th May 191 5.
when the Goliath was torpedoed and sunk in a destroyer attack in the
Dardanelles, and was buried at sea off Cape Helles from His Majesty's
ship Euryaliis.
Letter from Sub-Lieutenant Philip van der Byl, H.M.S. Goliath: —
"I am sure it will be some comfort to you to hear how much we all
loved your son in the Goliath, and how much we miss him. I was
Sub-Lieutenant of the Mess, and had only been in the ship about two
months, but during that time I saw a great deal of him, and got to
love him very much. He was the life and soul of the gunroom, and
always most cheerful and optimistic. His best friend was Macleod,
who also was drowned. They always used to go ashore together and
buy curios for you. He really was a charming boy, loved by all
who knew him. On the night we were sunk he was sleeping
outside my cabin, and I saw him when I turned out. He had got
his safety waistcoat on, and was going quietly up the ladder on
to quarter-deck. He seemed as cheerful as usual, and perfectly cool.
When I got on to deck a few seconds later he was just going-
over the port side with two other 'snotties.' That was the last
I saw of him, and I shall never forget his cheery little face
absolutely as full of confidence and calm assurance as it could
be. He was picked up unconscious by one of the Euryaliis boats,
and died on board, and was buried at sea early the same morning.
Poor boy! I hoped and prayed he might have been saved, and we
were all miserable when we heard he had gone too. He was an
absolute 'white man,' the best and finest of us all, and everybody
respected him for it. It is always the good who die young."