George Reginald Pierce

George Reginald Pierce was Second Engineer on the merchant vessel SS Oriole, a steamer ship.

On Friday 29th January 1915, the vessel set sail from its home port of London, en route to Le Havre in France, but it never arrived.  It was last seen off the coast of Dungeness on 30th January, and a few days later two of its lifebuoys washed up on the Sussex coast.

It’s not definitively known what happened, but it is thought that the Oriole was sunk by a German submarine U20.

George was presumed drowned on the 30th January 1915, aged 31.

He left behind is wife Ethel Vine Pierce (nee Bulley) of 5 Burlington Terrace, Chislehurst, Kent, and two young children.