Born 1894- died 1916 at the Battle of Jutland

Job Brassington was born on the 7th December 1894 at 2 Castle Yard Chesterfield, the son of George and Lucy Brassington (nee Dickens). His father’s occupation was given as a Tripe Dresser.

In the 1891 census George and Lucy were listed as living at Castle Yard Chesterfield and George’s occupation was Coal Miner. He was 46 and his wife 32. They had two children Elizth Alice and Julia.

In the 1901 census George and Lucy were living at Brookside Court. His age was given as 59 and his occupation as baker. One son, Willie of 10 weeks is recorded but there is no mention of Job.

George and Lucy married on the 22 June 1904 at St Mary’s Chesterfield.

In the 1911 census George and his wife were living at Brookside Cottage. His age was given as 68 and his occupation was as a butcher’s labourer. This matches the job of tripe dresser given on the birth certificate. The children were listed as George (19, born at Castle Yard), Willie (10) and a daughter Julie Dickens (21). Julie who was born out of wedlock was using her mother’s maiden name. George does not appear on the 1901 census. There is no mention of Job but a Joseph Brassington aged 16 and born in Chesterfield is recorded in this census as boarding with Robert and Alice Robinson in Rotherham. His occupation is given as Pottery Ware Carring [sic, possibly carting or carrying] which is similar to the occupation Pottery Works Hand on Job Brassington’s service record.

Job Brassington joined the navy as a short service stoker on the 29 March 1913. His birthplace was given as Chesterfield and his occupation was a pottery works hand. He was described as 5ft 1½in in height with a chest of 36 inches, brown hair and eyes and a fresh complexion. Following training he was posted to HMS Maidstone, a depot ship that supported submarines at Harwich. When war was declared on the 3rd August 1914 he was posted to the battlecruiser HMS Invincible which was undergoing a refit at Portsmouth. On the 12 August as flagship of the 2nd Battlecruiser squadron she was ordered to the Humber.

Invincible took part in three major actions:

Battle of Heligoland Bight. 28 August 1914. A clash between German and British forces off the German coast.

Battle of the Falklands. 8th December 1914. Invincible was part of a squadron sent to the South Atlantic to hunt down a German squadron. The weaker German force was chased and destroyed by the British ships.

Battle of Jutland. 31 May 1916. During the battle between the British and German fleets Invincible was hit and exploded.  All but six of her crew of 1.032 officers and men were lost. She was one of three British battlecruisers to be lost in this way during the battle.

Job’s obituary in the Derbyshire Times gives his father’s address as 23 Warwick Street, Birdholme (on the edge of Chesterfield). It states that four weeks previously Job had attended his mother’s funeral. It also says that he was employed at Pearson’s Whittington Pottery.

Lucy Brassington is recorded as next of kin living at 23 Warwick Street in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines War Graves Roll.

Job Brassington is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial to sailors who were lost at sea.

The Chesterfield Roll of Honour for WWI compiled by S B Fox in 1997 lists a Joe Brassington [sic] who is described as a Private in the Sherwood Foresters regiment. However, his address is listed as 23 Warwick Street.

There is an entry for J Brassington on the memorial of the Chesterfield Independent Order of Rechabites at 46 Glumangate Chesterfield.  A press report of the unveiling of the memorial identifies this as Jobey Brassington. The IOR was a friendly society formed in 1835 to promote total abstinence from alcohol. They provided death and sickness benefits to working class people.

Carl Clayton, October 2017