SON OF MR. AND MRS. JOHN B. HUTCHISON, OF 65 ELDON Street, GREENOCK.

Thomas Mclaren Hutchison was the son of a shipyard manager from Greenock. At the age of 18 he enrolled at the University of Glasgow in 1912 to study Engineering, taking classes in Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Maths, Naval Architecture, and Drawing.

At the end of his second year he left University and was commissioned in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a Sub-Lieutenant on 6 May 1914. He served with the Nelson Battalion at the Siege of Antwerp in autumn of 1914 and in December was posted to HMS Excellent. He then joined the Armoured Cruiser Black Prince on 20 January 1915.

The Black Prince was part of the forward screen of ships at the Battle of Jutland and was damaged by a heavy shell. Though having to withdraw from action, she followed in line with Admiral Jellicoe’s Grand Fleet, lagging behind where she became an easy target for five German battleships.

German Vice-Admiral Scheer describedher destruction as ‘a grand but terrible sight’. The Black Prince was sunk sometime around midnight on 1 June 1916. Hutchison and the rest of the Black Prince’s crew were lost. Their names appear on the Naval Memorial in Portsmouth.

Remembered at Bellahouston Academy

Commissioned Sub Lieutenant 6/5/14. With Nelson Battalion at Antwerp 1914-24/12/14 to HMS Excellent. 

Newspaper Clippings relating to Thomas McLaren Hutchison

Thomas Hutchison

Thomas Hutchison

Thomas Hutchison