AN exhibition commemorating the sinking of TSS Athenia has brought together two families from opposite sides of the Atlantic.
An appeal was launched by our sister paper, the Evening Times, in January this year to find the family of Sidney 'Sid' Worrall, the ship's cook.
Mr Worrall was horrifically burned when the TSS Athenia was torpedoed by a German U-boat on the day World War II was declared, in September 1939.
Fearing he would die, he gave his watch to fellow lifeboat passenger Gerald “Gerry” Middleton Hutchinson who kept it safe for decades.
Mr Hutchinson, from Canada, died in 2015 and never knew that Sid had survived the sinking.
His son, Rob, donated the watch to the Riverside Museum - where staff determined to find out what had happened to Sid.
Following the appeal, Mr Worrall's family came forward and his nephew Ernie Worrall met Rob at a special ceremony to mark the unveiling of a new TSS Athenia display at the 78th anniversary of the sinking.
Rob Hutchinson, who was joined at Riverside by his wife Judy, sister Beth, brother Ken and his sister-in-law Kathy, said: “On behalf of my family, I am delighted Riverside Museum has been able to draw together the two ends of this very long story.
"I am thrilled to come to Glasgow and meet Sid’s family and see the watch on display.
"I know my father would have been so pleased.”
The TSS Athenia, sailing from Glasgow for Montreal via Liverpool and Belfast, was the first maritime casualty of the war, claiming 122 lives.
After our appeal, both Mr Worrall's granddaughter, Catherine Muir, and nephew, Ernie Worrall, responded - finding out about each other for the first time.
They revealed Mr Worrall, who married and lived in Law village, returned to the Merchant Navy when his scars healed. He called his many skin grafts his “map of the world”.
Ernie, a psychiatrist, said: “My family are indebted to Gerry for keeping my uncle’s watch safe all these years, a remarkable act of faithfulness to an obligation he had accepted in that dire situation in a shared lifeboat.
"It’s been wonderful to meet Rob and to be able to thank him personally.
"And it’s very exciting to see the watch go on display in Riverside, where my whole family - including those I have come to know only as a result of this search - can come and see it.”
The Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan built the Athenia, launching her on 28 January 1922 and completing her in 1923.
A minister from the Scottish Episcopal Church led a short service outside Riverside Museum yesterday to commemorate the anniversary of the sinking and remember those who died in the tragedy.
He was joined by chairman of Glasgow Life, David McDonald; the Honorary Consul for Canada, Mr John Rafferty; and other descendants of Sid Worrall who responded to the public appeal for information on him, including guests from England and Ireland.
Rev Canon Gordon Fyfe said a few words while Dougie McCance piped and members from both families placed a biodegradable wreath into the River Clyde.
Mr McDonald said: “I’m so pleased to be able to welcome Rob all the way from Canada to Riverside for the first time, to introduce him to Sid’s family and to show them Sid’s watch as it is prepared for our new display.
"We are delighted Sid’s family is happy to help Glasgow Museums complete his story and share it with all our visitors.
"It’s good that something so positive has come from such a disaster.
“The men and women of Glasgow sacrificed so much as part of the war effort.
"Even today, thanks to the work of our outstanding curators, we are learning more about the people behind the history and what they gave for their country.
"This has been a real detective story and we hope visitors will enjoy reading about Sid’s heroic tale.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here