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HMS WESTMINSTER

The Ship's Complement

These two lists are from the private papers of Lt. Cdr. Aymé Arthur Carrington Ouvry RN, the first wartime CO of HMS Westminster, who was in command from December 1939 to July 1942. The Ship's Writer was accountable to the Correspondence Officer. He kept kept detailed records of men joining and leaving the ship for submission to the Admiralty and these summaries were probably produced by the Ship's Writer at the request of the CO.

Until 2013 TNT Archives Service under contract to the Admiralty compiled lists of the men recorded in the the Pay and Victualing Ledgers for specific dates on payment of a standard fee of £30. This service has now been discontinued on the grounds of data protection. TNT charged the Admiraty for the actuall costs incurred based on the time required to extract the names from the records which was related to the number of men in the ship and was much higher than the standard fee. It is widely believed that the real reason for discontinuing the service was to reduce costs.

TNT continue to prove service records for family members for which the same standard fee of £30 is charged.

Gun Crew relaxing
Courtesy of Jeremy Ouvry

On the bridge of HMS Westminster
Courtesy of Jeremy Ouvry