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Hebden Family Genealogy

Family Trees and data for Hebden, Hebdon, Hebdin, Hibden, Hepton, Ebden. Ebdon and Webden, Collectively known as The Hebden Clan

H.M.S. Fidelity and Richard Hebden, T Company 40 Marine Commando

Odds n’ Ends:

HMS Fidelity (2,456 tons) was originally a French merchant ship "Le Rhin". After the fall of France the ship escaped to Britain and In June 1940 was accepted by the Royal Navy. The ship was refitted and converted into a Special Service Vessel (SSV) and commissioned on 24th September 1940 as HMS Fidelity (D 57). The ship was armed with four 4in guns, four torpedo tubes and equipped with two seaplanes, a motor torpedo boat (MTB), two landing craft, High Frequency Direction Finder (HF/DF) and torpedo nets. On the 19th December convoy ON154 sailed from the UK heading for North America. HMS Fidelity was carrying “T Company” 40 Royal Marine Commando and 2 landing craft. On the night of 28/29 December Fidelity reported main engine failure and was two miles behind the convoy. A Corvette (Shediac) was sent to assist her, but was recalled to pick up survivors from U-boat attacks. Fidelity restarted her engines at 5a.m. on 29th December. The torpedo nets had been deployed whilst the repairs were carried out. At 10.15 The main engine broke down again and at 11.00am Fidelity signalled the convoy to say she was underway and sailing for the Azores. About the same time, HMS Fidelity was spotted by U-615 but the U-boat commander suspected it might be a trap as the vessel looked suspiciously like a “Q-ship. The last message from Fidelity was to report tht the ship had picked up survivors from “Empire Shackleton”, one of the ships in the convoy. Fidelity was torpedoed by the German submarine U-435 and sank with the loss of 274 Crew including 1 woman; - First Officer Madeline Bayard, a french agent of the Special Operations Exexcutive (SOE), 51 Marines, and 44 survivors from the Empire Shackleton. The captain of U-435 reported sinking the Fidelity on 30th December 1942. The landing craft HMS LCV-752 and HMS LCV-754 were lost with the ship. The Motor Motor Torpedo Boat with eight men aboard floated free from the fast sinking ship and were picked up by HMCS Woodstock (K 238). They were the only survivors apart from two men who were been picked up by HMCS St Laurent (H 83) after a seaplane from Fidelity ditched shortly after take-off.

One of the Marine Commandos of “T company” on board was Richard Hebden, born in 1919 in West Derby Liverpool, the youngest son of John Edward Hebden and Mary Littler. His memorial (illusrated) is at panel 79 column 3. See Tree Chart 29 (C19/29) for details of the family. The sacrifice of Richard Hebden and 273 others lost in the sinking are commemorated on the Royal Naval Memorial, Southsea, Portsmouth Hampshire. Credits and Sources: Image of HMS Fidelity from www.uboat.net which has the full story of the sinking. Images of the Royal Naval Memorial (Portsmouth) are from the author's collection. Other sources: www.gordonmumford.com - his website covers wartime experiences on arctic convoys and a detailed section on HMS Fidelity, and those lost in the sinking. https://www.wrecksite.eu/peo.pleView.aspx?4PLUSZT42IRvDlm/kiPLUSeIL7WA Listing of websites and memorials and names of persons lost at sea, including Madeleine Victorine Bayard, First officer of HMS Fidelity. (panel 80 col.2) on Royal Navy Memorial, Southsea, Portsmouth.

Above: The Royal Naval Memorial on the seafront at Southsea, Portsmouth

Left: The commerative panel (panel 79 Column 3) for Richard Hebden - on the Royal Naval Memorial