Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of William Waudby, a green grocer and gardener, born 1851 in Upwell, Norfolk and his wife Harriet Waudby (nee Brewin, married in the 4th quarter of 1874 in the Blaby, Leics. district), born 1855 in Wigston, Leics. Walter was a domestic gardener and was born on the 10th September 1884 in Wigston, Leics., his siblings were, Mary Elizabeth, a Griswold knitter, born 1875, Edith, a Griswold knitter, born 1878 and Emmeline, a laundress, born 1882, the latter three siblings were all born in Wigston, Leics., Ada, born 1891 and Harriett, born 1894, the latter two siblings were both born in Leicester, also residing with the family was his widowed paternal grandmother, Mary Waudby, born 1811 in Upwell, Norfolk, in March 1901 the family home was at Coleman Road, Leicester. In April 1911 Walter was absent from his family home at 31, Coleman Road, Leicester, residing there was his father, a green grocer, his mother and siblings, Mary, a house worker, Edith, a general hosiery trade worker, Emmeline, a laundress, Ernest, a gardener, born 1887 in Wigston, Leics., Ada, a stockroom worker and Harriett, a laundress, also residing with the family was his wife Lydia Maud, born 1884 in Tittleshall, Norfolk and his son, Walter Ernest, born 1910 in Kings Lynn, Norfolk. Walter married Lydia Maud Fawkes in the 4th quarter of 1908 in the Freebridge Lynn, Norfolk district. Walter enlisted into the Royal Navy to serve a 5 + 7 year engagement on the 23rd September 1903 and was allocated the service number SS/42 in Chatham, Kent. His medical examination recorded that he was 5 foot 3½ inches in height and had a chest measurement of 33½ inches, his hair colour was light brown and his eyes were blue, his complexion was described as fresh, he gave his trade or calling as groom. His record of service began when he joined HMS Pembroke as an Ordinary Seaman on the 23/9/03 – 20/10/03. HMS Minerva, 21/10/03 – 10/11/03. HMS Bedford, 11/11/03 – 11/10/05, when he was promoted to Able Bodied Seaman. HMS Bedford, 12/10/05 – 19/11/05, when he was sentenced to 7 days in cells. HMS Bedford, 27/11/05 – 26/3/06. HMS Pembroke, 27/3/06 – 10/4/06. HMS Wildfire, 11/4/06 – 18/2/08. HMS Cochrane, 19/2/08 – 22/9/08. HMS Pembroke I, 23/9/08 – 25/9/08, when he was discharged to shore and transferred on the 26th September 1908 to the Royal Fleet Reserve and allocated the service number RFR/CH/B/5312. He was recalled from the Reserve and joined HMS Hogue as an Able Bodied Seaman on the 2/8/14 – 22/9/14, when he was lost in the North Sea in the sinking of his ship by a German submarine.
The background relating to the circumstances in which Walter lost his life are as follows; On the morning of 22nd September, HMS Cressy and her sisters, HMS Aboukir and HMS Hogue, were on patrol without any escorting destroyers as these had been forced to seek shelter from bad weather. The three sisters were steaming in line abreast about 2,000 yards apart at a speed of 10 knots; 12 mph. They were not expecting submarine attack, but had lookouts posted and one gun manned on each side to attack any submarines sighted. The weather had moderated earlier that morning and Tyrwhitt was en route to reinforce the cruisers with eight destroyers. U-9, commanded by Kapitanleutnant Otto Weddigen, had been ordered to attack British transports at Ostend, but had been forced to dive and take shelter from the storm. On surfacing, she spotted the British ships and moved to attack. She fired one torpedo at 6.20am at HMS Aboukir which struck her on the starboard side; the ship’s captain thought he had struck a mine and ordered the other two ships to close to transfer his wounded men. HMS Aboukir quickly began listing and capsized around 6.55am despite counter flooding compartments on the opposite side to right her. As HMS Hogue approached her sinking sister, her captain, Wilmot Nicholson, realized that it had been a submarine attack and signaled HMS Cressy to look for a periscope although his ship continued to close on HMS Aboukir as her crew threw overboard anything that would float to aid the survivors in the water. Having stopped and lowered all her boats, HMS Hogue was struck by two torpedoes around 6.55am. The sudden weight loss of the two torpedoes caused U-9 to broach the surface and HMS Hogue’s gunners opened fire without effect before the submarine could submerge again. The cruiser capsized about ten minutes after being torpedoed and sank at 7.15am. HMS Cressy attempted to ram the submarine, but did not succeed and resumed her rescue efforts until she too was torpedoed at 7.20am. Weddigen had fired two torpedoes from his stern tubes, but only one hit. U-9 had to maneuver to bring her bow around with her last torpedo and fired it at a range of about 550 yards at 7.30am. The torpedo struck on the port side and ruptured several boilers, scalding the men in the compartment. As her sisters had done, HMS Cressy took on a heavy list and then capsized before sinking at 7.55am. Several Dutch ships began rescuing survivors at 8.30am and were joined by British fishing trawlers before Tyrwhitt and his ships arrived at 10.45am. From all three ships 837 men were rescued and 62 officers and 1,397 enlisted men lost, 560 of those lost were from HMS Cressy.