Artificer Engineer Arnold Wharton was one of three Royal Navy officers killed in action during the bombardment of the Dardanelles when HMS Irresistible hit a mine on March 18th, 1915, and eventually sank. He would have been aged 35 in April 1915.

A message later from Athens said the three had been buried at sea within sight of Tenedos, where women on the shore cast flowers and incense into the sea as a sign of mourning, flags flew at half-mast and bells tolled on land and at sea.

Artificer Engineer Wharton, a Freemason, was a son of Mr and Mrs Arnold Henry Wharton, of 78 Hampton Road, Luton. Since his marriage he had made his home at Portsmouth, and left a widow and three children.

He had served his apprenticeship in the engineering trade and became chief enginewright at a large colliery in Derbyshire. When he came of age he entered the Navy as an ordinary artificer [skilled craftsman], gaining his first promotion in 1910. He had passed examinations just before his death for promotion to the rank of engineer-lieutenant.

Artificer Engineer Wharton had served on HMS Irresistible for over 18 months, previously serving on HMS Gladiator until about a month she sank in a collision off the Isle of Wight. He had been home on leave in December 1914 before joining HMS Irresistible on patrol work in the English Channel and then going into action in the Dardanelles.

Mr Wharton Snr had received letters of sympathy from his fellow workers at Commercial Cars in Biscot Road.