THE Battle of Jutland raged over two days - May 31 and June 1 - in the North Sea.

The First World War was already two years old in 1916. The Germans viewed their sea power as a show of strength and source of pride while our own Royal Navy had received scores of battle honours in the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign the previous year.

Jutland took the lives of people from all walks of life.

Lieutenant Charles Dennis Fisher played 15 times for Sussex County Cricket Club, top scoring with 80.

With the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, he was 38 when he was killed serving on the sunken HMS Invincible on May 31.

Despite the tragic loss of life at sea, many did survive.

Among them was Frederick Jerome Green, whose son Arthur now lives in Shoreham.

Frederick, born in London in 1885, became a boy sailor aged 11 in the Navy.

He served on warship HMS Marlborough and later joined HMS Iron Duke as a stoker.

Arthur said: "He would have been in the bowels of the ship throughout the battle, quite scary I would think, but the class were considered unsinkable."

Some years later Frederick met Arthur's mother, Grace Bish, whose family lived in Malling Street, Lewes, and later served with Shoreham Auxilliary Fire Brigade during the Second World War. Frederick died aged 93 in 1978.

Another at Jutland was Henry Allingham, the war veteran of Ovingdean who lived to eventually become the oldest man in the world. He died in 2009 aged 113.

Henry served on a Naval trawler called Kingfisher and, although, not directly involved in battle, saw "shells ricocheting across the sea".

This action shot, showing shells hitting the sea at Jutland, was supplied by Martin Allen, who is organising a talk at the Ropetackle centre in Shoreham on November 22. The picture was taken by Sir Charles Woodhouse.

Nick Woolger, 71, from Piddinghoe, told us about his grandfather, William Cyril Baldwin, who served at Jutland on HMS Southampton.

Mr Woolger said: "From what I have read, it was responsible for a couple of enemy ship sinkings and was heavily damaged and lost several crew in a night battle." He said Baldwin was given prize money for the destruction of an enemy ship.

WC Baldwin was demobbed in 1919 and died in Newhaven in the early 1950s.

(blob)A commemorative event takes place at the Royal British Legion centre in Queen's Road, Brighton, on Wednesday from 10am until 11.30am. Call 0808 802 8080 to reserve a place.