Harston, Michael George Sirdefield, 1920-1943

Person

Harston, Michael George Sirdefield, 1920-1943

1920-1943

Harston, Michael George Sirdefield, son of Maj. Sir Ernest Sirdefield Harston CBE, Chairman Brit. Commonwealth Ex-Service League, and Ruth Barbara, d. of Sir George Shirtcliffe KBE, of Wellington, NZ; b. l 2Jan. 1920; adm. Sept. 1932 (A); left July 1938; Peterhouse, Camb., matric. 1938; RNVR 1940-3 (Lieut.), lost in HMS Beverley (Atlantic) 11 Apr. 1943.

Michael George Sirdefield Harston was born at Wellington, New Zealand on the 12th of January 1920 the only son of Major Ernest Sirdefield Harston CBE, Chairman of the British and Commonwealth Ex Service League, and Ruth Barbara (nee Shirtcliffe) Harston of 12, Wyndham Place in London W1. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Ashburnham from September 1932 to July 1938 and was a distinguished athlete while he was at the school. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps where he achieved Certificate A in November 1936 and was promoted to Corporal in September 1937. He matriculated for Peterhouse College, Cambridge in 1938 but did not graduate as he left the College for military service.
Following the outbreak of war he enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and was commissioned as a Sub Lieutenant on the 12th of January 1940. He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 12th of July 1942. He was posted to the destroyer HMS Beverley (D64), under the command of Lieutenant Commander Rodney Athelstan Price RN.
On the 4th of February 1943, HMS Beverley and the destroyer HMS Vimy (D33) were escorting Convoy SC118 on route to Londonderry, when they attacked the U Boat U-187, under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Ralph Münnich. They sank her with depth charges and t The U Boat sank with the loss of nine men from her crew of fifty four; her Captain was among the dead.
At 6pm on the 1st of April 1943, HMS Beverley was sailing off Rankin Island, County Antrim when she joined the convoy ON-176, which consisted of forty one merchant ships. She was to act as one of its escorts on its journey to Canada and on to the United States. At 10.10pm on the 9th of April, she was seriously damaged in a collision with the British steam merchant SS Cairnvalona while in fog. She was holed in the forward starboard side and took station at the rear of the convoy while the damage was being repaired.
At 5.49am on the morning of the 11th of April 1943, the German submarine U-188, under the command of Korvettenkapitän Siegfried Ludden, fired a torpedo at the convoy, which was to the southwest of Iceland at the time. He observed a hit on a tanker after 1 minute 34 seconds, which finally sank 45 minutes later with a broken back. At 5.50am, two more torpedoes were fired at the convoy and after 1 minute 58 seconds and 2 minutes 11 seconds hits on two ships were heard. At 5.52am two more torpedoes were fired which, after 1 minute 58 seconds, hit a fourth ship which began to settle by the bow. However, Allied records later indicated that only HMS Beverley was actually hit, between the forward and aft boiler rooms. The explosion on board the destroyer was followed by a complete power failure and a severe lurch to port, after which the ship sank by the stern about a minute later at the position of 52º19'N, 40º28'W. As she slipped beneath the surface there was a large underwater explosion. She was lost with one hundred and fifty one of her crew from a ship's complement of one hundred and fifty five officers and men. Michael Harston was among the dead. Although seven of her crew were picked up over the next hour, three of these were either already dead, or died a short time later.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Peterhouse College, Cambridge.
He is commemorated on the Portsmouth naval Memorial Panel 81, Column 1.

Lieutenant RNVR; HMS Beverley, Royal Navy

GB 2014

International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition

Final

Full

Prepared for import into AtoM by Westminster School Archive staff, 2019-2020. Updated by Bethany Duck, Archives Assistant, September 2022.

The Record of Old Westminsters: A biographical list of all those who are known to have been educated at Westminster School from Play 1919 to Election 1989, Volume 4, compiled by F.E. Pagan and H.E. Pagan, Padstow, 1992.

Westminster School Second World War Memorial by John C. Hamblin, 2022.