Lieutenant Peter Birkett Hague
IN PROUD AND LOVING MEMORY
OF
LIEUT. PETER BIRKETT HAGUE R.N.V.R. D.S.C.
SOMETIME
SCHOLAR OF EMMANUEL COLLEGE,
CAMBRIDGE AND SCHOLAR OF THE
INNER TEMPLE, LONDON.
BARRISTER-AT-LAW
KILLED IN ACTION IN THE BATTLE OF MALTA APRIL 4TH 1942
AGED 25 YEARS
The Barrow News 11 April 1942 reported:
Barrow News, 11 April 1942LT. PETER HAGUE KILLED IN ACTION
BRILLIANT ULVERSTON SCHOLAR
Mr. and Mrs. C. T. Hague, of Kilner Park, Ulverston, have received notification that their only son, Peter, has been killed in action while serving with the Navy. Prior to taking his commission he was studying at the Bar, and his great gifts and outstanding abilities marked him as destined for a brilliant career.
An old boy of the Ulverston Grammar School, he immediately gained prominence at Cambridge University, and, it will be recalled, was president of the Cambridge Union when the memorable debate on English Law took place, those participating including his uncle, Sir Norman Birkett, K. C., Judge Langton, and Sir Patrick Hastings, K.C.. Twenty-five years of age, he was married, and leaves a widow and little daughter.
Lieut. Hague joined the Navy three years ago, and had been in many engagements. The flag at the Ulverston Grammar School was at half-mast today.
The CWGC website tells us that he was son of Cecil Telford Hague and Edith Hague; husband of Rosemary Frances Hague, of Chelsea, London.
Lieutenant Hague was serving on the destroyer HMS Kingston. On 4 April 1942, whilst the destroyer was in dock at Malta repairing the damage from [this] encounter, a bomb fell directly at the entrance of the Corradino tunnel, where part of her crew was taking shelter. Fourteen crewmen were killed by the blast including Commander Philip Somerville DSO., Lieutenant P. Hague, and Yeoman of Signals John Murphy, who was at their side, whilst directing the men into the safety of the Corradino tunnel. All 14 crewmen are buried at either the Mtarfa Military Cemetery or the Capuccini Naval Cemetery. Approximately 35 dock workers were also wounded. [Source]
At the foot of the memorial is a very modest stone to commemorate one of Ulverston’s most famous sons, Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett (1883-1962), who after leaving Barrow Grammar School for Boys, worked in the family drapery shop for a little while; was a Methodist preacher, and went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge before becoming a K.C. in 1924. He is most well-known for his role as the alternate British judge at the Nuremberg trials in 1945. [Source]
