Samuel Ingram
Samuel was a distinctive man, being unusually tall for the time - he was 6 ft 1 with a dark complexion and blue eyes.
He had many visible tattoos, including a horseshoe and horse’s head tattoo on his left forearm and an American flag, full rigged ship and L.O.V.E. on the back of his left hand.
He had a tattoo of clasped hands and an anchor on right wrist. On his right hand, he had more tattoos - a bust of a woman, the text Martha (his wife) and a flag.
Family Life
Samuel Moffat Ingram was born in Belfast in 1883 to John Ingram and Mary Moffat.
He had 2 brothers and 4 sisters; John, Ellen, Wilhelmina, Florence Joleen, Frederick Mornington and Edith May. Unfortunately both of his brothers died in childhood.
He married Martha Pollock in 1903 and the couple had six children: William Pollock, Martha, Frances, Samuel, Robert and John.
Service
Already a fireman working in the Merchant Service Samuel enrolled in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1904, eventually gaining the rank of Leading Stoker. When war broke out in 1914, he served on HMS Argo and HMS Comus. He continued working at sea after the war in the merchant seaman on SS Lord Antrim, SS San Blas and SS San Benito.
In 1924 his term expired, as he was now too old to re-enrol. Samuel was in his late fifties when the Second World War broke out, but this didn’t stop him volunteering for service. He was a very experienced seaman, and his service was recognised when he was awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) while serving on SS William Howland as a Donkeyman Greaser.
His eldest son William Pollock Ingram also served in the Royal Navy in the Second World War.