This site initially started in 1999 as a memorial to my great grandfather,
Charles Henry Bishop, a stoker aboard HMS Good Hope when she was lost
at Coronel. It contained his service history and a record of ships
that he served aboard, as well as a brief description of the battle
in which he and his shipmates died.
Following much research I found that although nearly 1,600 men were
lost at Coronel, with the loss of HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth,
and that there is no single memorial to be found in the UK to the
actual battle. There are several memorials which mention the battle,
but those that do are either for an individual or for the entire war.
The only known memorials to what took place off Coronel, Chile can
be found in Stanley Cathedral on the Falkland Islands or in Coronel
itself. The site then developed and after many months of research
became The Coronel Memorial, the only memorial that was specifically
for this battle and that named all those who perished. It contains
details of the ships involved, reports of the battle, a searchable
database of all those who perished, as well as photographs and corrospondence
of some of those who were lost.
The Coronel Memorial website is run on a not for profit basis. Crew photographs and corrospondence
have been supplied by individuals for inclusion at no fee, all credit
for them are given on the appropriate pages.
Richard. |
