Wounded Survived More info Clifford Wilson joined the navy on 4th January at the age of 18, leaving his sweetheart and future wife behind, but writing to her regularly throughout the war. He trained at Crystal Palace and then Devonport and boarded HMS Ajax on the 26th May. At the Battle of Jutland, we are told by his wife, that he was tasked to raise the flags to say "England expects every man to do his duty." Although we are not entirely sure if this was an elaboration on her part, as we don't know if those flags were still in use. He served on the Ajax until December 1917, then on the Gaillardia until 24th January 1918. We believe that it was around this time he got appendicitis as we know he was taken off his ship with appendicitis and that ship later sunk. Loosing so many of his friends and having such a lucky escape was one of the traumatic events that meant he never spoke much about his war years. He spent some time at Chatham before boarding HMS Mars and was on there until June 1919. This is a photo of the signallers on the Ajax, missing my granddad, Clifford Wilson, who is probably taking the photo. I believe from a photo online that the smallest one on the back row is Edgar Ellis who received a nasty head injury at the Battle of Jutland. My granddad joined the ship on 26th May 1916. So this photo will probably have been taken before they set sail. This is a photo taken by my Granddad who was a signalman on HMS Ajax at the Battle of Jutland. He boarded Ajax on 26th May 1916 as his first ship. It seems likely that he would taken a photo on his first sea voyage, so we believe this may have been the fleet crossing the North Sea.