Piece of shell fragment, SMS Emden : Yeoman of Signals A J Welford HMAS Sydney I

Piece of shell fragment from SMS Emden. The metal is heavily fatigued and cracked with one side smooth and the other rough and crazed. A projectile embedded in the alloy is visible from both sides. The edges of the piece are jagged and rough.

5089 Yeoman of Signals Arthur John Welford was born on 10 March 1881 in Dinton, Buckinghamshire, England. He is thought to have entered the Royal Navy (RN) c 1895. He was serving in the RN's light cruiser, HMS Encounter, when she was lent to the newly formed Royal Australian Navy, as HMAS Encounter, at the beginning of July 1912. Together with a third of the RN crew, Welford volunteered to stay on, 'on loan' to the RAN, helping to train the new Australian crew. After serving just over two years in Encounter, Welford transferred to HMAS Warrego on 1 October 1913.

At the end of February 1914 Welford was posted to HMAS Sydney I and was serving in her at the outbreak of the war. After the battle with the German raider SMS Emden, on 9 November 1914, he collected this shell fragment as a souvenir.

Welford served on in the Sydney until mid July 1917 when he reverted to the RN when the ship was located in Britain on North Sea patrols. Welford died in 1944 in Cambridgeshire, England.