A century ago the news that Lord Kitchener was dead stunned the nation. His face on the first world war recruiting poster meant he was the most recognisable person in the land, apart from being Field Marshall Earl Kitchener of Khartoum, and in charge of the War Office.
He died when the armoured cruiser HMS Hampshire sank in a storm off the Orkneys on 5 June. The powerful ship had long since left its escorting destroyers behind as the captain took the fatal decision to press on at full speed north to Russia. The vessel was taking Lord Kitchener to meet the Tsar in the hope of bolstering his resolve to fight the Germans.
In seeking shelter in the lee of the islands in the Brough of Birsay the ship used a channel that had not been cleared by minesweepers. HMS Hampshire ran into a mine and the huge vessel sank in 15 minutes with no time to lower the lifeboats. Only 14 crew reached the rocky shore with 643 lost, including Kitchener.
When the news reached London exactly 100 years ago it was a week after the country had experienced the shock of the huge Battle of Jutland, where many more ships and men were lost and British naval supremacy was cast in doubt.
For years conspiracy theories abounded as to how the great man had come to be killed on this secret mission. Since his body was never found some even thought he was alive and living a secret life. But repeated investigations concluded that a combination of a gale and poor judgment ended his mission.
