In February 1915, at St. Mark’s Church in the north end of Halifax, former Fredericton High School student and Royal Navy midshipmen Victor Hatheway was honoured on a memorial for those killed in action aboard HMS Good Hope, the first official Canadian casualties of the First World War. Victor was the son of Frederick W. and Christina Grace Hatheway and a graduate of Halifax Naval College.
The original St. Mark’s Church was completely destroyed in the infamous Halifax Explosion of 1917 and this memorial plaque was destroyed. The present St. Mark’s Church was opened in 1921 at a different location.
HMS Good Hope was the Royal Navy Drake class armoured cruiser that was the flagship of Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock's 4th Cruiser Squadron in the early days of the First World War. The ship was sunk by the German Navy's East Asia Squadron, under the command of Vice Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee, at the Battle of Coronel on 1 November 1914.