Third Radio Officer John Saunderson

Son of Henry Saunderson and Lucy Laura Wilkinson of Brixton, England. Henry enlisted in the First World War on 21 September 1914 with the 8th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force at Camp Valcartier, Quebec, regimental number 04898. A lance corporal in France and then Belgium, he was taken prisoner of war at Ypres, Belgium, on 24 April 1915 and interned in Germany. He escaped from the Lager camp in Munster and returned to England on 19 June 1916. Repatriated to Canada on 30 November 1918, he was demobilized on 17 January 1919. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

On 27 October 1942, the Hartington left Halifax, Nova Scotia, with convoy SC-107 and headed for Belfast, Northern Ireland. On 2 November, at 4:52 am, U-522 fired four torpedoes at the convoy 450 miles (724 km) east of Belle Island, Newfoundland, in North Atlantic. One of them hit the Hartington. At 6:06 am, U-438 fired a torpedo at the same ship. The ship sank at 8.40 am, position 52°30'N/45°30'W, by a coup de grâce from U-521. The captain, 21 crew members and 2 gunners lost their lives. The 17 surviving sailors and 7 gunners were picked up by HMS Winchelsea (D46) and landed in St. John's, Newfoundland.