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Administrative / biographical background
Bartlam was born at Plaistow in Essex in 1893. He first went to sea as an apprentice on the three-masted ship WESTGATE (1885). In 1910 he transferred from the Mercantile Marine to the Royal Navy, undergoing training at HMS Ganges near Harwich and at sea on the armoured cruiser HMS HOGUE (1900). In 1911 he joined the second class cruiser HMS AEOLUS (1891) for two years on the West Indies station. During the First World War he served on the minesweeper HMS LEDA (1892) in support of the Grand Fleet, the torpedo boat destroyer HMS FORESTER (1911) as part of the Harwich Force, and the survey ship HMS ENDEAVOUR (1912) in the Mediterranean. He was promoted to petty officer in 1917and chief petty officer in 1927. From 1933 onwards Bartlam worked as a civilian in one of the gunnery departments of the Admiralty in London. He re-joined the Royal Navy in 1940 and was on active service as coxswain of a motor boat during the evacuation from Dunkirk. He was later appointed to the destroyer HMS MENDIP (1940) on convoy escort duty, then HMS IRON DUKE (1912), base ship at Scapa Flow. During the Normandy landings in 1944 he joined naval parties attached to the landing craft parent ship THYSVILLE and the headquarters staff at Arromanches. In 1947 Bartlam was placed on the retired list with the rank of lieutenant. He became lieutenant-commander (S.D.) when the ranks of warrant officers were again changed in 1957. The earlier part of his record of service can be found at The National Archives, see reference ADM 88/663/8300.