Next of Kin Memorial Plaque. Uniface: Britannia standing (half-right) holding a trident in her right hand and a laurel wreath in her extended left; at her feet, a lion (right). In the background, two dolphins and a branch of oak. At the base, a lion (left) devours an eagle. Legend: 'HE: DIED : FOR : FREEDOM : AND: HONOVR'; (on a rectangular plaque) 'ROBERT SAMUEL NODES'. Nodes was First Mate in the Merchant Marine and died on 18 April 1916. These plaques were issued to the relatives of those killed in the First World War or dying as a result of the conflict within seven years of the cessation of hostilities.

Robert Samuel Nodes (1889-1916) was born in Islington, the son of undertaker William Robert Thomas Nodes and his wife Catherine Maria. He began his career as a Marine Society boy in the training ship 'Warspite' at Woolwich. Nodes was apprenticed to William Thomas & Co. on the 5 April 1904 and was awarded the Marine Society Medal on 1 July 1909 for five years exemplary service. He was given a mate's certificate to work on foreign-going ships in London on 6 May 1910. At this time, he was working for the General Steam Navigation Company Ltd. During World War 1, still working for the same firm, he was first mate on SS 'Vesuvio' when she struck a mine off Newhaven on the 6 April 1916 enroute from Messina, Sicily to England. He was one of fourteen survivors who were picked up after the vessel sank but died of his injuries twelve days later in London. His name is listed on the Tower Hill war memorial.
Robert Nodes married Ethel Hilda Nodes on 27 December 1914 in Islington. They had one daughter Cecilia.