Leading Seaman 180373 Harry Lanham served on H.M.S. Vanguard and died on
Monday, 9th July 1917. He is remembered on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent.

The St Vincent class battleship HMS Vanguard suddenly blew up in Scapa Flow just before midnight on 9th July, taking over 800 of her crew down with her. It
was a magazine explosion in one of the two magazines which served the amidships turrets. A definitive reason for the cause of the cordite explosion has never been found but the most likely possibility has that cordite caught fire from heating in an adjacent compartment.

For more details of the sinking of H.M.S. Vanguard click on
this page which also has pictures of the ship.

The above details are taken from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission online register. You can see the record by clicking here.