St Anselm Hall Archive
Named below are the 24 Anselmiens who gave their lives whilst on active service in WWI and WWII
Click on the names below or scroll down through the page to view the content.
To view the full range of photos, please visit the gallery.
Flying officer David Lillington.
Pilot Officer Raymond Herbert Miller.
Pilot Officer William Thomas James O’Brien.
Pilot Officer George Arthur Ratcliffe.
Sub-Lieutenant Frederick John Stamper.
Flight Lieutenant Edwin Charles Thyer.
Leading Airman Guy Gordon John Warburton.
Flight Lieutenant Sydney Wetherell.
Lance Corporal T. Robinson
14 May 1915, Aged 20
Commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Turkey.
Growing up in Chorlton-cum-Medlock, Greater Manchester, Thomas Robinson was the middle of three surviving children of William and Rosa Robinson. William worked as a cloth warehouseman but after his early death in 1908, Rosa supported the family by running a fish and chip shop. At the time of the 1911 census Thomas was a law clerk who lived with his mother and siblings at the family home of 24 Welbeck street.
Alongside his day job, Thomas was also taking night classes at the Municipal Evening School of Commerce, and it was from here that he successfully passed the matriculation exam in the summer of 1913. Shortly afterwards, he entered St. Anselm Hall where he would be prepared for ordination whilst also studying for a B.A. Arts at the University of Manchester.
Thomas did well at University, achieving first class English and Hebrew in the intermediate B.A. examinations of Summer 1914. In the intermediate B.A. examination of autumn of 1914 he achieved first class modern history and 2nd class political economy.
By the time the results of the autumn 1914 intermediate B.A. examinations were released, however, Thomas was no longer at University having joined the Royal Marines on 26 September 1914, less then two months after the outbreak of World War I. On his service record, Thomas is described as having a fresh complexion with blue eyes and brown hair. He was 20 years old and gave his occupation as ‘University Student.’ Later, he would be considered by the British Army to be a man of very good character and a potential candidate for early promotion.
Joining the Plymouth Division, Thomas was sent first to Portsmouth and then, in February 1915, transferred with his Battalion to Egypt. In April 1915, having secured a promotion to Lance Corporal, Thomas travelled with his battalion to Gallipoli, where they took part in a landing on Y Beach, arranged to confuse the Turkish troops and draw them away from operations in the south. Confused orders, however, prevented much progress being made and an attack by the Turkish forces on the night of 25th forced a chaotic and confused withdrawal. In the following days Thomas’ battalion were completed administrative tasks around the beach area. On the night of the 6th May, the battalion were part of the Composite brigade which fought at the Second Battle of Kritheria. Taking over trenches which were attacked by the Turkish on the night of 10th May, the brigade was forced into a counter-attack to support the French. The two British naval brigades involved saw half their numbers, around 1600 men, killed or wounded.
In the aftermath of the battle, Thomas Robinson was among the missing. Six weeks later, on 22 July 1915, his frantic mother posted an appeal in the Manchester Evening News for any further information. In 1917, by which time it was clear that Thomas was dead, she was granted a life pension of 7/6 a week. Awarded the 1914-15 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal, Thomas is remembered on the Cape Helles Memorial in Turkey. Closer to home, a print of Pinturicchio’s ‘A young knight kneeling,’ which now sits on the wall of the hall chapel, was purchased by his Fellow Anselmians as a memorial to him.
Lieutenant R.C. Allen
17 June 1946, Aged 20
Ramleh Cemetery, Israel
Roy Charles Allen was born in 1926 in Hertfordshire. His father, William, was a quantity surveyor, who had had a son, Arthur, with his first wife. After her death, he married Dora Perryman, and Roy was their only child. Little is known about Roy’s childhood except that he attended Merchant Taylor’s school Northwood, close to where the family were living in Chorleywood (Rickmansworth.)
Roy lived at St. Anselm Hall between October 1943 and March 1944 whilst completing a short course at the University of Manchester. During his time in hall, Roy was senior student of Manor House, now a hall wing but then a converted house owned by the hall, a position of responsibility where he looked after the students who lived in the house and acted as a liaison with the Warden in matters concerning it.
After completing his short course, Ray was Commissioned into the Royal Engineers with the 482nd Field Company. This Company served in the North-West Frontier Province in India until 1945, when they were transferred to Basra, Iraq, making their way from there to Baghdad and then to Camp 21, located between Tukharma and Nathanya on the Palestinian Coast. Against a background of Jewish and Arab tensions and several attacks of British Forces in the area, 482nd concentrated their activities on defensive operations, mining and wiring defences at police and coastguard points.
In June 1946, the 482nd Company were supporting the 1st Parachute Brigade in their conflict with insurgent members of the Jewish Haganah. On the night of 16th June, the Haganah launched what became known as the ‘Night of the Bridges’, which aimed to destroy the main bridge links to Palestine and disrupt British supply lines.
On the 17th June, an unexploded demolition charge was discovered under a bridge near a police post. Roy was ordered to respond, along with six soldiers from the Royal Bombay and Sapper Miners. Tragically, he was killed by the explosion. Roy was 20 years old when he died and is buried at Ramleh Cemetery in modern-day Israel. Roy is remembered on the War Memorial at Merchant Taylors Northwood and also at St. Anselm Hall, where his father donated £5 to the original war memorial fund.
Second Lieutenant G.K. Appleton
27 April 1945, Aged 20
Heverlee War Cemetery, Belgium.
Born in Cardiff in 1925, Geoffrey Appleton was the son of John Appleton, an accountant, and his wife Beatrice. Growing up with parents and his young sister, Jean, Geoffrey attended Canton High School for Boys. He was also a keen musician, featuring in school concerts and being a part of the choir of St. Catherine’s, his parish church. A tribute article written by St. Catherine’s after Geoffrey’s death spoke of ‘Geoffrey’s cheerful smile, his upright poise, which was characteristic of his whole attitude to life, straight and manly, and, above all, a Christian gentleman.’
Geoffrey Appleton studied for a short course at the University between April and September 1943 and during his time there was a resident at St. Anselm Hall. Afterwards, he served with the Royal Engineers.
It is said that wherever he was in the Army, Geoffrey sought out an organ and frequently offered his services to local churches when he found one. On Good Friday 1945, just over a month before his death, Geoffrey volunteered himself to play the piano for a local church (no organ being available) and wrote to his family that he hoped to do the same on East Sunday.
Geoffrey’s death was made all the more tragic by the fact that his parents and sister did learn of it until after V.E. Day. On 27th April 1945, Geoffrey and another office, Captain King, were driving a Jeep on the road between Gheel and Diest. On a particular section, which was concrete and known to become slippery when wet, the Jeep skidded and ran into a tree. While Captain King survived with no memory of the accident, Geoffrey suffered a skull fracture which ultimately proved fatal. After his death, a fellow soldier wrote to his parents ‘Your son was very popular among his fellow officers, and his loss is keenly felt by us all.’
Geoffrey is buried in Haverlee War Cemetery in Leuven, Belgium. He is remembered on the war memorial at St. Catherine’s church. At St. Anselm Hall, Geoffreys’ father donated £10 to the first hall war memorial fund and he is also remembered on the contemporary war memorial.
Sergeant J.S. Beech
3 October 1943 , Aged 20
St Mary's Churchyard, Lymm, UK.
Born in Lymm, Cheshire, in 1923, Jack Stear Beach was the only child of Harold Beech, a schoolteacher, and his wife Florence Moss. The pair had married in 1915 whilst Harold was serving in the First World War. Little is known of Jack’s childhood, but he attended Lymm Grammar School where he was a senior prefect. He was also a recipient of the Kings Scout Award, the highest award a scout can achieve.
Jack lived at St. Anselm hall between October 1941 and March 1942, whilst completing a short course at the University of Manchester. Aged 18, Jack entered the RAF on completion of his studies and began pilot training in Canada. He was then assigned to No. 17 Operational Training Unit (OUT) as a pupil pilot on Wellington HE276.
On 3rd March 1943, Jack was one of six pilots involved in a night navigation training exercise in Silverstone, Northamptonshire. The team successfully completed the training exercise, but as they were preparing to land back at base the plane suffered port engine failure. The plane was unable to land the first time due to another aircraft on the runway but a second landing attempt proved impossible and they crash-landed 300 yards short of the runway, hitting two trees on the way and bursting into flames. All six men onboard were killed.
Jack was 20 years old when he died. He is buried in Lym Churchyard and is remembered on the NO. 17 OUT memorial at RAF Silverstone. He is also remembered on the war memorial at Lymm Grammar School and at St. Anselm Hall.
Sapper D. Blaylock
13 April 1945, Aged 21
Uden War Cemetery, Netherlands
Born in 1924, David Blaylock was the oldest surviving child of Robert Blaylock and Lillian Skinner. David grew up with his parents and siblings in Swindon, where his father was the founder of ‘Blaylocks,’ now run by the fourth generation of his family and the only remaining independent shoe in Swindon.
In May 2019, the Hall Chaplain spoke to David’s brother Arthur, then in his mid-nineties, who remembered David as a placid man and a devout Christian. David was connected to Florence-street mission, an independent church in Swindon, and served as a Sunday School teacher there. After leaving school, David worked for the National Providence Bank where he achieved success in his exams in August 1941.
After enlisting in the army, David was sent to the Officer Cadet Training Unit at the University of Manchester and between October 1942 and March 1943 was a student at St. Anselm Hall. David later left officer training, however, and joined the Royal Engineers as a Sapper. Assigned to the 294th Field Company, David fought with them across Europe between 1944 and 1945.
In the Spring of 1945, the 294th Field Company were fighting were fighting the 2nd Battle of Arnhem (Operation Anger), an operation whose aim was to liberation Arnhem, in the Netherlands. During the fighting, David had been injured and was picked up by an ambulance. Unfortunately, the ambulance was subsequently hit by a shell and David was killed. David was killed on 13th April 1945, at the age of twenty-one. Twenty-four days after his death, Germany surrendered, ending the Second World War in Europe.
It was on a Saturday evening that Arthur went to see their mother following an open-air Bible meeting and found here very distressed and utterly broken-hearted having received news of David’s death. Arthur recalled that their father was a tower of strength and with the ‘hope of the Faith took the news stoically and quietly.’
David is buried at Uden War Cemetery in the Netherlands, where his grave inscription reads “With Christ is far better” Saved by Grace,’ a reflection of his Christian faith. After the war, David’s father donated a Guinea towards the hall war memorial fund.
Pilot Officer G.F. Disbury
9 July 1943, Aged 21
Cambrai (Route de Solesmes) Cemetery, France
Geoffrey Disburys’ parents, Robert Disbury and Frances Coles, were married in 1911. Their eldest son, Arthur, was born in 1913 and Geoffrey followed nine years later in June 1922. As a young man, Geoffrey attended the City Grammar School in Chester and in the summer of 1940 passed his Higher School Certificate with a distinction in History. On the back of this, he came up to the University in Manchester in the Autumn of 1940 to study for an Arts degree (comprising of History, Geography, English and French) and, during this period, was a resident of St. Anselm Hall. In addition to his University studies, Geoffrey was a member of the Universities Air Squadron.
At the end of his first year, however, Geoffrey made the decision to leave University and join the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, beginning his training for the role of bomber pilot at the Spartan School of Aeronautics in Miami, America. Despite America being officially neutral until December 1941, the school had been opened in the summer of that year, the U.S. had agreed to train British pilots with the first fifty pilots arriving in October 1941 for ten weeks primary flight training and a further 10 weeks of advanced flight training. By the time Spartan closed in the summer of 1945 it had trained nearly 1500 British cadets, both British and American.
After completing his time at Spartan, Geoffrey returned to complete his training in Britian and was commissioned a pilot officer in 1943, attached to No. 106 (Bomber) Squadron R.A.F. On the night of 8th July 1943, Geoffrey was the second pilot on-board on Lancaster Bomber ED720, where he had been placed during Operation Cologne in order to gain operational experience prior to piloting his own crew. With him were seven other crew members.
Departing from RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire, where 106 squadron were then based, at 10PM on the night of 8th July 1943, ED720 were one of nearly 300 aircraft taking part in a bombing raid over Cologne, Germany. The crew successfully released their bombs and began the return flight but over Northern France a fault forced them to turn off the fourth engine leaving them- to quote crew member Frederick Smooker’s family- ‘the classic sitting duck.’ Now flying on three engines, the crews speed decreased significantly and the first pilot made the decision to shift from a weaving pattern to flying straight in order to catch up with the remaining aircraft ahead of them. With the aircraft already struggling, an attack from a German night fighter- I/NJG4- caused further damage. After Engine three failed, the remining engines compensated by increasing their thrust. According to Smoooker, the plane speed up so much that the crew screamed ‘like banshees.’ The order was given to bail out, before the plane crashed over Quievy, France, at approximately 3:30 AM.
The sole survivor of the crash was Frederick Smooker who bailed out and, on landing, found the wreckage of the aircraft burning in a field 500 meters away. He evaded capture for fifty-six days before being taken to Fresnes Prison, Paris, and spent the rest of the war in as a Prisoner of War in Stalag Camp 4B.
Geoffrey’s fate, however, remained unknown to his family. It was not until Frederick was released in 1945 that he was able to confirm that the other seven members of his crew had been killed. To quote a local paper ‘Hopes for the safety of… Pilot Officer Francis Disbury…. cherished for nearly two years have been shattered…’ The paper went on to describe how Geoffrey was ‘very popular with members of the crew, and we are all very grieved to lose such a brilliant, highly respected young leader…’
When the hall made contact with Geoffrey’s family after the war, his elder brother Arthur initially wrote asking the Geoffrey’s details be removed from the hall’s database as ‘letters addressed here reopen the old wound with mother.’ Later, however, Arthur met with Lawrence Tremlett, by then the sub-warden, in Chester, and a longer letter survives from this encounter giving more details of Geoffrey’s life and service. Geoffrey is buried with five of his crew members in Cambrai (Route De Solesmes) Cemetery in the Nord Region of France. In addition to the hall war memorial, Geoffrey is remembered on the War Memorial at Chester City Grammar School (now Queen’s Park School.) He is buried, along with his five other crew mates, at Cambrai (Route De Solesmes) Cemetery in Northern France.
Lieutenant G. Fewings
1 March1946, Aged 22
Madras War Cemetery, India
The youngest of the four children of George Fewings and Emmeline Hobbs, Gerald Fewings was born in Tiverton, Devon, in 1924. Gerald's father George ran the family stone masonry business, which he had inherited from his own father William. As a young man, Geoffrey attended Tiverton Grammar School where he developed a keen passion for sports, including Football, Rugby and Cricket. After leaving school, Gerald began training under A.J. Dennis, a sanitary inspector at Tiverton Rural District Council. He was also a member of the local Home Guard, which was formed in May 1940.
In 1942, however, at the age of 18, Gerald enlisted as a Royal Engineer. Taking a short course, he came up to the University of Manchester and was a resident of St. Anslem Hall between October 1942 and March 1943. Following further military training, Gerald was commissioned in December 1943, being promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant in January 1944.
During his service, Gerald was attached to the 79th Armoured Division, which had been reorganised in April 1943 to create and test equipment prior to D-day. After D-day, the 79th Armoured Division were posted to France and in November 1944 Gerald was a part of Operation Infatuate, an Anglo-Canadian operation to secure Antwerp harbour. During the Operation, Gerald was part of a specialised division who used modified amphibious tanks (named Hobart’s Funnies after their designed Percy Hobart.) During this operation, Gerald was slightly wounded but recovered and was later sent to Germany, where he remained until late 1945, when he was posted to India.
Two months into his posting to India, on the morning of 28th February 1946, Gerald was in charge of a part of Royal Engineers on instruction demolition duties. Unfortunately, the explosives used detonated prematurely, resulting in Gerald being severely burned. He was taken to a military hospital, where he died early the next morning. Gerald is buried at Madras War Cemetry in Tamil, Nadu, India. In his home town, Gerald in remembered on the war memorial of St Peter’s Church. He is also remembered on a separate plaque within the church, which was unveiled in January 1948 by Capt. J.R. H. Warren, a former member of the Home Guard. The dedication service ended with Gerald’s favourite hymn, ‘Fight the good fight.’
Lieutenant K.C. Graves
15 January 1943, Aged 29
Tripoli War Cemetary, Libya.
'Ken’ as he was known was born in Aspatria, Cumberland, in May 1913. The younger son of John Graves, a railway clerk and later station master, and his wife Lottie Costall, Ken grew up in Aspatria with his parents and his elder brother Thomas. Sadly, Ken’s hall file has not survived and so no details can be drawn from it, but it is believed that he attended The Nelson School for Boys in Wigton. Here, he displayed some of his early passion for sports, becoming at one stage captain of the school fifteen [sports team.]
Having passed his higher school certificate, Ken came up to the University of Manchester in 1931 to study for an Ordinary BA. He remained in hall throughout his four years of study, leaving in Summer 1935. Ken appeared in several hall plays through his time in hall, including the ‘The Forrest’ (1933-1934) where he played Tregay and ‘Wings Over Europe’ (1934-35) where he played Richard Staff, Secretary of State for War. In 1935-36, Ken made a further contribution to hall life by taking the role of JCR President for the session.
In addition to his hall activities, Ken continued to develop his passion for sports. In 1932, he was called upon to play for the University and in 1934 he was given colours as a member of the Universities 1st XV team.
On leaving University in 1935, Ken went on to study for a Teaching Diploma at Carnegie Physical Training College in Leeds, where his older brother Thomas also studied. In 1936, Ken and Thomas were chosen to be a part of the College Delegation attending the Congress of Physical Education, an educational event designed as part of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Ken graduated from Carnegie in 1938 with a second class teaching diploma and found employment as sports master at Eltham College, Kent. In 1940, at the age of 27, however, he joined the British Army and became a member of the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers.) The Sherwood Rangers had begun the war on horseback but, after losing their horses in 1940, and following a brief stint with artillery, became a tank corps in late 1941. Heavily involved in the Northern Africa campaign, they first used tanks at the battle of Al Halfa (Egypt.)
In recounting the activities of C Squadron in Tripoli, Jonathan Hunt (in his book) wrote that ‘Lieutenant Ken Graves… had always been able to make that vital opiate, laughter, which the regiment survived on, and was loved by all for it…’ One of Ken’s most well known anecdotes is ‘The Cheese Sandwich of El Alamain,’ which satirises the chaos of tank warfare:
‘The 75 is firing. The 37 is firing, but it is traversed round the wrong way. The Browning is jammed. I am saying "Driver, advance" on the A set, and the driver, who can’t hear me, is reversing. And as I look over the top of the turret and see twelve enemy tanks fifty yards away, someone hands me a cheese sandwich.’
By early 1943, the Sherwood Rangers were fighting to capture Tripoli, the capital of Libya. The Regimental diary from 15th February records ‘Germans putting down devastatingly accurate machine gun and shell fire on the crews evacuating their tanks. Lt. Freddie Copper and Lt Ken Graves are missing…’ The following day, Padre George Hales found the men’s bodies lying beside their tanks. On 23rd January 1915, just over a week after Ken’s death the Sherwood Rangers were successful in their fight for Tripoli.
Ken, aged 29 years old when he died, was buried at Tripoli War Cemetery. His grave inscription reads ‘Our thoughts are ever with you to memory ever dear.’ The only member of staff at Eltham College to be killed in action during the Second World War, he is remembered on the war memorial there as well as in his home church of St Kentigern's, Aspatria. Closer to home, Ken’s father, John, is recorded as donating two guineas towards the hall war memorial fund in the years after the war.
Gunner J.M. Griffiths
7 July 1942, Aged 27
Caserta Cemetery, Italy.
‘Maldwyn’ as he was always known was born in Porth, Glamorganshire, in 1915 and was the only child of William Griffiths and Elizabeth Aubery. William, who had served with the RAF during the First World War, had found work as an elementary (primary) school teacher and a lay preacher. As a young man, Maldwyn attended Rhondda County School for Boys, a local grammar school, between 1928 and 1935 before spending a further year at Trefecca College, Breacon. His headteacher there, Mr. Phillips, described Maldwyn as having ‘taken his share in the College activities… & is held in much esteem by the staff & by his fellow Pupils…’
Maldwyn came up to the University of Manchester in 1936 and took residence in St. Anselm Hall. The strength of his references were such that he was offered a place without interview, one of only two students in the hall’s history known to have been granted this privilege. Having excelled at Languages at school (with French and Welsh at High Certificate level), Maldwyn elected to study Spanish at University. He lived in hall during the first two years of his degree, being a resident in the 1936-37 and 1937-38 sessions. Among his other contributions, he took part in the 1936-37 hall play ‘The Terror’, playing newly released criminal ‘Soapy Marks.’ Fellow Slemsman Peter Psomadellis later recalled Maldwyn as ‘a very dear friend to me… I still keep an old picture in which Griffiths, Winterbot[tom] Tom and myself are together.’
By the Easter Term of 1938, however, Madlwyn was facing financial difficulties and, as a result of this, he made the decision to leave the hall at the end of that academic year. At the time the Warden wrote to him ‘We shall be sorry to lose you; but at the same time, I think you are probably doing the right thing…’
Maldwyn remained in Manchester, most likely living in lodgings, and on completing his degree in 1939, he volunteered for the Royal Artillery. During his embarkment leave in 1941, he married Kathleen Jones, a languages graduate from Cardiff University who had gone on to complete post-graduate studies in Paris.
Serving in the 11th (Honourable Artillery Company) Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery Maldwyn was able to utilise his talent for languages as an Interpreter. The 11th Regiment were initially sent to Egypt in September 1941 before being moved to Libya in December 1941. During this time fighting was ongoing in the western Desert Campaign and it is likely that Maldwyn became caught up in this. In late January, he in recorded as having been taken as a Prisoner of War.
Although Maldwyn’s initial movements as a Prisoner of War are unknown, his service record indicates that he was transferred to Italy and by April 1942 was in Camp 66, a transitory camp south of Naples. The camp was described by another prisoner as ‘a mess. The only accommodation, some tatty tents, into which five or six inhabitants competed for space… Tents were scattered haphazardly, not in lines. Somewhere a larger marquee housed the cookhouse, from where issued what were laughingly called meals-an insult to the word…’
By the start of May, Maldwyn was suffering from dysentery and had been sent to a military hospital near Naples. From there, he was sent to the Military Hospital at Caserta, then the largest PoW hospital in the country. Maldwyn developed Colitis with Peritonitis (Perforation of the Colon), most likely a rare complication of the dysentery, which sadly proved fatal. He died in the Hospital on 7th July 1942, two days after his 27th Birthday. He was buried, like many other prisoners of war who died at the hospital, at Caserta War Cemetery. His gravestone reads ‘Greater Love have no man.’
At the time of his death, Kathleen was assistant principal of the Road Transport Board, London. At the end of the war, she married an American friend from her student days in Paris and moved to America where she died in the 1980s.
Signaller F.J. Harrison
March 1942, Aged 22
Commemorated on the Rangoon Memorial, Burma.
Signalman Frederick John Harrison, known as Fred to his friends and family, was born in October 1919 to parents Herbert Harrison and Edith Thorpe of Measham, a large village four miles south of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. Fred’s father Herbert was a farm labourer. Despite this, Fred was able to attend Ashby-de-la-Zouche Grammar School between 1930 and 1938. Here he achieved his School Certificate but failed his Higher School Certificate, meaning he was unable to matriculate to University and instead attended King Alfreds Training College, Winchester (now Winchester University), from which he achieved a teacher training certificate in 1940.
Shortly after leaving the training college, in August 1940, Fred enlisted in the British Army. At the time of his enlistment he was described as being 5ft 11 3/8 inc. with brown hair and hazel eyes.
At the age of 21, before beginning his Army service, Fred came to study a short course at the University of Manchester and lived at St Anselm Hall from April to September 1941. Upon completing his studies he joined the Royal Corps of Signals as a Signalman, responsible for combat communications.
As a member of the Royal Corps of Signals, Fred was sent to India in December 1941 and then to Burma. According to eyewitnesses, Fred was one of several men bathing in the Irrewaddy river on the evening of 28th March 1942. The spot where they were bathing was known to have a bank which sheared down very sharply. Fred had been in the water up to his knees but was heard by the other soldiers present to shout ‘Help; I’m out of my depth.’ Despite attempts to save him, including one man diving in fully clothed, Fred was swept away. The men spent half an hour looking for him and then returned with poles to search the river bed but no trace of him could be found.
Fred lost his life at the age of 22 and just six months into his military career. In a further tragic twist, his belongings were lost and his family were left in the dark as to his fate. Letters show his mother Edith searching for information as late as 1949.
Fred is remembered on the Rangoon Memorial, located in the Taukkyan War Cemetery in Burma, which commemorates approximately 27,000 men who died during the Burma Campaign and have no known grave. He is also remembered on his hometown war memorial in Measham, Burton-on-Trent as well as at Winchester University and at St. Anselm Hall.
Lieutenant H.C. Hooper
14 September 1943, Aged 21
Fayid Cemetery, Egypt.
.
Born in South London in 1922, Hubert Charles Hooper- or Hugh as was known- was the son of Hubert Gordon and Emma Vera Harrison. Growing up in London with his father, a shop worker, his mother, and his twin sister. As a young man, Hugh attended Alleyn’s School, Dulwich, between 1931 and 1940. According to the school magazine, he was a prefect for Tuley’s House in early 1940 and later in the year was also the House Captain.
On leaving school in the summer of 1940, Hugh joined the British Army and between October 1941 and March 1942 was a resident at St. Anselm Hall whilst completing a University short course. On the completion of his course, Hugh joined the Royal Corps of Signals as part of the 9 Air Formation Signals (9AFS), a small regiment that provided support, mainly in communications, to the RAF. At the time that Hugh joined the regiment in October 1942, they were in Egypt and he remained there serving with them until his death on the 14th September 1943, at the age of 21.
Records suggest the Hubert’s death was caused by an unknown illness. He is buried in Fayid War Cemetery and is remembered on the war memorial of Alleyn’s school as well as at St. Anselm Hall.
Second Lieutenant H.J. Jordaan
21 April 1945, Aged 26
Mauthausen concentration camp.
‘Han’ Jordaan was born in Haakbergan, the Nertherlands, in July 1918, the third of the five children of Jan Gerhard Hendrik Jordaan and Geertruid Bernhardina Stroink. Han’s father was a textile manufacturer and in 1938 he arranged for his son to study for a two year textile course at the College of Technology (UMIST) and for him to live in hall through his studies. Han had previously served with the Dutch Army for two months, but was granted study leave in order to attend the University.
Han arrived at St. Anselm Hall in 1938 and quickly fell into hall life. A letter written by his father to the Warden in October 1938 describes how ‘We had a letter from him last and he likes staying in the Hall very much.’ Photos and Documents belonging to Han’s family provide evidence of him taking part in a range of hall activities, including dances and the annual rag.
In May 1940, shortly before the end of Han’s studies, Germany invaded the Netherlands. On completion of his studies in summer 1940, Han was drafted into the exiled Dutch Royal Navy and sent to Holyhead, which served as one of their bases during this period. Han trained as a Wireless Telegraphy Operator and as an Airgunner for the Dutch Naval Air Services (then operating as a part of the RAF.) An adept Marconist, able to read or send 16 words a minute in Morse Code, Han quickly attracted the attention of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), who invited him to become and Intelligence Officer. Nicknamed Churchill’s Army, the SOE were formed in 1940 and worked underground in Europe and Aisa, demonstrating incredible courage and resourcefulness. At the time of joining the SOE, Han was warned that his chances of survival were slim. He went anyway.
As a Dutch national, Han was selected to work in the Netherlands, where his mission was to organise local sabotage teams and arrange to create havoc amongst German operations in the providence of Utrecht. Han, the wireless operator, and his colleague Gozewin ‘Goose’ Ras, the organiser, were parachuted into the Netherlands on the night of 28th March 1942. Landing near Holten, the pair spent two days staying with Han’s brother Herman in Rijssen, before Ras travelled to The Gooi to make preparations there. Han followed him ten days later, and was hidden in the house of Puck Jurrianns, in Baarn. During his assignment, Han used the alias ‘Johan Roessingh,’ a name inspired by his maternal grandmother, Hendrika Johannah Roessingh.
Unbeknownst to Han, however, the Germans had launched operation Enlandpsiel (The England Game.) In March 1942, the Germans had captured Dutch secret agent Haub Lauwers and forced him to transmit messages back to England. Finding that London had failed to detect the sabotage, they repeated their attempts, thereby setting up a network to control the efforts of the SOE in the Netherlands. The success of their operation is thought to be one of the worst intelligence disasters in the Second World War.
The Germans were monitoring any transmissions which Han made from the time he entered the Netherlands. On 28th April, another captured agent gave away the location of a meeting arranged in a bar in Ultrecht of 1st May. Officers surrounded the building in advance of the meeting and were able to arrest Ras (he was subsequently executed at Mauthausen in 1944.) Jordaan and another agent were able to escape but left behind a notebook containing Jordaan’s phone number. Anton van der Waals, otherwise known as V-man, one of the most notorious Dutch collaborators, used the number to call Han and pretend that he was making contact on behalf of Ras. The pair arranged to meet, and Han was arrested on 3rd May.
After his arrest, Han was interrogated first by Reinhard Heidrich and later by Heinrich Himmler. Like other captured agents, he was also forced to send messages back to England.
After his interrogation, Han was sent to a number of a prisons. Between May and November 1942, he was held with other Englandspeil prisoners at Oranjehotel (Scheveningen prison) in the The Hague. He was then sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp and eventually to Mauthausen, where he died from illness and exhaustion in the spring of 1945, shortly before the liberation on 5th May (the actually date of his death is debated but is generally thought to be late April or early May.)
After the war, Han’s father Jan donated £10 to the first hall war memorial. Han is also remembered at his family’s cemetery at Spoorstraat, Haaksbergen. The Han Jordaan scout group, where he was a scout during his youth, is also named in his memory, after his family donated the funds to build a new scout hut in the late 1940s. In 1953, Han was posthumously awarded the Bronze Cross, one of the highest military decorations given by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Corporal D.J. Kenner
8 September 1943, Aged 24
Salerno War Cemetery.
Donald Kenner was born in Sheffield in 1919. His father James Kenner D.Sc., Ph.D., F.R.S., a chemist by trade, had been in charge of the gas station as Calais during the First World War and after the war had returned to his work as lecturer in chemistry at Sheffield University. In 1918, he married a former student, Annie Moore Matthews. Donald was their eldest son and he had one younger brother, George Wallace Kenner (also a well known chemist) who was born in 1922. In 1924, the family moved to Australia where James had secured a job as Professor in Organic Chemistry at the University of Sydney. In 1928, however, they returned to England, a move partly driven by James’ desire to improve the teaching of applied Chemistry in England and partly by personal and domestic reasons. James had been employed as Chair of Technological Chemistry in the Manchester College of Technology and so the family settled in Manchester accordingly.
In Australia, Donald had attended the newly founded Knox Grammar School and on the family’s return to England he and his brother George attended Didsbury Prepatory School, before going on to Manchester Grammar School, where Donald was a student between 1930 and 1936. In references provided to the hall, the High Master of Manchester Grammar, Douglas Miller, described Donald as ‘a very able boy who has excellent social qualifications and will certainly be happy in a communal life.’
Donald began an Honours Course in Engineering at the University of Manchester in 1936 but he did not enter hall until the 1937-38 session, in the second year of his degree. At the time of his application, Arnold Gibson, a professor of engineering at the University, wrote to the Warden that ‘[Donald] is a rather quiet, retiring boy, and I think would fit in well with his colleagues in a hall of residence…’ Donald was in hall for two years. Sometime in his second year (the 1938-39) session his father wrote to the Warden thanking him for ‘ a good talk with Donald… I think he has allowed the present ills of the world to distract him from what for the present be his main purpose.’
On completing his degree in the summer of 1939, however, Donald joined the British Army and, as an engineer, was placed into the Royal Corps of Signals attached to the Eighth Army Troops Company. On 8th September 1943, Donald’s unit was involved in Operation Ferdy, an attempt by British and US troops to land at Vibo Valentina Marina in Southern Italy. The landing had initially been planed for 2:30 AM but the night proved to be particularly dark and it was another ninety minutes until, just an hour before dawn, the landing place was located. Added to this, the coast road was filled with retiring but fully equipped German troops who pinned down the troops almost before they had left the beaches. The fighting continued until 11PM that evening. Somewhere in this chaos, Donald was fatally shot.
The tragedy of Donald’s death was compounded for his family by the fact that his mother Annie was killed in a cycling accident on holiday on 23rd September, just over two weeks after the death of her son although before the news of his death have been received. The effect on Donald’s father, James, was particularly acute and can perhaps be seen in the rapid deterioration of his handwriting by 1950. According to an obituary ‘Kenner’s reaction to this appalling double blow was to plunge more deeply than ever into his work, but his loneliness was apparent to his friends during the remainder of his association with the College of Technology.’
Donald is buried in Salerno War Cemetery, close to Naples on Italy’s west coast. His grave inscription reads ‘Gentle, faithful and widely beloved- ‘I will do my best.’ Donald is remembered on the war memorial at Manchester Grammar School, as well as at St. Anselm Hall where, after the war, his father gave £21 towards the war memorial fund, an amount which was by far the largest donation received.
Flying officer D. Lillington.
9 June 1944, Aged 20
St Mary's Churchyard, Ruslip, UK.
Photo and caption courtesy of yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk
Born in Hampshire in 1924, David Lillington was the youngest of three boys. His father, Albert, had built a career in the British Army as an electrical engineer and had married his mother, Ethel, in Bermuda in 1920. The couple lived in Canada, and then in Portsmouth, Hampshire, (where David worked in the Royal Engineers Office) before moving to Ruislip where David attended first Bishop Winnington Ingram School and then a local grammar, Bishopshalt School. In early 1941, David was one of the earlier members of the No.14 F Uxbridge Squadron A.T.C., the F denoting that No.14 Uxbridge was a founding Air Training Corps. Having passed in August 1941, he was selected to complete a short course at the University of Manchester between October 1941 and March 1942. Through this period, he was a resident at St. Anselm Hall.
On completing his studies, David joined the 102 Squadron RAF and was sent to Canda to complete his flight training, which he did in February 1943. Aged 19, he was the youngest member of his course to pass out as a Pilot Office/Navigator. Serving on a variety of stations through 1943, he was promoted to Flying Officer in August of that year.
The main responsibility of the 102 Squadron, who were based at RAF Pocklington, Yorkshire, was to conduct night sorties bombing German targets alongside smaller missions such as mine-laying. In May 1944, the Squadron were equipped with Handley Page Halifax Mk III aircraft which they used to conduct raids throughout that summer. As the navigator in these operations, David would have been responsible for ensuring that the aircraft remained on course through its journeys.
On the night of 8th June 1944, David was the Navigator on Halifax LW140, whose mission was to lay mines in the water off of Brest, France, while more experienced crews in the squadron took part in a bombing raid over Northern France. On this particular night, poor weather made it very difficult for crews to take off and land. Halifax LW140 were able to take off and complete their mission but on their return they were instructed to divert to RAF Catfoss, thirty miles to the west of Pocklington. Due to the dangers of the Yorkshire Wolds, they were also told to fly above 1500 feet. The instruction to divert was given at 3:46 AM. Shortly afterwards, the aircraft, in spite of orders, dived, possibly to avoid Lancaster LM440 which itself crashed shortly afterwards. At 3:55AM, as a result of the dive, Halifax LW140 struck a large oak tree with its port wing. As a result, the plane started to break up but remained in the air for another 180 yards until it hit a sycamore tree. On landing, it disintegrated completely.
All seven crew members were killed in the accident. As it had taken place on British soil, they were returned to their homes for burial. David, the youngest member of the crew at 20 years and 9 months old, was buried with full honours at the parish church of St. Martin’s, Ruislip. His headstone reads ‘He loved England’s green and pleasant land the company of his friends.’ After the end of the war, his father Albert donated a Guinea towards the hall’s war memorial fund.
Corporal P. Liver
4 July 1944, Aged 21
Caserta Cemetery, Italy.
Peter Liver was born in November 1922 in Clitheroe, Lancashire, and was the eldest son of Cecil Liver, a factory manager, and his wife Mary Knowles. Peter grew up in Clitheroe with his parents and his younger brother Billy and attended Clitheroe Grammar School. As a young boy, Peter developed a passion for the Scouts, which he joined at the age of ten. He was later part of the Clitheroe Grammar School Scout Troup, earning both his National Service Badge and his Kings Scout award, the highest award that a Scout can get. Peter also contributed to his school as, among other things, Secretary of Games and Editor of the School Magazines.
In addition to his scouting activities, Peter was also a committed member of Clitheroe Congregational Church, where he served as secretary to the Young Worshipers Leave and assistant secretary of the Sunday School. On his departure from Clitheroe in 1941, the two groups combined to give him three books as thanks for his service.
Peter was made Head boy of the Clitheroe Grammar School in the 1940-41 year but left partway through the year, in the February of 1941, to join the British Army. He was eighteen years old. An article written on his departure described how ‘I found him a willing worker in any task… He has served his school well.’ From April to September 1941, Peter lived at St. Anselm Hall whilst completing a short course at the University of Manchester.
Little is known of Peter’s army service, but it seems with the Royal Corps of Signals In North Africa and Italy, actions for which he was awarded the Africa Star and the Italian Star. In early 1944, Peter became involved in the Battle of Monte Cassino. A four month struggle which would eventually lead to the capture of Rome, the battle is believed to have been one of the bloodiest and most difficult of the second world. Battling winter weather and mountainous terrain, the soldiers were fighting to break the 100 mile Gustav line and gain control of the road to Rome. One New Zealand soldier later described the fighting as ‘… absolute hell; mortar bombs continued to reign down… the never ending smoke shells meant that we were living in a world where there was no day….’
Peter was seriously wounded on 19th March 1944, during the third of four battles which were fought for Monte Cassino. According to his service record, he had a shell wound to his right thigh, fractures of both legs and wounds to his face. Peter was admitted to a the 2nd General Hospital in Casserta, Italy where he remained critically ill for several months. Peter died on 4th July 1944, at the age of 21. He was buried in Casserta War Cemetery, Italy, where fellow Anselmian Maldwyn Griffiths also lies.
After the war, Peter’s church dedicated a communion table to him. He is remembered at St. Anselm Hall as well as at Clitheroe Grammar School where, in addition to his name on the war memorial, his parents endowed, in his memory, the Peter Liver Prize for Physics.
Pilot Officer R.H. Miller
14 December 1942, Aged 18
Crookes Cemetery, Sheffield, UK.
Raymond Miller was born in January 1924 in Crookes, Sheffield, and was the middle of the three children of Edgar and Ruby Miller, having an older sister, Margaret, and a younger brother, Neville. Little is known of Raymond’s childhood except that in 1934, at the age of 10, he was admitted to Crookes Endowed School.
Raymond was a resident of St. Anselm Hall between October 1941 and March 1942 whilst completing an RAF short course. After completing his studies, Raymond joined 22 Operational Training Unit, who were based at RAF Wellesbourne Mountford, Warwickshire. Here, he would train to become a member of a night bomber crew.
On the night of 14th December, Raymond was one of the crew of Wellington aircraft H3632 (‘Queenie’), who were undertaking a navigation training exercise. With him was another RAF man and three Canadian crew members. Just a mile from their return to base, the aircraft suffered engine failure and crashed in Kissing Tree Lane, Alveston, Gloucestershire. All five crew members were killed. David Warner, speaking to the BBC’s ‘The people’s war series’ recalled that
‘A Wellington bomber with engine failure crashed in the field behind our cottage and bordering Kissing Tree Lane… our next-door neighbour, Doris Pitcher, had heard and seen the plunging blur of throttled noise. Clad in her wrap-around apron and fluffy slippers she sprinted towards unevenly over the furrows, strode amongst the Perspex triangles, the stubs of propellers and the smoking dead engines, to drag the airmen out. If a brave woman’s will could have save them, they would have lived. But those not dead died on their way to Hospital.’
Raymond, aged just 18 when he died, is buried with his mother and father in Sheffield (Crookes) Cemetery where the grave inscription reads “Sleep Beloved, We Shall Meet Again,” a line most likely paraphrased from the Hymn ‘The Christian’s Good-Night.’
Pilot Officer W.T.J. O'Brien
3 December 1944, Aged 21
Hendon Cemetery, UK.
William O’Brien was born in Edgware in 1923, the son of Thomas O’Brien and Clara Mills. Little Is known of William’s childhood except that he attended Owens’ Boys School in Islington between 1934 and 1940. After completing his education, William entered the RAF and between October 1941 and March 1942 was a student at St. Anselm Hall whilst completing a short course.
After completing his short course, William served in 184 Squadron RAF. Formed in December 1942, 184 Squadron was a fighter bomber squadron. Initially flying Hawker Hurricane’s, they had converted to Hawker Typhoon’s in late 1943 and had played an active role in D-day.
The events of 3rd December 1944 were described in the log book as ‘the most tragic day in the Squadron’s history.’ In the winter of 1944, the squadron had been posted to RAF Warmwell in Dorset whilst undertaking operations to Volkel airbase in the Netherlands. On the 3rd December, a formation of six Typhoons led by Flight Lieutenant Haddow left Volkel to return to Warmwell. During the flight, bad weather forced two of the pilots to land before they had reached the English Channel. The remaining four kept going until they reached the Kent Coast. At Folkestone, however, the first three planes, which included Williams’, flew into the cliffs, and their pilots were killed. The fourth pilot, seeing flashes ahead, pulled up in the cloud and was able to land safely at RAF Manston.
William is buried at Hendon Cemetery, where his grave inscription reads ‘Always in my heart.’ In addition to being remembered at St. Anselm Hall, he is also remembered on the memorial at Owens’ School.
Pilot Officer G.A. Ratcliffe
5 March 1943, Aged 25
Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany.
George Arthur Ratcliffe was born in Cheshire in 1915, but grew up in Market Drayton, Shropshire. He was the youngest of three children born to Isaac Ratcliffe and Margaret Emma France, having an older sister, Hilda, and an older brother, John Robert Francis (Bob.) The children’s father was a farm labourer.
As a young man, George attended Market Drayton Grammar School with the help of a Whitworth Scholarship. On achieving his Higher School Certificate in 1934, he came up to the University of Manchester to study the cotton industry and was a resident of St. Anselm Hall in the 1934-35 session. On his departure from the hall, he wrote to the Warden 'I shall always remember 'Floreat Aula Sancti Anselmi and all that it stands for'* After completing his degree, George remained in Manchester where he found employment with Messrs. Sparrow and Hardwick, Cotton Merchants.
In about 1940, George joined the Scottish Borderers, and infantry regiment of the British Army, but he was later transferred to the RAF, where he reached the rank of Pilot Officer within 218 Gold Coast Squadron, a bomber command unit that had a central role in the targeting of German cities throughout the war. In 1941, George married Violet Poole.
By 1943 218 Squadron was based in RAF Downham Market in the west of Norfolk and were operating the Short Stirling aircraft. Stirling R9333, to which George was assigned, had a long history of mechanical problems, with at least seven incidents recorded between its arrival on 31st May 1942 and the Essen raid in March 1943. George was assigned to the aircraft with a crew who had been flying together since December 1942, although they were not officially transferred to RAF Downing Market until January 1943. Having undertaken a raid against Hamburg in early March 1943, the Squadron were sent on their main mission in March as part of the Ruhr campaign with flights over Essen, Germany, being the main target. George was the pilot of the plane, which by this time had previously completed twelve successful bomber missions. With him were a further seven crew members.
On the night of the 5th of March 1943, George was part of a night raid comprising of 442 aircraft whose mission it was to target Essen. Having made it to the target area, George's aircraft was shot down by flak, resulting in the tragic death of all eight crew members on board.
Tragically, George’s parents would lose their other son, 31-year-old Bob, less than six months later, after he disappeared in a raid over Hamburg in August 1943. It is thought that he was probably shot down over the North Sea but his body was never recovered. At the time of Bob’s death, he had two young sons, aged 3 and 10 months. George and Violet had no children together.
George’s remains were also missing. Only in 1949, six years later, were the crew found and reburied at Reihswald Forest War Cemetery in Kleve, Germany. They are remembered at R.A.F Downham Market.
* Scribbled on the left-hand lintel of the entrance door to Dewar Wing are the words of the hall toast 'Floreat Aula Sancti Anselmi.’ Roughly translating as ‘May St. Anselm Hall Flourish’, the words are probably inspired by the traditional toast of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford ‘Floreat Aula,’ where Warden Armytage had been a student. The provenance of the tradition to write the toast over the entrance to the hall is lost to time but each year care is taken to ensure that the words do not fade. During his wartime experiences George would have found similar expressions of fraternity, friendship, belonging and common identity amongst his comrades in the RAF.
Sub-Lieutenant F.J. Stamper
23 October 1941, Aged 24
Commemorated on the Lee-on-Solent Fleet Air Arm Memorial,UK.
‘Jack’ Stamper as was always known intended to be a teacher. He grew up in Wingate, a pit village in Country Durham, where his father, John, was a teacher at the local primary school, later rising to the position of headmaster. John Stamper had married his wife Mary in Cumberland in 1915. Jack, born whilst his father was serving in the First World War, was their eldest child and they had one younger daughter, Enid, who was born in 1921.
In 1930, Jack secured a scholarship for the newly opened Wingate A. J. Dawson Secondary School, where he did well, securing a place in the year above that of the rest of his age group. The senior English master, Mr. Stewart, wrote in a glowing reference to the hall ‘you will be doing St. Anselms no disservice if you admit him… [he] was the best student I had in the year …’ Jack was also a keen sportsman and had become a mainstay of the schools Rugby & Cricket teams as well as playing for several outside teams.
On leaving school, Jack became the first Wingate A.J. Dawson student to secured a county exhibition scholarship, worth £80 a year, and was also the recipient of the boys head teachers prize that year. In the August before he came up, Jack’s friend Edward Alderton wrote to the Warden that ‘[Jack] is looking forward tremendously to coming up in October’
Jack entered the University of Manchester in 1936, studying English, and lived at St Anselm throughout his period of study. In his third year he also served as Treasurer of the Junior Common Room. In addition to his activities in hall, Jack also continued his sporting activities and in his 2nd year (1937-38) he was awarded half-colours in University cricket. Jack’s sister, Enid, was also at Manchester and knew many of the men in St. Anselm.
As Jack left the hall in 1939, the Second World War broke out. Unable to be a pilot due to his poor eyesight, he was instead assigned to 800 Naval Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm where he worked as a telegraphist. In April 1941, the Squadron had been transferred from HMS Ark Royal in Gibraltar to HMS Furious, from which they carried out an attack on the Finnish Port of Petsamo. They then transferred to the HMS Indomitable, in the West Indies. According to notes from the Airmen Role of Honour, Jack crashed in the North Atlantic between Jamaica and Cape Town after his plane ran of fuel during a Radio-Telephone training exercise. He died on 23rd October 1941, although the craft and its crew were never found. Jack is commemorated on the Fleet Air Arm Memorial at Lee-on-the-Solent, near Portsmouth.
After the war, in 1950, the hall made contact with Jack’s mother and sister (his father having died in 1948), who donated £5 to the hall war memorial fund, with Enid adding that ‘[mother] is glad to subscribe in remembrance of the happy years my brother spent in Hall.’ Jack is also remembered on the war memorial at Wingate A. J. Dawson school. His name appears in one final place, however. In 1957 Jack's contemporary, Thomas Lawrenson, dedicated the book he had written on the history of St. Anselm Hall to ‘the memory of Jack Stamper.’
Flight Lieutenant E.C. Thyer
14 August 1944, Aged 23
Rakowicki Cemetery, Poland.
.
_edited.jpg)
Edwin Thyer came from humble beginnings. Born in Pontypridd, Glamorganshire, in September 1921, he was the eldest son of Edwin Theyer, a miner, and his wife Mary Elliott. The eldest of two boys, Edwin initially attended a local primary school but in 1933 secured a place at Pontypridd Boys County School, the local grammar school. During his seven years at the school, Edwin was successful academically and socially. He played Cricket and Rugby in the schools’ 1st (highest) teams and was also connected to the Tennis and Swimming teams, as well taking part in the School Orchestra and being a Prefect. In providing a reference to support his hall applications, Edwin’s headteacher, Mr. Thomas, wrote that ‘He is a most promising student in every way… He will certainly derive every profit from an Honours Course…’
Edwin was a talented linguist, choosing Latin, French and Spanish as the three main subjects of his higher certificate, and he came up to the University of Manchester in 1940 to study Modern Languages. To support him in this, he was successful in securing a Major Scholarship of £60, as well as a St. Anselm Hall scholarship of £15 and an Education Grant of £43 (granted on the basis of his plan to go into teaching.) As this would not cover all his costs, however, Glamorgan County Council agreed to extend to him an additional loan of £20 for each year of study.
Edwin remained in hall for several sessions before deciding to go down and join the RAF. On leaving University, Edwin joined No. 178 Squadron, a heavy bomber Squadron who were formed in 1943 and operated in the Mediterranean throughout the war. In August 1944, during the conference of the Mediterranean Allied Air Force, it was decided that No. 178 would be take part in the Warsaw Airlift, a multi-force operation to drop supplies into Warsaw. During the airlift, 41 of the 306 allied aircraft involved were destroyed, including Edwin’s.
His plane, Liberator KG873 was one of twenty-five aircraft involved in the airdrop on the night of 13th/14th August. Despite very bad conditions, the planes set off from Italy intending to make an 1800 mile round trip to Warsaw. Liberator KG 873 successfully delivered its drop under heavy fire and attempted to head south out of Poland but was shot down over Wietrzychowice, Tarnow, around 300km south of Warsaw. All seven crew members, including Edwin, were killed. Members of the nearby village of Sikozyce buried the crew together and maintained the grave until July 1948, when the men were reinterred in a communal burial plot at Rakowicki cemetery.
In September 1949, Edwin’s father visited the hall which his son had spoken so much of. Although he did not give to the initial war memorial fund, he later made a return visit to the hall in July 1954 to see the War Memorial and during the visit he donated 3 guineas to purchase books for the library in his sons memory.
Leading Airman G.G.J. Warburton
27 January 1941, Aged 21
Commemorated on the Lee-on-the-Solent Fleet Air Arm Memorial, UK.
Leading Airman Guy Gordon John Warburton was born in Treforest, Pontypridd, in July 1919 and was the eldest child of Reginald Warburton, a railway worker, and Lillian Bugler. Growing up in Pontypridd with his parents and his younger sister Christine, Guy attended Pontypridd Intermediate School where his headteacher described him as ‘one of my outstanding boys.’ He was ‘one of our [the schools] most active prefects’ and also took part in various societies, as well as having a keenness for sport, playing ‘a very good game of Tennis’, as well as Football, Swimming and Water Polo. In addition to his school activities, Guy was a devout Christian, being a chorister at St. Catherine’s church where he was described by the Vicar as ‘the leader of [the] young men at the Church.’
Guy was also successful academically and on leaving school in 1937, was awarded a county scholarship of £60 with tuition fees, enabling him to study modern languages at the University of Manchester between 1937 and 1939. During his two years in hall, Guy apparently made friends with fellow student Charles Wrathmell, with whom he was staying when the National Register was taken on 29th September 1939.
Sometime after leaving the hall in 1939, Guy joined the Fleet Air Arm, a branch of the Royal Navy which operated aircraft from Navy ships.
While little is known about Guy’s experiences with the Fleet Air Arm, it is known that on in January 1941 he was a passenger aboard the SS Almeda Star, one of 142 members of the Fleet Air Arm travelling to RNAS Picaro, Trinidad. The ship had sailed from Liverpool on 15th January but at 7:45 AM on the morning of 17th January she was torpedoed by German Submarine U-96, commanded by Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock. After the ship stopped but failed to sink, the Germans continued to fire multiple torpedoes. The fourth final torpedo, fired at 9:55 AM, hit the forepart of the ship and it sank within three minutes. Recovery efforts failed to find any trace of either the ship or the 360 souls onboard.
Guy is remembered on the Fleet Air Arm Memorial at Lee-on-the-Solent, near Portsmouth as well at St. Anselm Hall. At his home church of St. Catherine’s, Guy was one of four men from the parish who lost their lives in the War and who had prayer books dedicated to their memory in late 1945.
Flight Lieutenant S. Wetherell
8 April1942, Aged 43
Taukkyan CWG Cemetery, Burma.
Sydney Wetherell’s early life was marked by tragedy. Born in October 1911 in Towcester, Northamptonshire, Sydney was the younger of the two sons of William Grainger Wetherell and Edith Kate George. A schoolteacher in his normal life, William joined the British Army in 1917 and served as a Gunner with the Royal Artillery. In 1918, the family’s world was changed forever when William was killed in France. The date was 31st October 1918, a little over two weeks before the November Armistice.
Another strong parental influence on young Sydney’s life was his paternal grandfather, John Wetherell, who lived with him in the family home. Originally from a poor rural background, John had achieved an M.A. in English from the University of Durham and served 14 years at Liverpool College School before being made Headmaster of Towcester Grammar School in 1893. After the death of his only son, however, John’s health declined and he died in March 1920. Under the terms of his will, John’s effects would pass to his daughter-in-law Edith and then to his grandsons Herbert & Sydney.
Further tragedy followed in October 1925, when Sydney’s mother Kate, aged 45, also died. With no other immediate family, Herbert and Sydney were left in the guardianship of Andrew Gibbs, who, as an assistant master at Towcester Grammar School, had become close friends with their grandfather and was named as one of the trustees of his will.
During his teenage years, Sydney followed in family tradition by attending Towcester Grammar School, where his headmaster, Mr. Clarke, found him to be ‘a very sound boy, of very fair average ability.’ His form master, Humphrey Penney- an alumni of Dalton Hall- however, added, ‘this young man is rather of an age when clothes and the fair sex militate somewhat against continued academic efforts… but… with a reasonable amount of supervision he should do well…’
Sydney came up to the University of Manchester in 1929 to study for a B.A. in Chemistry & Metallurgy and was a resident in St. Anselm Hall throughout his studies. In one letter written by his guardian during this period he was described as ‘very reserved and at times included to be rather headstrong & yet can be easily led & Influenced…’ By this time in his life, any contact Sydney had with his older brother appears to have been limited and it was later recalled by Lawrence Tremlett, a contemporary of Wetherell’s, that ‘he maintained contact only with his guardian…’
Among his other exploits at University, Sydney narrowly avoided being sent down in the spring of 1931 for the crime of rigging the meter. From his written confession (penned during the relative safety of the Easter break,) Sydney admitted that the meter had broken down in January 1931. A temporary repair by fellow Slemsman Thomas Campbell failed to solve the problem and Sydney soon found that the easiest solution was to ‘unlock the meter myself and [readjust] it… I kept a list so that I could make good what I had not paid for.’ Severe talking to’s followed from both the Warden and Mr. Gibbs, who at one stage intervened to ask that Rev. Armytage ‘take a lenient view of the matter… he is quite alone in the world and were I not interested in him, I do not know to whom he could turn.’
Sydney was likely a resident of hall for four years, from 1929 until 1933, completing a B.A., and an MSc.
After completing his time at Manchester, Sydney studied medicine at Guy’s Hospital, where he achieved a Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery of the Society of Apothecaries in 1939. With the outbreak of the Second World War immediate, however, he became an Assistant General Practitioner with training in emergency medicine. In the final months of 1939, Sydney became engaged to Mary Wydenham.
When war broke out, Syndey joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, from he was assigned as a medical officer to the 11th Squadron, one of the oldest fighter squadrons in the RAF. At the end of 1940, shortly before he went on to active service, Sydney and Mary were married. Their only child, a daughter, was born in 1943.
‘Doc’ Wetherell as he was nicknamed by his fellow pilots, was made a flying officer in 1941, with a later promotion to Flight Lieutenant. With the 11th squadron, he served in Yemen, Greece and Egypt before the squadron was reformed and sent to Sri Lanka, followed by Burma. During his service, Sydney was mentioned in dispatches for his leadership of a rescue party told to proceed to the scene of a crash in the hills East of Shillong. In his actions, he was described as displaying ‘very highly commendable leadership and selfless service in that he led his party on foot through jungle hill country for a distance exceeding 65 miles… The fact that two seriously injured non-commissioned officers recovered later was solely due to Wetherell.’
On the night of 8th April 1945, whilst on operation Burma, Sydney was walking with a friend close to the Yaw River, when they were shot at by a Japanese soldier. The friend was injured and Sydney killed. Fellow pilot Frank Proctor later recalled being in the search party who found the pair. Sydney was initially buried at Sinthe, where the Squadron was based, but after the war his remains were transferred to Taukkyan Commonwealth War Cemetery.
Marine T. Wood
5 April 1942, Aged 26
Commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial,UK.
Also remembered on his parents grave.
'Thomas Wood's death was also a shock, and I still remember old Tom, quiet and placid and so very kind.' Peter Psomadllis in a letter to the Warden of St. Anselm Hall. 1950.
Born in July 1915 in the village of Blencogo, near Wigton, Cumberland, ‘Tom’ Wood was the son of a farmer. His parents, Thomas Wood and Jane Hannah Foster, had four children, of whom Thomas the third. Unfortunately, little is known of Tom’s early life except that he attended Blencogo School and then, most likely, one of the local Grammar Schools.
Tom came up to the University of Manchester in 1933 and lived at St. Anselm Hall for five years whilst completing a BA, an MA and, most likely, a teaching diploma. Tom evidently enjoyed hall life and took an active part in it, being a member of the Rugby-Football Team and the history society as well as JCR Treasurer in the 1936-37 session. Around the time that he left hall in 1938, he recommended it to another boy from his home area, Douglas Dolbear, who wrote to the Warden ‘Mr. Wood has told me so much about the Hall and the University that I am looking forward to a very happy time there.’
After leaving the hall in summer 1938, Tom taught in a secondary school in Cockermouth, Cumberland. In 1940, however, at the age of 24, he enlisted in the Royal Marines. On enlistment, he was initially assigned to No. 5 Hostilities Only Squad and sent for training in Deal, with his service record noting that he had very good character and average efficiency. He was also noted to be a particularly good swimmer.
In early 1940, Tom, now a Marine Class 2, joined the Plymouth Division at Stonehouse for further training. Having qualified for Seamanship Parts I & II, he received the rank of Marine Class I and on 13th June 1941 he joined HMS Dorsetshire, a heavy cruiser in the British Navy. At the time when Tom joined her, she was undergoing a refit on the Tyne, after which she was commissioned for Atlantic inception and convoy defense.
In March 1942, HMS Dorsetshire was part of the Eastern Fleet and was based at Ceylon, undergoing a refit. In company with her was HMS Cornwall. On 5th April, the two ships were attacked by over 50 Japanese Planes. HMS Dorsetshire exploded and sunk in less than 10 minutes with HMS Cornwall very quickly sharing the same fate. Of the combined crew of the two ships, 1,122 men were rescued. Tom was not among them, and his body has never been found.
Thomas Wood was eligible for the Campaign Stars for the Atlantic and Burma as well as the British War Medal and 1939-45 Star. He is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial, ‘Panel 75. Column 1.' Thomas had a varied and interesting service career which was tragically cut short when a Japanese aircraft sunk the HMS Dorsetshire in the Bay of Bengal. He is remembered not only on the Plymouth Naval Memorial but also on his parents gravestone in their hometown in Cumbria and at Blencogo School as well as at St. Anselm Hall.
Lieutenant P.H. Woods
10/11th September 1944, Aged 21.
Commemorated on the War memorial at Cassino Cementry Italy.
Peter Woods hailed from a distinguished military family, whose service can be traced back at least three generations. His father, Brigadier General Hugh Kennedy Woods, had fought in both the Boer War and later the First World War, where he was decorated for his actions as the commander of the 9th Battalion Royal Tank Corps at Moreuil in July 1918.
Hugh Woods had married Peter’s mother, Therse Gace, in 1914 and their eldest child, Valerie, was born in 1917. Peter was born in July 1922 and his younger brother Hugh in April 1924. Peter’s childhood was a military one- the family lived at various times in Wareham, Ashton-under-Lyme and, eventually, St Mary Bergholt (Suffolk.) Perhaps as a result of this, both Peter and his younger brother Hugh were sent to boarding school. Peter attended Great Ballard School, then located in New Milton, Hampshire, up to the age of 13 when he was sent to Felsted School in Essex . Placed in Gepps House, Peter became a member of the school O.T.C (Officer Training Corps), an experience which would have made a prime candidate for service during the Second World War.
Following a short course at the University of Manchester in 1941, during which time he was a student at St. Anselm Hall, Peter joined the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars, and was sent to Cyrpus where they were then based. This was followed by nearly a year in Egypt before the Hussars moved to Italy, arriving in May 1944. On the 25th August 1944, whilst located at Recanati, they were inspected by Sir Winston Churchill, then the British Prime Minister, and General Alexandar, the Allied Commander in Italy.
In early September 1944, the Regiment was sent to Coriano, near the east cost of Italy, where fighting was ongoing to break the Gothic Line. Arriving at the front in the night of 3rd September, ‘The infantry, supported by tanks slogged away at enemy positions on the everlasting hills and ridges, gaining 100 yards a time at great cost.’ During their first five days on the line, the 4th Hussars lost five officers, thirty-five men and nine tanks.
The regimental diary for 11th September records ‘Slight enemy air activity during the night. Ops manned as yesterday… during night of 10/11th Lt. R. H, Brogden wounded (later died of wounds), Lt. PH woods missing believed killed (later confirmed killed.)’
One of Peter’s fellow soldiers later wrote to his sister Valerie explaining the circumstances of her brothers death: ‘Peter volunteered to go back with a brother officer, who had bailed out of a tank when it caught alight, leaving his papers behind. When it was spotted that the tank was not destroyed, the Colonel ordered him back to fetch them. With a driver and a Sergeant he went, and they were all killed when blowen up a mine on route.’
As far as is known, Peter’s body was never found. He is remembered on the War Memorial at Casion, Italy, as well as at his Prepatory and Boarding Schools. In his parish church at Bergholt, Peter is remembered both on the war memorial and separately on a small wooden calvary cross.