My thoughts on " Merlin - The Story of the Engine That Won the Battle of Britain and WW2" by Graham Hoyland.

Just read Merlin - The Story of the Engine That Won the Battle of Britain and WW2 (William Collins, 2020) by Graham Hoyland.  An absorbing read about the engine, the aircraft it powered, those who designed it, built it, and flew it.

It also tells the story of the aero-engine from the time of the Wright brothers to the arrival of Sir Frank Whittle’s jet engine.  Hoyland compares the Merlin with contemporary British, American and German engines.  He also discusses the pros and cons of air-cooled and water-cooled engines.

As well as the Spitfire, Hurricane, Mosquito and Lancaster the book mentions the highly significant move to install a Merlin in the North American P51 Mustang.  The Mustang was transformed from a competent low and medium level single seat fighter into perhaps the finest long-range air superiority fighter of WW2 by replacing its American Allison engine with a Merlin.

Having won air superiority in the Battle of Britain powering the Spitfire and Hurricane, the Merlin enabled the Mustang to do the same over Germany and North West Europe in 1944.  As Hoyland writes: “When Goering saw Mustangs over Berlin he was reported to have said that at last the game was up”.

There was also a de-tuned land based version of the Merlin called the Meteor which was eventually fitted to thousands of British tanks.

The book is well worth reading!

The South Somerset village Church of St. John and All Saints at Kingstone, and its memorials and epitaphs.

Kingstone’s village church of St. John and All Saints sits surrounded by farm buildings and cottages atop Kingstone Hill around a mile south-east of Ilminster in South Somerset.  It has a central tower where the bell-ringers stand among the worshippers, and a 13^th century font standing in front of the blocked western doorway.

The village Church of St. John and All Saints, Kingstone, South Somerset viewed from the south.

On the north wall of the nave is a plaque commemorating 2^nd Lieutenant John Arnold Munden of the 6^th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry.  He was killed in action at Delville Wood, during the Battle of The Somme, on 28^th August 1916.

Most of the 6^th Battalion SLI withdrew from the front-line on 19^th August to rest and recuperate at Fricourt, but one company was in Delville Wood between the 26^th and 30^th of August.  It appears that Lt. Munden was serving with that company and was killed on the 27^th or 28^th, according to Commonwealth War Graves Commission records.  He was not immediately identified and subsequently buried as an “Unknown British Officer” at Longueval, (Delville Wood).

 In January 1929 his body was exhumed, identified and re-interred at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery at Serre Road, north-east of Albert.  John Arnold Munden was the 28 year old youngest son of Doctor Charles Munden and Lucy Jane Munden of Ilminster.

The fine stained glass window in the east of the church is in memory of the wives of a local man.  The dedication reads:

“To the glory of God & in memory of Anne Elizabeth who died March 1899 and of Florence Honor who died June 1922. the beloved wives of John Daniel Rutter of Allowenshay. 1924.”

The stained glass east window of St. John and All Saints Church, Kingstone, South Somerset.

Just inside the western wall of the churchyard is a gravestone with an epitaph to Edward (Bob) Gummer who died in 1984 aged 85 having been “THE LAST TENANT OF KINGSTONE FARM 1938-1978”.

Near the south wall is the gravestone of a man with the wonderful name of Zechariah Chick who died at Allowenshay, a hamlet less than a mile east of Kingstone, on March 29^th 1886 aged 84.  Also named are his wife Eliza who died on January 9^th 1901 aged 72, and their sons William Albert Chick who died aged 26 in 1880 and Zechariah Chick who died aged 43 in 1905.

 

The gravestone of Zechariah Chick, St. John and All Saints Church, Kingstone, South Somerset.

Also in the churchyard at Kingstone is a memorial stone commemorating Squadron Leader Sinclair ‘Tif’ O’Connor Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Force Cross, Air Force Medal, who served with RAF Bomber Command’s 49 Squadron during Operation Grapple – the testing of hydrogen bombs.

On 11 September 1958, while holding the rank of Flight Lieutenant, he was pilot and captain of the Vickers Valiant jet bomber (XD827) which dropped a hydrogen bomb on Christmas Island in the Pacific during Operation Grapple Z.

The memorial stone records Sinclair O’Connor’s birth on 26-5-1922 and death on 21-3-2013.

St. John and All Saints Church, Kingstone, South Somerset viewed from the east.

I have previously written, link below, of Lieutenant Arthur Hopkins Tett a Canadian who served in the Boer War and World War One.  His is the only Commonwealth War grave at St. John and All Saints.  He is at rest beneath the branches of a yew.

Views from Somerset: Lieutenant A. H. Tett, a Canadian who served in The Boer War and The Great War. At rest at St. John and All Saints Church in the Somerset village of Kingstone. (viewfromsomerset.blogspot.com)

The Somerset village of Dinder and its Church of St. Michael.

The sleepy Somerset village of Dinder lies tucked away in the southern foothills of the Mendips.  It is but a short drive off the road between Wells and Shepton Mallet, and this summer I took the opportunity to explore it.  Dinder does not appear to have changed much since members of The Women’s Institute described it 35 years ago.

The Somerset Village Book (Countryside Books, 1988) compiled by The Somerset Federation of Women’s Institutes provides this charming chronicle of the village.

“The little village of Dinder, with its 150 inhabitants, lies in the valley between Wells and Shepton Mallet.  It is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Denrenn, meaning ‘in a valley deep between high hills’ – an apt description because Doulting Water, or River Sheppey, rushes along one boundary, and the Mendip Hills rise steeply on either side.

It has been an agricultural village, and it is known that clothing was made here in the 18^th century when there was a leather mill.  An old forge provided services in the main street, in a house still bearing that name.  Along this street the river has been partially diverted to form a wide leat of running water in which the village people could dip their buckets, and this makes a picturesque foreground for a row of 16^th century gabled cottages and a former public house which still displays the sign of ‘The Dragon on the Wheel’, being the crest of the local squire.  Two farmhouses and the Victorian school building also overlook the water.”

I parked by the village hall at the western end of the village, and walked down to the Church of St. Michael.  The impressive lych-gate is dedicated to Ellen Somerville while inside the lych-gate is a commemorative plaque dedicated to Arthur Fownes Somerville who died on the 21^st November 1942 at the impressive age of 92.  I would find more memorials to members of the Somerville family both in the churchyard and inside the church.

The lych-gate at St. Michaels Church in the Somerset village of Dinder.

The commemorative plaque to Arthur Fownes Somerville.  Note the family crest of 'The Dragon on the Wheel'.

The approach to Dinder’s Church of St. Michael is beautifully described by Arthur Mee in his The King’s England – Somerset (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1968).  He writes:

“We walk up the path to the church with its fine north wall across our view, crowned with a parapet from which friendly gargoyles look down at the top of slender buttresses.  Very dainty is the arcading in the battlements, and charming is the tower with its stair turret to the bells”.

The north wall of the Church of St. Michael in the Somerset village of Dinder.

To the left of the path is the family plot of the Somerville family which includes the grave of James Fownes Somerville, Admiral of the Fleet and Squire of Dinder, of whom I have written previously:

Views from Somerset: Admiral Sir James Somerville, commander of Force H, the squadron which crippled the Bismarck, at rest in a Somerset churchyard in the village of Dinder. (viewfromsomerset.blogspot.com)

 

On the north wall of the nave is a brass plaque commemorating William Charles Croom a 2^nd Lieutenant in the 6^th London Regiment who was killed in action at Messines Ridge on 17th June 1917 when aged 20.  He is also remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.

Another plaque on the north wall is “in ever grateful memory of the brave men of Dinder who fell in The Great War”.  It lists 6 names.  As well as Lt. William Croom it commemorates the following men:

Private Uriah James Clarke of the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars died on 23^rd March 1918.  He is also remembered on the Poziers Memorial north east of Albert.

Private Gilbert Drew of the 1^st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry who died on the 1^st July 1917 aged 19.  He is at rest in a Commonwealth War Grave in the churchyard.

Private Francis Allen Keevil of “C” Company, 7^th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry died on the 7^th August 1917.  He is remembered on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.  Aged 38, he was the son of Jabez Allen Keevil and Francis Augusta Keevil of Rose Cottage, Dinder.

Private William Robert McCullagh of the 1^st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry died on 29^th March 1918.  He is remembered on the Arras Memorial.

The last name listed on the plaque is that of George Palmer.  There are 24 “George Palmers” recorded on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website as having died in World War One.  Sadly, I cannot find among them anyone connected to Dinder or the County of Somerset.

Another brass plaque on the north wall of the nave is in memory of Lieutenant Colonel Harold Fownes Somerville DSO who served with The Rifle Brigade during the First World War and died aged 65 on the 19^th March 1946, and his son Lieutenant Mark Fownes Somerville DSC who was killed in action on 8^th May 1941 while serving aboard HMS ARK ROYAL.

Mark Somerville was a Fleet Air Arm observer in the Fulmar-equipped 808 Squadron flying from the aircraft carrier HMS ARK ROYAL.  He flew with the squadron’s commanding officer Lieutenant Commander Rupert Claude Tillard DSC.

The Fairey Fulmar was a two-seat fighter and reconnaissance aircraft powered by a single Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and armed with eight .303 machine guns mounted in the wings.  It was widely used by the Fleet Air Arm in the Mediterranean during the early years of World War Two.  The Fulmar was more than a match for any German and Italian bombers or reconnaissance aircraft it might encounter.  However, it struggled to cope with the enemy single seat fighters it came up against.  Tillard and Somerville destroyed six Italian aircraft while flying the Fulmar, a feat for which they were both awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

On 6^th May 1941 ARK ROYAL left Gibraltar together with the battlecruiser HMS RENOWN, the light cruiser HMS SHEFFIELD and nine destroyers – the famous Force H – to escort a convoy of five ships with vital reinforcements for British forces in Egypt.  Force H’s mission was to take the convoy as far as Malta where ships of Admiral Cunningham’s Mediterranean Fleet would escort it eastward to the port of Alexandria.

The convoy was first attacked by Italian aircraft on the 8^th May.  808 Squadron attempted to intercept a number of torpedo-bombers, but the Fulmars were themselves attacked by Italian fighters.  One Fulmar was shot down, that of Lieutenant Commander Tillard and Lieutenant Somerville. Rupert Tillard’s body came ashore on the Tunisian Coast, and he was subsequently buried in the Commonwealth War Grave cemetery at Enfidaville.  Mark Somerville’s body was never found and he is remembered on the Fleet Air Arm Memorial at Lee-on-Solent as well as in St. Michael’s Church.

The deaths of the two airmen were not in vain as Force H delivered the convoy, without loss, into the protection of the Mediterranean Fleet.  One merchant ship was later sunk by a mine, but 238 tanks and 40 Hurricane fighters arrived safely in Alexandria on 12^th May.  Interestingly, Force H was commanded by Lt. Somerville’s uncle, Admiral Sir James Somerville.

By a remarkable twist of fate another Lieutenant Mark Somerville was killed while serving in the Royal Navy 183 years earlier. A plaque on the north wall of the tower of St. Michael’s begins:

“Sacred to the Memory of Mark Somerville Esq Lieutenant of His Majesty’s Ship The Rochester who unfortunately lost his Life in doing his Duty and exerting himself to save the Lives of his Gallant Countrymen when attacked by the Enemy in St. Cas Bay.  September 11^th 1758 in the 23 Year of his Age”

The plaque must refer to The Battle of St. Cast Bay which took place during The Seven Years War with France.  The war saw Britain launch a series of amphibious assaults against French ports and possessions around the world.  In 1758 a number of these assaults took place on the northern coast of France in order to destroy ports, divert French troops from Germany and stop the activities of French privateers.  The last of these attacks was against Cherbourg when the Royal Navy landed a force of around 10,000 troops and supporting arms.  The attack was initially a great success as the Port of Cherbourg, its docks and ships therein were destroyed and a large amount of war material also destroyed or seized. 

The British force moved on to attack Saint Malo, but found it too well defended and so moved west to St. Cast Bay where it would be embarked from the beaches.

Meanwhile, the French had gathered 9,000 soldiers and militiamen and marched in pursuit.  The bulk of the British force had been taken off the beaches when the French arrived.  Despite covering fire from the British ships in the bay the French overwhelmed the British rear-guard of 1,500 men.

HMS ROCHESTER was a 4^th rate ship of just over 1,000 tons and armed with 50 guns.  Reading between the lines of the plaque it could be assumed that Lieutenant Somerville was killed while attempting to embark men from the beach using ROCHESTER’S ship’s boats.

On the south wall of the nave is a plaque commemorating Pilot Officer Thomas Middlebrook Horsefall, RAFVR, whose aircraft crashed in the village on July 3^rd 1942.   Thomas Horsefall was flying an American Curtiss P40 Tomahawk single engine fighter from No. 41 Operational Training Unit, part of the School of Army Cooperation, based at Oatlands Hill, a satellite station of RAF Old Sarum in Wiltshire.  The P40 was not used by RAF Fighter Command or the USAAF in Northern Europe as its performance did not match that of the latest German fighters, but it was used extensively by British and American front-line squadrons in other theatres of war.

St. Michaels Church also contains some fine stained glass windows, and a highly and beautifully decorated stone pulpit dated 1621. 

Stained glass window in St. Michael's Church, Dinder, Somerset in memory of Emily Somerville "who entered into rest on New Year's Day 1900 aged 81.

The pulpit in the Church of St. Michael, Dinder, Somerset.

I walked back to the main street and took some more photos of this picturesque and peaceful Mendip village – so peaceful, in fact, that I never saw or met a soul during my visit!

The main street in the Somerset village of Dinder.

 

The Parish Church of Ottery St. Mary in the neighbouring county of Devonshire.

I recently passed through the Devonshire town of Ottery St. Mary and stopped to take a few photos of its Parish Church.  The Church, which Simon Jenkins in his England’s Thousand Best Churches (Allen Lane, 1999) describes as being a miniature Exeter Cathedral, sits on a hill dominating the town.

The Parish Church of Ottery St. Mary in Devonshire.

The inside of the church, just as impressive as the outside, had a large display celebrating the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge who was born either in the vicar’s house or the schoolmaster’s, for his father was both.  John Coleridge was, according to Arthur Mee in his The King’s England, Devon (Hodder and Stoughton, 1938) “an absent minded vicar who married twice and had 13 children” – the 13^th was Samuel the poet.

As is usually the case when I visit a church I came across an interesting commemorative plaque.  On the north wall of the nave is one dedicated to Clement George Whitby, the son of Charles and Beatrice Whitby, who was 25 years old when killed at the Battle of Maiwand on 27^th July 1880.

The battle took place during The Second Afghan War of 1878-1880.  The Collins Encyclopaedia of Military History, R.E. Dupuy and T.N. Dupuy (Harper Collins, 1993.) informs us that:

“Ayub Khan, brother of Yakub, had seized control of Herat early in the war.  Now claiming the throne, he marched on Kandahar with 25,000 men.  Lt. Gen. James Primrose, commanding at Kandahar, sent an Anglo-Indian Brigade, 2,500 strong, under Brig. Gen. G.R.S. Burroughs to Maiwand, about 50 miles northwest, to oppose the Afghan advance.

Burroughs attacked the Afghan position, but the British artillery expended all its ammunition and a flanking movement by Ayub then shattered the Indian troops, who fled.  The one British infantry battalion present was surrounded and practically annihilated; about half the remainder of the command escaped.”

Clement Whitby was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 17^th Foot.  He was attached to the 1^st Bombay Native Infantry, and commanded the baggage guard at Maiwand.  After fighting off two attacks he joined the survivors retreating to Kandahar.  When within sight of the walls he was shot and killed.

Just a few steps below the church is a prominent, but austere, column commemorating Queen Victoria’s 60 years as monarch.  The monument was restored by the town council to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth ll. 

Ottery St. Mary's monument to Queen Victoria.

The plaque on Ottery St. Mary's monument to Queen Victoria's 60 years as monarch.

I had been able park right outside the church gates, otherwise it would have meant a steep walk up the hill from the town’s car park – something my none-too-fit lungs would be reluctant to attempt!  The Parish Church of Ottery St. Mary is well worth a second visit, which I will certainly make if I am lucky enough to find the same parking space free again.

A stroll around the Somerset village of Muchelney, its abbey ruins and Church of St. Peter and St. Paul.

Edward Hutton in his Highways and Byways in Somerset first published in 1912 writes of Muchelney: “But the ruins of Muchelney Abbey, lovely as they are, are by no means all there is to be seen in the beautiful island of Muchelney.  The church is interesting, though its double windowed tower is not very splendid.  Perhaps more interesting is the dear little vicarage house upon the north side of it across the road, dating perhaps from the fourteenth century; and there is a good though restored village cross.”

 I visited Muchelney in the Somerset Levels on a fine afternoon in late May.  I drove from Curry Rivel south along narrow twisting lanes, frequently lined with the delicate white flowers of cow parsley, through the picturesque village of Drayton, over the River Parrett at Westover Bridge and into the village.

Leaving the car by the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, avoiding the no parking signs, I explored the church and its graveyard.  Inside, the five panel stained glass east window and the Jacobean painted ceiling were impressive.  The churchyard gave a good view of the remains of the abbey.

The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in the Somerset village of Muchelney.

The east window of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Muchelney, Somerset.

The ceiling of the nave in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Muchelney, Somerset.

The early nineteenth century organ in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul at Muchelney, Somerset. 

I took some photos of the village cross and then peeped through the gate of the Priest’s House which is now a private residence in the care of The National Trust, and open only at certain times.

The village cross at Muchelney in Somerset

The Priest's House (National Trust) at Muchelney in Somerset.

A couple of hundred yards further south is the entrance to the car park for Muchelney Abbey.  I left the car by the church and set off on foot.  The Abbey is looked after by English Heritage, and there is an entrance fee.  I opted to take some photos of the ruins from the car park, and perhaps pay for a closer look another day.  The foundations we see today were revealed largely by the exertions of the Rev. S.O. Baker in 1873.

The foundations of Muchelney Abbey in Somerset.  The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is in the background.

Monks first came to Muchelney in the seventh century, but the abbey was abandoned in the ninth century probably because of the depredations caused by Viking raids.  It is said that King Athelstan re-founded the abbey in 939 as a thank offering for his great victory over the Celtic-Norse army at Brunanburgh in 937.  It then grew in size and status until Henry the Eighth’s Suppression of the Monasteries.  In 1538, two years after the Act of Suppression was passed in 1536, the abbey was torn down leaving only the abbot’s lodging and the monks’ latrine to survive as farm buildings.  Hutton devotes four pages to Muchelney, and they are very well worth reading.

The loss of the armoured cruiser HMS GOOD HOPE at the Battle of Coronel. One of her crew is remembered in the village of Broadway, South Somerset.

As soon as war began in August 1914 Vice-Admiral Graf Von Spee’s Asiatic Cruiser Squadron, based in Tsingtau, about one hundred miles north of Shanghai, commenced a campaign of commerce raiding against British merchant shipping across the Pacific.  Von Spee’s squadron was built around two powerful modern armoured cruisers, SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU, each armed with eight 8.2 inch and six 5.9 inch guns.

The Admiralty gave the task of intercepting the German commerce raiders to Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock’s squadron which consisted of the old battleship HMS CANOPUS and the armoured cruisers HMS GOOD HOPE and HMS MONMOUTH, together with the light cruiser HMS GLASGOW and the armed liner HMS OTRANTO.

Cradock left The Falkland Islands in GOOD HOPE on the 22 October and sailed into the Pacific aiming to rendezvous with the rest of his squadron off the west coast of South America.  However, he left CANOPUS behind as she was suffering from engine problems.

On November 1^st 1914 Cradock’s squadron came upon Von Spee’s ships off the Chilean port of Coronel.  Cradock ordered the lightly armed OTRANTO to clear the area leaving GOOD HOPE, MONMOUTH and GLASGOW to engage Von-Spee’s two armoured cruisers and their accompanying light cruisers DRESDEN and LEIPZIG.  The two forces were not evenly matched.  The British ships mounted a total of four 9.2 inch, thirty two 6 inch and ten 4 inch guns compared to the German’s sixteen 8.2 inch, twelve 5.9 inch and twenty 4.1 inch guns.

Three hours after forming line of battle the action was over.  GOOD HOPE and MONMOUTH were overwhelmed and sunk with all hands; Cradock and 1600 men were lost.  GLASGOW escaped to fight Von Spee another day at the Battle of The Falklands.

One of those lost with GOOD HOPE was Able Seaman George Mattravers Stoker 1^st Class, the son of John and Eliza Mattravers of Broadway in South Somerset, he was aged 31.

Able Seaman Mattravers is remembered on a commemorative plaque in Broadway’s Church of St. Aldhelm and St. Eadburga, and on the village’s war memorial.  His name is also on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

The plaque inside the Church of St. Aldhelm and St. Eadburga at Broadway in South Somerset commemorating those who served 

Note.  The Commonwealth War Graves Commission spells Mattravers as Matravers.  I use the spelling Mattravers as it is used in Broadway’s village church and on its war memorial.  

The British Army's Main Battle Tank. To ditch or not to ditch.

My late grandfather was a regular in the Somerset Light Infantry, but during the First World War he was transferred to the Royal Tank Corps and took part in the Battle of Cambrai where tanks were first used successfully, and en masse.

Therefore I was interested to see in the press that there are those in our Conservative government who advocate abandoning the use of tanks in the British Army.  I came across an article and a letter in The Week (5 September) which argued for and against the retention of the tank.

The case against was made by Jack Allen, a former Cold War tank commander, in an article originally published in Reaction. Life.  I reproduce the points I found of interest below:

Tanks for the memory, not for war today.

MBTs were already proving ineffective when I was a tank commander at the end of the Cold War: they’re even more so today.  For a start, being huge (some weigh 70 tons) they’re hard to move around the battlefield, hard to hide from drones and attack helicopters, and notoriously bad at fighting in cities.  On the modern battlefield – think Iraq or Syria – they’re easy prey to the lone operator on a moped with an anti-tank gun.  Or to roadside IEDs.  Even if the attacks only damage a tank, it all adds to the vast amount of support needed to keep the tanks on the road.  It’s not as if NATO general staff believe the next conflict will be fought on the open North European Plain, where MBTs come into their own.  No, Moscow prefers to work by destabilising governments and infiltrating militias.  By all means let’s invest in light armoured vehicles.  But let’s ditch the tank.    

The case for retaining tanks was originally made in The Times. I reproduce it below as published in The Week.

Why tanks are vital.

To The Times.

In all the articles (about the rationale for scrapping tanks), we could find no mention of deterrence.  Is there anyone left in Whitehall who understands deterrence strategy, which we are all signed up to in NATO?  Simply put, it requires an ability to outdo an enemy at all levels of conflict up to and including nuclear; if you can’t do this at each level, with a reasonable level of assurance, the strategy loses credibility.  The test for disposing of a capability that an enemy might retain is whether whatever is deemed to be a replacement will deter that enemy.  If not, then escalation or capitulation are the only responses.

When our conventional forces are as limited in number compared with those of our potential enemies as they now are, escalation could quickly rise towards a nuclear conflict.  Under these circumstances, our nuclear capability might well become a cuckoo in the nest.

Air Chief Marshall Sir Michael Graydon; Vice Admiral Sir Jeremy Blackham.

 

Without a big increase in attack helicopters to replace the tanks, I lean towards agreeing with Sir Michael and Sir Jeremy.

On this day in 1941 Flight Lieutenant Hugh Speke DFC died in a flying accident. He is at rest in the village churchyard at Dowlish Wake, South Somerset.

Hugh Speke was a descendant of the noted English soldier and explorer John Hanning Speke who discovered the source of the River Nile.  Speke was born in South Africa on April 14^th 1914, but after the early death of both his parents, William Speke and Gwendoline Constance Speke (nee Maitland), he came to England with his twin sister and brother to be brought up by relatives in Pigdon, Northumberland.

He joined 604 ‘County of Middlesex’ Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, in 1937 and subsequently began full-time service on 24^th August 1939.  On the outbreak of war the squadron was flying the twin-engined Blenheim Mk IF, a not very successful fighter as it was merely a conversion of the Blenheim light bomber fitted with four .303 inch machine guns in a pack under the fuselage.

With 604 Sqn. now operating in the night-fighter role, on the 24^th August 1940 Speke’s Blenheim crashed near Odiham during a night patrol – fortunately both he and his gunner escaped unhurt.  However, before the end of 1940 Speke and his gunner, Sergeant A. K. Sandifer, intercepted and damaged He111s on two occasions.

By the spring of 1941 many of the RAF’s night fighter squadrons were using to good effect the radar equipped Bristol Beaufighter Mk. IF.  It was armed with four 20mm cannon and powered by 2 Bristol Hercules radial engines which gave it a top speed of 324 mph at 11,750 feet and a service ceiling of 27,000 feet.

In May 1941 Flt. Lt. Speke was flying a Beaufighter with 604 Squadron from Middle Wallop in Hampshire, an airfield in No.10 Group of RAF Fighter Command.  At 0100 hours on the 4^th he shot down a He111 of 1/KG26 which had just bombed Bristol.  The German bomber crashed in Binford Wood, Crowcombe Heathfield, in Somerset.

On the night of the 7^th/8^th July Speke, assisted by his radar operator Sergeant G.L. Dawson, shot down a He111 of Kgr100 into the sea off Bournemouth.  Twenty-seven minutes later near Lymington he shot down another He111 from the same unit.  The next night he shot down a He111 from 3/KG26 near Lulworth.

On the 26^th July Flt. Lt. Speke and Sgt. Dawson were killed during a night flying test flight in Beaufighter X7548 NG-S.  For reasons unknown the aircraft flew at high speed into Oare Hill near Pewsey in Wiltshire. 

On the 27^th July 1941 Hugh Speke was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for destroying 4 enemy aircraft at night and damaging at least 2 more.

Speke is buried, alongside several of his ancestors, in the churchyard of St. Andrew’s in Dowlish Wake, near Ilminster, in South Somerset. The tomb of his ancestor John Hanning Speke is within the church itself.

The grave of Flt. Lt. Hugh Speke DFC in the churchyard of St. Andrew's Church Dowlish Wake, South Somerset.  

The Church of St. Andrew in the village of Dowlish Wake, South Somerset.

Sadly, Hugh Speke’s brother, Captain William Maitland Speke MC, was killed in action at the age of 35 in Libya on 18^th February 1942 while serving with 72 Field Regiment Royal Artillery. He is buried in Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma in Libya.

An expedition to Hinton St. George, a village in South Somerset.

On a recent visit to Merriott in South Somerset I noticed a signpost for Hinton St. George so one day at the end of June I decided on a trip there to take some photos of the church and village.  I took a route through the very narrow country lanes from Kingstone, south east of Ilminster.  However, my navigation went awry driving through steep, deep cut lanes, but I found myself at Dinnington and then followed the Fosse Way to Lopen where I turned right onto the road to Merriott.  On the outskirts of Merriott the signpost for Hinton St. George – the one I had noticed previously - directed me along a gently rising country lane to the centre of the village.

The village cross at Hinton St. George in South Somerset.

Maxwell Fraser, writing of Hinton St. George in his Somerset (Great Western Railway Company, 1934.), informs us that: “It was the ancient seat of the Poulett family, who settled there in the reign of Henry I, and whose magnificent tombs enrich Hinton church.  It was one of the Pouletts who became the keeper of Mary Queen of Scots during her imprisonment. There is a fine cross in the centre of the village and a delightful old house known as The Priory.”

Amias Poulett, “the keeper of Mary Queen of Scots”, was ordered to treat her with severity, but instead, while declaring he would kill her rather than let her escape, paid the expenses of her large household from his own pocket.*

Paul Newman in his Somerset Villages (Robert Hale Ltd., 1986) writes of a seventeenth century Poulett:  “John Poulett (d.1649) was a fervent Royalist, in many ways an intemperate and self-seeking man, who was heavily fined for his allegiance after the triumph of Cromwell’s army.  The fact that he was the brother-in-law of the immensely effective Parliamentarian commander General Fairfax might have proven a mitigating circumstance.”

The Pouletts, originally from Pawlett near Bridgwater, held the estate at Hinton until 1968 when the 8th and last Earl Poulett  (b.1909 d.1973) sold up and moved to Jersey.

The Priory, Hinton St. George, South Somerset.

I parked the car opposite The Priory and walked the short distance to St. George's Church where I took some photos and had a look for the three Commonwealth War Graves which are listed as being in the churchyard.  I did find one headstone which looked very much like a CWGC one, but the inscription was, unfortunately, practically indecipherable.

St. George’s Church is described by Arthur Mee in his Somerset, The King’s England (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1968) as having: “. . . a fine tall tower with pinnacles and pierced battlements, and a window on every side to let out the sound of the bells.  The porch has a ribbed stone roof and an old traceried door, and ancient timbers make the panelled roofs of the nave and south aisle.”

The Church of St. George in the South Somerset village of Hinton St. George.

The war memorial is just inside the gates to the east of the church.  It commemorates 18 men from the First World War including Captain William John Lydston, the 7th Earl Poulett, who served for 3 years in the Royal Artillery, and later in the Anti-Aircraft Corps, but died in the 1918 influenza epidemic at the age of 34.*

There is only one name on the memorial remembered from World War Two; that of  Lt. Col. William Murray Leggatt who served in the Royal Artillery and spent most of the war in North Africa. He was awarded the D.S.O. for his part in the Second Battle of El Alamein where he commanded the 11^th Regiment (HAC) Royal Horse Artillery.  When his health began to fail he was posted home to England in May 1944 and given another command, that of 3^rd Royal Artillery Reserve Regiment.  In April 1945 he was sent on sick leave. On the 13th of August 1946, aged 45, he died of a heart attack in the Cavalry Club, Piccadilly.

The war memorial in the South Somerset village of Hinton St. George.

*Robert Dunning Somerset Families (Somerset Books, 2002)

On this day in 1944 the 16th Infantry Regiment, First Infantry Division, US Army went ashore in Normandy. Its First Battalion is remembered in Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire.

I was going through my archives again recently and came across some photos I took in Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire back in 2016.  One of them, a memorial plaque, I could not remember taking, but it must have been somewhere near the Marine Parade.  Be that as it may, the memorial plaque commemorates the First Battalion, 16^th Infantry Regiment US Army and the time it spent in and around the town prior to D-Day 6^th June 1944.

Below are some of those photos, including the one of the memorial plaque.

Looking east along the Dorsetshire coast from Lyme Regis on 23 May 2016.

Marine Parade at Lyme Regis in Dorsetshire on 23 May 2016.

Memorial plaque in Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire commemorating the men of the 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, United States Army.

The 16^th Infantry Regiment left the USA for England in April 1942.  It sailed from England to take part in Operation Torch and on November 8 1942 landed at Arzew in French Morocco and subsequently helped in the capture of Oran.

After the defeat of German forces in North Africa it then took part in the invasion of Sicily, Operation Husky, on 10 July 1943. The landing was relatively unopposed, but the regiment later took part in heavy fighting especially during the capture of Troina where it endured a 4 day battle against the 15^th Panzer Grenadier Division.

After the capture of Sicily the regiment returned to England and on 11 October 1943 left Liverpool by train for Dorchester, its First Battalion being billeted in and around Lyme Regis. The regiment then undertook intense training for Operation Overlord.

Embarking from Weymouth on 1 June 1944 and setting sail from the port during the late afternoon of June 5, the regiment went ashore at Omaha beach in Normandy on June 6. After a morning of hard fighting and heavy casualties the 16^th Infantry Regiment had fought its way off the beach by midday and had moved inland.  After D Day the regiment was placed in reserve to recuperate.  On 27 July it participated in the breakout from St. Lo in Operation Cobra.

The regiment advanced across Europe and took part in the infamous Battle of the Hurtgen Forest after which it was sent to rest camp on Dec. 12, but it had little respite as 4 days later Hitler launched the Battle of the Bulge.  The regiment was moved to a defensive position on the northern shoulder of the bulge where it held the line until 15 January 1944 when it took part in the counter offensive.

It was present at the capture of Bonn on 8 March 1945 and then, with the rest of the First Division, moved north to clear German forces from the Hartz Mountains.

On April 28 the regiment moved with the First Division to Selb in Czechoslovakia and had pushed on to Falkenau where it halted on May 7 with the end of the war in Europe imminent.
During its 443 days of combat in World War Two the 16^th Infantry Regiment lost 1,250 officers and men killed in action and a further 6,278 were wounded or missing.

"The Great Armada Myth" proclaims BBC History Magazine. Was the Spanish Fleet hit by a Kamikaze?

In 1274 a Mongol invasion fleet heading for Japan was dispersed by a major typhoon which the Japanese later gave the name Kamikaze, or Divine Wind.

Just over 300 years later, in 1588, another invasion fleet, this time the Spanish Armada attempting an invasion of England, also fell foul of the weather.

Lucy Worsley writing in BBC History Magazine (The Great Armada Myth, February 2020) informs us that the Spanish invasion fleet “. . . faced disease, rotting provisions and bad weather.”, before it even reached the English Channel.  When the Armada eventually reached France and was anchored awaiting further invasion troops it was attacked by English fireships. The Spanish panicked and sailed for the North Sea.

Ms Worsley tells us: “. . . what was left of the Armada was on its way home, running up around Scotland and Ireland to get back to Spain.  And there, in the north, the death knell was dealt to Spanish plans: not by Drake, Elizabeth l or brave English sailors – but by bad weather.”

So it seems it was not the ships of Francis Drake, John Hawkins, or Martin Frobisher that did for the dastardly Spanish and their Armada, but a hit by a Kamikaze!

Incidentally, BBC History Magazine has previous form with regard to debunking English naval victories.  In the August 2019 edition the cover has the headline Trafalgar – A Futile Victory?  And it is subtitled Why Nelson’s triumph didn’t turn the tide on Napoleon.  The article featured, by Sam Willis, is entitled Trafalgar: An overrated victory?  Mr Willis asks if the claim that Trafalgar was Royal Navy’s greatest triumph stands up to scrutiny.  More on this in a future blogpost!

Pilot Officer H.P.M. Edridge, one of the last of the RAF's casualties in the Battle of Britain, commemorated both in Bath, Somerset and in the village of Northiam in Sussex.

On this day, October 30th, in 1940, RAF Fighter Command suffered its last fatalities of the Battle of Britain when nine men lost their lives.  One of them was Pilot Officer Hilary Patrick Michael Edridge whose parents, Ray and Georgina, came from Bath in Somerset.

Edridge joined the RAF in January 1939 and by the end of May 1940 he was flying Spitfires with 222 Squadron based at Hornchurch. 

While covering the Dunkirk evacuation he probably destroyed a Me109 on June 1st.  On August 30th he baled out after a combat with Me109s and landed in Broome Park in Kent with burns to his face.

On the 15th of October he force landed in Essex after his aircraft’s engine failed.  On the 20th October he shared in the destruction of a Me110.

On the 30th October, the day before the official end of The Battle of Britain, Edridge was in combat with Me109s when his Spitfire was damaged and he was wounded in the head.  He attempted a crash landing near the village of Northiam in East Sussex, but his aircraft crashed and caught fire.  He was cut from the wreckage and taken to an emergency hospital at nearby Brickwall House, but died that day of his injuries.

Hilary Patrick Michael Edridge is buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Widcombe, Bath, Somerset. He is also commemorated by a memorial plaque beside the village green in Northiam near the site where he crashed.

Lt.Col. J.C.Meiklejohn who won a DSO at the Second Battle of El Alamein is remembered in the churchyard at the village of Rowberrow, North Somerset.

Last year, while exploring the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels in the village of Rowberrow in North Somerset, I came across a headstone commemorating Max John Christian Meiklejohn and his wife and their three children.  I was intrigued by the inscription for the only son which read: “Lt. Col. John Cusance Meiklejohn D.S.O., T.D.  Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.  1904-1988.”

The village church of St. Michael and All Angels at Rowberrow on the Mendip Hills in Somerset.

I know T.D. stands for Territorial Decoration which was awarded to those who gave long service to the Territorial Army and its predecessor The Territorial Force, but I wondered how Lt. Col. Meiklejohn came to be awarded the D.S.O.  A little research brought forth the answer.

At the time of the Second Battle of El Alamein Meiklejon, then a Captain, was serving with the 7th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders: part of 154 Brigade in the 51st Highland Division.  He led his Company into action on 26 October 1942 when the battle was only days old.  I found the following citation for the Distinguished Service Order in the National Archives.

“On 26 October 1942, a night attack by three companies on a strongly held enemy position made under heavy machine gun and mortar fire and all officers except Capt. Meiklejohn, commanding “B” Company, and one other were wounded.  Capt. Meiklejohn led his company successfully onto his objective, but then found that the enemy had closed in again behind him and that he was surrounded.  He succeeded however in collecting the remnants of the other two companies and with them and his own men, a force of about two hundred strong, organised a position to hold the ground won.  This position he held until relief reached him nearly forty-eight hours later.  Shortly after the position was occupied the only other remaining officer became a casualty.  Capt. Meiklejohn was short of ammunition and had very little food and water, and all attempts to get supplies through to him failed.  During the remaining six hours of darkness on the first night after the attack he was constantly threatened by enemy counter-attacks, but he successfully held them off by intensive artillery fire which he himself directed round his position by wireless.  Throughout a very trying time he not only held tenaciously to an important objective but by his own unaided effort and example maintained the morale of his men, and gave an outstanding display of courage, leadership and ability”. 

I post this today on the anniversary of Lt. Col. Meiklejohn’s noteworthy participation in one of the key battles of the Second World War.

For a more detailed report on the role of 7th Battalion, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders at The Second Battle of El Alamein here is a link:
https://51hd.co.uk/accounts/el_alamein_battle

Field-Marshal Lord Harding of Petherton. Commemorated at Taunton Castle's Museum of Somerset.

A few weeks ago while wandering around the centre of Taunton I came across the Museum of Somerset in Taunton Castle.  Tucked away in the entrance courtyard is a modest bust commemorating Field-Marshal Lord Harding of Petherton, someone I had vaguely heard of due to his connection with the Somerset Light Infantry, but other than that I knew little about him.  I decided to do some research.

The commemorative bust of Lord Harding of Petherton in the courtyard of Taunton Castle's Museum of Somerset.

Allan Francis Harding was born at Rock House in South Petherton, Somerset, on 10th February 1896.  His father Francis Ebenezer Harding was a clerk to a local firm of solicitors and his mother was Elizabeth Ellen Harding (nee Anstice).  Both parents came from large families - Francis was one of eight children and Elizabeth Anstice one of thirteen.  The Hardings and the Anstices were descended from yeoman farmers and tradesmen who had lived in and around South Petherton for hundreds of years. 

The plaque on the wall of Rock House.  

Rock House in South Petherton, South Somerset, birthplace of Field-Marshal Lord Harding. 

At the age of 10 Harding went to Ilminster Grammar School, leaving at the age of 15 to work as a boy clerk at the Post Office Savings Bank in London.  Many of his colleagues were in the Territorial Army and they encouraged him to join them.  Harding applied for a commission and became a Second-Lieutenant in the 1/11 Battalion of the London Regiment, a battalion of the 2nd (London) Territorial Division, in May 1914.

After the outbreak of World War One Harding’s battalion became part of the 54th (East Anglian) Division.  In July 1915 it embarked for Gallipoli to act as a reinforcing division.  Harding first saw action on 15th August when he was wounded in an attack on Turkish positions.  After the withdrawal from Gallipoli he remained in the Middle East, participating in General Sir Edmund Allenby’s victorious campaign against the Turks in Egypt and Palestine.  He ended the war in command of a battalion.

After the First World War Harding served in Britain and India.  While home on leave from India in 1926 he fulfilled a promise to visit a fellow officer’s mother who lived in the Somerset village of Long Ashton near Bristol.  There he met her daughter Mary, the step-daughter of Charles Harrington Fry of the famous chocolate manufacturing family, and married her the following year when his battalion returned to England.

The autumn of 1940 found Harding in the Middle East where he joined the staff of General Sir Archibald Wavell and was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Compass the offensive which led to General Richard O’Connor’s crushing victory over the Italians in the Western Desert.

At the end of March 1941 Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel launched a counter-attack with his newly arrived German forces which led to the capture of several British commanders including General O’Connor and his successor Lieutenant-General Philip Neame.  Harding took command, stabilized the situation and, with the Australian Major-General L.J. Morshead, organized the defence of Tobruk.

During Operation Crusader, which ended in a victory over Rommel’s forces on Christmas Eve 1941, Harding was Brigadier General Staff, to Lieutenant-General A.R. Godwin-Austin commanding 13 Corps.

On 21st January 1942 Rommel counterattacked and by 6th February the British had lost all the gains made by Crusader.  Godwin-Austin asked to be relieved of command as he had fallen out with his superiors over tactics.  Harding, who admired and supported his commander, left 13 Corps to become Director of Military Training at GHQ Cairo.

Harding took command of the 7th Armoured Division on the 17th September 1942 in time for the Second Battle of El Alamein.  Four months later, while in pursuit of Rommel’s forces on the road to Tripoli, he was badly injured when a shell exploded in front of his command tank as he stood atop it spotting for his artillery.  His wounds were very serious and he was evacuated back to England with his future on active service in doubt. 

While making a remarkable recovery, Harding bought a 130 acre farm with dilapidated farmhouse near Nether Compton in Dorsetshire.  He and his wife and son moved in in time for Christmas 1943.  So complete was his return to fitness that he was offered the post of Chief of Staff to General Sir Harold Alexander commander of the 15th Army Group, sometimes known as Allied Armies in Italy.  On New Year’s Day 1944 he flew from an airfield in North Devonshire to take up his new post in the Mediterranean.  Harding served on Alexander’s staff until March 6th 1945 when he was given command of 13 Corps, and was in that post when the fighting in Italy ended.

During his time in Italy Harding was knighted by King George VI.  He chose to be known as Sir John Harding, John being the name he had used throughout his time in the Army.

After the Second World War Harding’s appointments included, Commander-in-Chief Far East, Command of the British army of the Rhine, Chief of the Imperial General Staff from 1952 to 1955, and Governor of Cyprus 1955 to 1957.  In November 1953 he had been made Field-Marshal. 

On retirement he accepted several directorships including that of Plesseys, the telecommunications equipment manufacturer, of which he became chairman in 1967.  He was also the first chairman of the Horserace Betting Levy Board.

Lord Harding died at his home in Nether Compton on 20th January 1989.    

Sources: 

Harding, John (Allan Francis) first Baron Harding of Petherton. (ODNB) https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/40129

Harding of Petherton, Field-Marshal, Michael Carver (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1978).

Dilemmas of the Desert War, Michael Carver (B.T. Batsford Ltd, 1986).