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 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.

The war memorial in Watchet on the Somerset Coast.

 I visited the Somerset coastal town of Watchet back in the spring of 2018 and, while strolling around the harbour and esplanade, my wife and I came across a rather unique war memorial.  It stands by the wall of the public library, a building which was the town's lifeboat station until 1944.  The stone memorial is new and in the form of a structure representing sand bags.  It was unveiled on 28 June 2014. 

Originally Watchet had remembered its fallen by creating a recreation ground named the Memorial Ground.  It consisted of a sports pavilion and stand which was opened in July 1929.

The distinctive new memorial commemorates 42 men who were killed in World War One and 16 in World War Two. 

The war memorial in the Somerset coastal town of Watchet.

 

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.  

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)

The South Somerset village of Merriott and its Church of All Saints.

Merriott is a village and civil parish in South Somerset 7 miles west of Yeovil and a similar distance east of Ilminster. 

In the nineteenth and earlier centuries, due to the nearby River Parrett and its associated watermills, Merriott was prominent in the flax, canvas and sailmaking trade - all vital products in the age of sail.  Paul Newman in his Somerset Villages (Robert Hale, 1969), informs us that: “. . . the bellying sheets of HMS VICTORY were produced by local craftsmen.” 

In more modern times many residents have earned their living at Westland Helicopters in Yeovil.  The firm has changed hands many times in recent years and is now owned by Leonardo - an Italian multinational company.

On a less serious note, writing of village folklore, Paul Newman tells us: “Curiously enough the place was known as “Little Ireland” on account of an entirely baseless tradition of colonization by the Irish in the distant past and a predominance of dark hair coupled with a distinctive dialect.”

Earlier this month, on a beautiful day of sunshine and blue sky, I decided to drive over to Merriott with my camera and take some photos of the church.  I also intended to visit the four Commonwealth War Graves in the churchyard.

Edward Sutton in his Highways and Byways in Somerset (Macmillan and Co., 1912), writes of Merriott’s Church of All Saints: “. . . the church is a curious and interesting building of many ages.  The chief attractions are perhaps the old gargoyles all around the building, the pretty niche over the doorway, the curious relief over the vestry door, called the “Fighting Cocks”, and a very crude and ancient crucifix.”

It was easy to park outside the church near the lych-gate which gave entrance into what seemed a very large churchyard for a village.  I took some pleasing photographs of the church and its gargoyles.

The Church of All Saints in the South Somerset village of Merriott.

Gargoyles and battlements above the south porch of the Church of All Saints in Merriott, South Somerset.

The tower and south porch of the Church of All Saints in Merriott, South Somerset.

All Saints stands on rising ground and from the highest point in the graveyard, looking north-east, the Ham Hill war memorial can be seen on the skyline about 4 miles away. The memorial is just about visible in the photo below.

The view north-east from the churchyard of the Church of All Saints in the village of Merriott, South Somerset.  Ham Hill is on the skyline to the right of the picture.

Unfortunately, although the churchyard was extremely well maintained, I could find only one of the four war graves; that of Private H. Lawrence of the 6^th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, who died on 22^nd January 1918.  I intend to return one day to search for the others.       

The war memorial at the Church of All Saints, Merriott, South Somerset.  It commemorates 33 men who died in World War One and 10 who died in World War Two.

On this day in 1940 Aircraftman 1st Class W.K.Lambert was killed in a flying accident. He is remembered in the village of Bosham, West Sussex.

At the start of the year our good friends L and C were exploring the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church in the West Sussex village of Bosham.  They came across the Commonwealth War Grave of an RAF serviceman who died on 3 May 1940 and, knowing my interest in such matters, L sent me a photo.

The grave was that of Aircraftsman 1st Class William Kirby Lambert, a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, who was killed when his Blenheim Mk 4 L9297 stalled and crashed on take-off from RAF Andover following an engine failure.  William Lambert and 2 other members of the crew, Pilot Officer R. J. Carter and Sergeant J. M. Longley, were killed in the crash and the only member of the crew to survive, Aircraftman C. A. Wadman, died later of his injuries. 

William Lambert and his fellow crew members were serving with the RAF’s No.2 School of Army Cooperation based at RAF Andover when the accident happened.

It is interesting to note that aircrew members of the time could hold the rank of Aircraftman; as the war progressed aircrew would be made up of those of the rank of Sergeant or above. 

The Bristol Blenheim Mk 4 was a versatile light bomber powered by two 905hp Bristol Mercury Mk 15 radial piston engines which gave the aircraft a top speed of 266mph.  It was widely used in training and combat during the early years of World War Two, but in early 1943 it had been replaced in front line use by more modern aircraft and was thereafter used solely for training.

William Kirby Lambert is also remembered on Bosham’s war memorial which stands overlooking Bosham Creek, an offshoot of Chichester Harbour.*  Sadly, although Lambert was aged 34, rather old for aircrew, the Commonwealth War Grave Commission does not record any next of kin and there is no family inscription on his grave.

*http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Sussex/Bosham.html

Private A. A. Trott of the 12th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry, at rest in a Gloucestershire village churchyard.

A couple of months ago, while holidaying in the West Country, our good friends L & C visited the churchyard of St. Peter and St. Paul in the Gloucestershire village of Westbury-on-Severn.


They came upon the Commonwealth War Grave of Private A. A. Trott of the 12th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. Knowing my interest in the SLI they sent me a photo of the headstone.


Private Trott died on the 13th December 1918, aged 38, after World War One had ended.  Did he die of wounds received during the war or was he a victim of the Spanish Flu epidemic, perhaps a tragic accident befell him?  I have been unable to find answers to those questions.


The words on his gravestone read “A DEAR HUSBAND AND FATHER NEVER FORGOTTEN BY HIS LOVED ONES”.  Intriguingly the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records state that Private Trott was the “HUSBAND OF FLORENCE AMELIA ANN HALLETT (FORMERLY TROTT) OF YEOVIL SOMERSET”.  Make of that what you will! 


12th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry.
The 12th Battalion Somerset Light Infantry was formed from the West Somerset Yeomanry, a cavalry regiment, in February 1917 at Ismailia in Egypt.  After the dismounted cavalrymen had retrained as infantryman the Battalion joined the 229th Brigade, part of the newly formed 74th Division.  The Division campaigned in Palestine against the Turks until it was transferred to France in April 1918.

The Battalion’s first action in France was on the 18th August 1918 when it fought in Picardy before taking part in the Battles of the Hindenburg Line.  It took part in the Final Advance in Artois during October and November.

The Battalion suffered its last battle casualties on the 22nd October when 2 men were killed and 20 wounded.  Its total casualties during the War were 147 killed in action, 53 died of wounds, and 12 died.

Everard Wyrall chronicles the record of the 12th Battalion in its final months of service in his The Somerset Light Infantry 1914-1919 (Methuen & Co., 1927).  He concludes: “The 12th Somersets, who on the 11th November were on the road to Escalette when the Armistice was announced, marched on to Ollignies and took part in a peace celebration, the Burgomaster presenting the Battalion with a Belgian flag, which now rests in St. Mary’s Church Taunton.  It was not, however, until the middle of June 1919 that the Somerset Yeoman were reduced to cadre strength and returned to England.  The cadre reached Taunton on 21st June and received a great welcome from the townspeople as it marched through the streets behind the cadre of the 1st Battalion of the Regiment – a fitting close to a most wonderful period in the history of the Regiment.”

Sources:
Commonwealth War Grave Commission website.
Edward Wyrall, The Somerset Light Infantry 1914-1919 (Methuen & Co., 1927).

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.

B.E.McLaughlin a Portsmouth police officer who joined the RAF and served in Bomber Command is at rest in a Hampshire churchyard.

L. recently sent me a photo of a Commonwealth War Grave in the churchyard of St. Mary’s in Portchester, not too far from her home near The Solent.  The grave was that of Flight Lieutenant B. E. McLaughlin DFC RAFVR, an experienced pilot who was serving with No. 1667 Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Sandtoft in Lincolnshire when he was killed.

Benjamin McLaughlin was the son of George Thomas McLaughlin and Ivy Love McLaughlin of Paulsgrove, Hampshire.  At the age of 21 he joined the Portsmouth Police Force and served with them until May of the following year when he went to Palestine to take up a position in the Palestine Police Force.  In December 1937 he returned to England and re-joined the Portsmouth Force.

In July 1941 McLaughlin joined the RAF and on August 5 1942 he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer.  He subsequently flew Lancasters from RAF Wickenby in Lincolnshire with 12 Squadron of RAF Bomber Command’s No.1 Group.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in December 1943 while serving with 12 Squadron and had reached the rank of Flight Lieutenant by that date.

On 21 of his sorties with 12 Squadron McLaughlin flew with Flying Officer Norman Watson as his Navigator.  By a remarkable coincidence they would both have a connection to the Police Force.  Watson survived the war to become Assistant Chief Constable of Liverpool and Bootle Constabulary.  McLaughlin was not so fortunate. 

On July 5 1944 he was instructor pilot in a Handley Page Halifax Mk.V, the Merlin engine version, which crashed while practicing flying on 3 engines at 200 feet.  The aircraft, which was operating from RAF Sandoft in Lincolnshire, came down at Alkborough on the south bank of the Humber.  Nine men were on board including a pilot and three flight engineers under training; there were only two survivors. Sadly, Flight Lieutenant Benjamin Edward McLaughlin, aged 30, was not one of them.

Although Benjamin McLaughlin has no connection with Somerset he served in Bomber Command at the same time as my late father-in-law, Douglas Eyles. He flew from RAF Fiskerton in Lincolnshire as a Flight Engineer with the Lancaster equipped 49 Squadron between November 1943 and May 1944.  

A pilot who took part in the first RAF Bomber Command daylight raid on Berlin is at rest in a Sussex village churchyard.

Our good friends L and C were recently on holiday in Sussex where, when visiting the churchyard of St. Mary Magdalene in the village of Rusper, they came across the Commonwealth War Graves of 2 RAF officers.  Knowing my wife and I have family links to the RAF and an interest in its history, L sent me photographs of the two headstones.

Both these officers died while serving in Operational Training Units.  Flying Officer John Gerald Rappoport (RAFVR) aged 28 died on 21 April 1943 while serving with No.2 OTU of Coastal Command.  He was flying a Bristol Beaufighter when it stalled and crashed while attempting a night landing at RAF Catfoss in Yorkshire, both he and his navigator were killed.

Flight Lieutenant Antony Trelawney Wickham DFC (RAFVR) was in a de Havilland Mosquito of No. 60 OTU when, during an overshoot at RAF High Ercall in Shropshire on 14 June 1944, an engine cut out and a crash-landing ensued.  He and his co-pilot did not survive the crash.

Flt. Lt. Wickham was an experienced and distinguished pilot.  On 30 January 1943 he had taken part in the first RAF Bomber Command daylight raid on Berlin.  The Bomber Command War Diaries, Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt (Penguin Books Ltd., 1985) tell the story:

“Two formations, each of 3 Mosquitoes, made dramatic attempts to interrupt large rallies being addressed by Nazi leaders in Berlin on this day.  These raids would be the first time the German capital was bombed in daylight. 

3 Mosquitoes of 105 Squadron successfully reached Berlin and bombed in mid-morning at the exact time Goering was due to speak.  The speech was postponed for an hour.  These 3 Mosquitoes returned safely.

In the afternoon, 3 Mosquitoes of 139 Squadron arrived at the time Goebbels was due to speak and again bombed at the correct time, but the German defences were alerted and the aircraft of Squadron Leader D. F. Darling was shot down.  Darling and his navigator, Flying Officer W. Wright, were both killed and are now buried in Berlin.”

At the time of the raid Wickham held the rank of Flying Officer and was second in command of the three 105 Squadron Mosquitoes.  All ten surviving aircrew were awarded the DSO, DFC or DFM for their actions.  Wickham received the DFC. 

Although F.O. Rappoport and Flt. Lt. Wickham have no connection with Somerset I have written this blogpost with the thought in mind that training for war has its own hazards, and can be just fatal as warfare itself.

Flying Officer T.P.K.Higgs, the first RAF pilot killed in action during the Battle of Britain, is remembered on the war memorial in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

On this day in 1940 the Battle of Britain began.  The first RAF pilot to lose his life in the battle was Sgt Ian Clenshaw of 253 Squadron when his Hurricane crashed in bad weather while on dawn patrol from Kirton-in-Lindsey in No. 12 Group.  The first pilot to be killed in action was Flying Officer T.P.K. Higgs of 111 Squadron based at Croydon in the Kenley sector of Fighter Command’s No.11 Group.  He had family connections in Somerset being the son of Arthur and Alice Higgs of Shepton Mallet.

At 1000hours on July 10 1940 Higgs was engaged with German fighters and bombers over a convoy off Folkestone.  During this combat his Hurricane collided with a Dornier 17 bomber and lost a wing with the Dornier 17 crashing at Dungeness.  Although he managed to bale out Flying Officer Higgs was never found alive.  His body came ashore on the Dutch coast on August 15. 

Thomas Peter Kingsland Higgs is buried in a Commonwealth War Grave in Noordwijk General Cemetery on the coast north of Leiden.  He is also commemorated on Shepton Mallet’s cenotaph type war memorial situated in the town centre. 

The war memorial in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

Flying Officer T.P.K. Higgs is remembered on the war memorial in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. 

Sources:

https://www.cwgc.org/

The Fallen Few of the Battle of Britain, Nigel McCrery & Norman Franks with Edward McManus, (Pen & Sword Books Ltd., 2015)

The Narrow Margin, Derek Wood & Derek Dempster, (Hutchinson & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1961)

Sergeant T.E.Jones, an airman of 99 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, is remembered on the war memorial in Whitelackington, South Somerset.

The village of Whitlackington straddles the Old London Road one mile east of Ilminster in South Somerset.  Its 14th century church of St. Mary the Virgin is located well back from the road on rising ground.  Between the road and the church is a field in which the village war memorial, in the style of an obelisk, stands in splendid isolation commemorating four men who lost their lives in the First World War and two killed in World War Two.

One of those remembered is Sergeant Pilot Thomas Edwin Jones who was killed on this day in 1939 while serving with 99 Squadron of RAF Bomber Command.  The squadron was equipped with the Vickers Wellington Mk1a, a long-range medium bomber designed in the 1930s.  The Wellington, which had a crew of 6, was powered by 2 Bristol Pegasus radial engines giving it a top speed of 235 mph and the ability to carry a 4,500 lb bomb load.  The aircraft’s defensive armament was four .303 machine guns, two in a front turret and two in a rear turret.

On the 14th December 1939 twelve Wellingtons from 99 Squadron took off from RAF Newmarket in Suffolk and headed across the North Sea to carry out a shipping strike against German warships in the Schillig Roads.  The officially commissioned history reports: “There they sighted a number of the warships, only to find the cloud base, at 800 feet, too low to attack with Semi Armour Piercing bombs.  Under heavy fire from the warships and from nearby trawlers or ‘flak-ships’, the Wellingtons maintained formation and shot it out with the fighters who soon came up to join the battle; but five of the twelve failed to return, and another crashed when almost home, as against the enemy’s loss of one fighter.”*

Wellington N2911 was one of those which failed to return.  Its crew of six, including 27 year old Sergeant Jones, did not survive.

The war memorial adjacent to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in the village of Whitelackington, South Somerset.

Thomas Edwin Jones is also commemorated at the Runnymede Memorial, sometimes known as the Air Forces Memorial, on Cooper’s Hill in Runnymede, Surrey. 

*Royal Air Force 1939-1945, Volume 1, The Fight at Odds, Denis Richards (HMSO.1953).

Wonderful autumn sunshine on Remembrance Sunday in South Somerset.

Blue skies and autumn sunshine on Remembrance Sunday in South Somerset

Blue skies and sunshine on Remembrance Sunday in South Somerset.

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Touching Remembrance tribute at Tatworth in South Somerset.

Earlier this month, driving along the A358 in South Somerset, I passed the village of Tatworth where I saw standing beside a hedgerow a touching Remembrance tribute in the form of two figures, a soldier and a nurse, dressed in the style of the First World War.  

Touching Remembrance tribute beside the A358 at Tatworth in South Somerset

A Remembrance tribute seen at the South Somerset village of Tatworth.  

Nearby, also beside the A358, is the imposing Church of St. John the Evangelist.  In its churchyard is a traditional war memorial commemorating Tatworth’s fallen of two world wars.  Twenty-eight names are inscribed for World War One together with the words: “IN MEMORY OF THE FALLEN / 1914-1918 / THEY DIED FOR ENGLAND”.  Five more names are inscribed for World War Two.  

The war memorial in the churchyard of St. John the Evangelist at Tatworth in South Somerset.

The Church of St. John the Evangelist stands beside the A358 at Tatworth in South Somerset.

Remembrance figures in Chard, South Somerset.

“Birthplace of powered flight”, proclaim the signs on the main roads leading into South Somerset’s ancient town of Chard.  Therefore it seems appropriate that to commemorate the end of the First World War the figure of an airman stands at attention beside the A358 on the southern fringe of the town.

Sponsored by Chard Town Council the figure of a First World War airman stands at attention.

Chard in South Somerset remembers those who died serving their country.