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THE  DOVER WAR MEMORIAL  PROJECT

 

war memorial at dusk, photographed by Michelle Cooper

 

World War II

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SERVICE DEATHS IN AND AROUND DOVER

This is the beginning of a list of service deaths through enemy action in Dover. It will be revised as we access more sources; we can't guarantee accuracy as the sources don't necessarily match in information and even tend to conflict.  If you have further information, please let us know. Notes from some service records are here and a preliminary list of injuries to service personnel is here.

The preliminary list was based on Roy Humphreys' book, "Dover at War, 1939-1945". Information in italics is from "Front Line County" by Andrew Rootes. The entries marked with an 1 are from "Conflict Across the Strait" by Colonel B E Arnold TD 1982. Entries marked with an * are from Dover Express summaries published between 3 June 1949 to 20 January 1950. Entries marked with a 2 are from information compiled by Phil Eyden from St Mary in Castro burial records, and those with a 3 from research by Mark Chapman.

See also the different list from the Diary of Events, Dover Municipal Borough
 

1939

Date Name Location Notes
early November one Pier Turret Battery swept over Admiralty pier, drowned 1

1940

Date Name Location Notes
27 May L/Aircrtmn Reginald Brown Shakespeare Cliff crashed after returning from bombing
31 May Sapper Thomas Speers, 26 Dover Harbour found dead in the harbour on 18 June 2
7 July Sqn Ldr John Davies Clement Joslin Chilverton Elms shot down by Mes (or by Spitfire?)
8 July F/O E W Mitchell Temple Ewell shot down in flames
15 July one Langdon Battery huts bombed 1
19 July Flt Lt I D G Donald Elms Vale attacked by Mes over channel, afire, reached Dover, crashed
P/O A C Hamilton Elms Vale
25 July Henry Sand on shore of Merchant Navy
29 July Pte Charles Hanvy Dover Harbour dive-bombing
30 July L/Cpl Sidney Skeratt, 22 Union Road Hospital injured the previous day with Pte Hanvey above
19 August fourteen - soldiers from Fifth Field Training Regiment and the Green Howards and sailors from Burke and Brock   ten bombs dropped around the castle
22 August Lt-Cdr George Mervyn Allchin *
Lt-Cdr William Stephen Miller *
Pencester Road near the junction with Maison Dieu Road shelling
24 August F/O Stephen Rochford Chevalier Road Blenheim crashed into balloon cable
Sgt William Briggs Chevalier Road as above
Sgt Dennis Brook Chevalier Road as above
4 September Gunner Joseph Pittock*   struck by shrapnel
9 September Pte James Ellis, 20 Western Heights shell
11 September Lt William Lunn* Grand Hotel bombing, hotel collapsed
nine service personnel   bombing and shelling
Gdsmn Frederick Haller Western Heights shell
Pte Victor Crook Dover Marine Station shell
2nd Hand Ivor Batchelor*   shelling and bombing
L Howarth RAF, 20* Granville Gardens trapped in basement after shelling, died of wounds
15 September Skipper Andrew Roberston Lees, 35, Seamen William Roy Cherrington, 19, William Jones, 25, Ernest Stanton, 37, and Joseph Carter White, 33, and Stoker Arthur Isitt, 20 HMT Botanic, Admiralty Dornier bombing
22 September Gnr Cyril Davies, 20, Gnr George Edward Goose, 20, Gnr Dennis Lionel Pearson, 20, Gnr Albert Joseph Player, 20, and two others The Castle 34th Signal Training Regiment, Royal Artillery
killed when shell hit anti-tank minefield being laid 2
27 September army captain Connaught Park shell
Capt E Lawson Dover Harbour shell
3 October John Arthur/Alfred  Hitchen the road to Northfall transport lorry overturned when returning from duties
10 October Clr Sgt William John Axtel Day   enemy action 2
18 October two Pier Turret Battery shell on Sergeants' Mess 1
21 October sailor Granville Dock bomb
1 November Albert Charles Skeates Dover-Deal road shell
14 November two drifter Shipmates, Camber bomb
20 November one - probably Gunner Arthur William Heyhoe, 28, 519 Coast Regt. Southern Breakwater Knuckle lighthouse heavy waves, drowned 1
body found by soldiers at Romney Marsh, buried Dymchurch
27 November Charles Edward Simpson Eastern Arm Battery shelling 1 - was manning battery 2
20 December Victor Park    

1941

Date Name Location Notes
3 April Canadian soldier Shakespeare Beach trod on mine
24 April RAF Sergeant RAF repairs, near Dover Engineering Works bomb
26 April two soldiers near Trevanion Caves shell
18 June P/O S J Hill hit hill by Folkestone Road near Capel Spitfire damaged in combat
30 June P/O J N Whitmore, Sgt Dulley, Sgt Truman Admiralty Pier Blenheim hit barrage balloon cable after bombing raid. Balloon fell into the ferry dock and the Blenheim into the sea
29 July Major Becher, 2 Lt Wilson beach stepped on mine in minefield
22 August Pvt William Holschumer   stepped on mine in minefield
2 October George Bowling, AB RN
four other servicemen including Royal Naval Master at Arms Sidney Welfare*
Military Hill bomb
12 October aircraftman Swingate by splinters of shell
1 November a sailor and a soldier Boys' County School during football game, bomb
16 November one Eastern Arm Battery heavy gale, high seas, drowned 1
15 December soldier Stanhope Road shell

1942

Date Name Location Notes
23 March Alfred Bowles, The Buffs Market Square bomb, killed by falling masonry
26 March Lt W G Worthington Temple Ewell Road shot ten days previously when he failed to stop his car on challenge by sentry
3 April Surgeon Lt Cdr Robert McDonald Bremner. 9 Pencester Road bomb
24 July Naval Stoker near lower end of Snargate Street motor gunboat caught fire and blew up (DE p12 23 Sept 1949)
5 November Flt Sgt S H Spallin Admiralty Pier struck balloon cable
9 November Daniel Lehane, Bert Fowler, Peter Loudon, Frederick Kelly, Ronald Goodchild, Leonard Chillingworth, Norman Ballantyne, John Abbott, William Hutchison, Ernest Parratt, William Turner Reach Road, St Margaret's all of Royal Artillery, 218 Bty, 73 Lt AA Regt, killed by shell hitting their trench.

1943

Date Name Location Notes
18 January gunner from 540 Coast Regt Wanstone Farm shell
10 February possibly Gunner John Harold Aram, 540 Coast Regt, Royal Artillery 3

Wanstone Farm Battery

 
17 April two soldiers* gunsite in Union Road shell
27 June one WRN, probably Olive Pett, and eleven servicemen, probably including Bertram Coker, Ernest Costin, Frederick Gage, Francis Gardner, Harold Lynch, Denys Matthews, Sidney Spiller, Frederick Wood Market Square/Cannon Street shell
4 August one naval and George Cutteridge, RNVR HMS Lynx Granville Dock shell

1944

Date Name Location Notes
22 January two WAAFs* a rural area shell. possibly also another, Jean Ramsey, who died on 30 January
20 March Charles Ireton Ellis, Harold Turner Grand Shaft Barracks  
13 May Edward Thomas Donoghue docks by his Air Sea Rescue vessel drowned in the docks
25 June three, probably including RAMC Alistair Lamont and Arthur Mason Drill Hall, seafront shell
3 September 2nd engineer repair ship HMS Moorfowl Ferry Dock shell
10 September Pvt Robert Niesewonger USA former aircraft hanger behind the Castle flying shrapnel, airburst shells
12 September one airman, one soldier
Herbert Dovell NFS from Barry attached to the firefleet in the dockyard *
  shelling
13 September one ATS, two servicemen including Arthur Stanley Fairs from Ipswich Priory Station shell
15 September nine, AAA 127th, including
Sgt Karl E. Bowman  Sgt James H. Myers, Pvt Max Long
by Castle airburst shell
23 September one military and Harry Hall, Gnr Salvation Army Hostel, Snargate Street Harry Hall buried St James, armour piercing shell
26 September one soldier, probably Thomas Edgar Cook Broadlees, army bungalow shell
Flt Lt Soden Frith Road returning from medical incidents, shell
two naval people Mitre pub, Snargate Street shell
14 October John William Henry Perkins Casualty Hospital wounded by shrapnel

Notes from some service records are here and a preliminary list of injuries to service personnel is here.

3 June 1949, 15 July 1949, 21 October 1949, 5 August 1949,

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