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In
Loving Memory of our Fallen
THE FALLEN OF THE SECOND
WORLD WAR
Surnames A
to G
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BALDWIN, C. T.
Cecil Thomas Baldwin served as a Gunner, 1766419, in the
Royal Horse Artillery, 14 (The Essex Yeomanry) Regiment.
Out in the field from 26 September 1944, Cecil was 29
when he died on 18 June 1945 from bronchial pneumonia. He is buried in the Beirut War Cemetery,
Lebanese Republic, 7 F 3. At the foot of his headstone are the words, "A
beloved son and brother. Without him there is shadow where once there
was sun. RIP".
Born in Newport Pagnell, Cecil was the son of Joseph Higgs Baldwin and his wife Edith Alice,
née Huckle, born 16 April 1887, who had married in 1913. Mr
Baldwin may have died in 1916, at the age of 28. Mrs Baldwin was the daughter
of George Thomas, a farm labourer, and Ann Huckle, who in 1911 were
living at Up End, North Crawley. Then married 46 years, Mr and Mrs
Huckle had had twelve children, of whom two had died by 1911.
Cecil was aged 12 when he was a witness to a drowning tragedy in the
River Lovat. Albert Frank Welch, 8, had been paddling and slipped into a
deep hole in the river. Cecil, from 165 Tickford Street, had also been
paddling and was wiping his feet when he heard a shout and some
splashing. He ran to fetch Albert's father, but Albert was dead when
retried from the water. This was the second son Mr Welch had lost in the
river, as his son Henry, aged 7, had drowned in 1915.
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BLACKETT, W. E.
Walter Edward Blackett was 19 when he was killed in action on
8 June 1944. He was serving as a Private, 14558272, in the South Wales
Borderers, 2nd battalion. He was reburied on 19 October 1944 in the
Bayeux War Cemetery, France, X A 15.
He was probably born in the West Ham area in 1925.
His mother was E. Blackett, later of Newport Pagnell.
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CHAPMAN, L. A.
Leonard Arthur Chapman was serving as a Flight Sergeant Air
Bomber, 1577320, in the RAF Volunteer Reserve, 10 Squadron. He died on
27 March 1944, aged 22, and was reburied in the Hotton War Cemetery,
Belgium, VI E 1, on 28 May 1947. At the foot of his headstone are the
words, "His life a beautiful memory, His death a silent grief".
He was the son of Arthur Chapman, born 7 March 1893, and his wife Rose
Emma, née Dunkley, born 27 December 1892, who had married in 1920 in the Ampthill area.
Leonard probably had a brother, Donald A, born about 1925, and a sister,
Olive E, born on 18 March 1927. Mr Chapman was in 1939 a parchment
squarer and he, Mrs Chapman, and Olive were living at 57 Silver Street,
with, possibly, another schoolgirl, Margery Hill, born 29 August 1926.
Leonard Chapman may have been the nephew of
Leonard Chapman.
Memorial - SPi, SPo
Bob Higgins, Bob Mills, Harold Young, Ron Groom, and Len
Chapman were friends. They were keen to be pilots and volunteered early.
Ron became a Wireless Operator, the others all fliers. Of the five
friends, only Ron survived the war. |
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CONNERY, P. J. E.
Patrick James Eli Connery was born in 1922, the son of James
Connery, born 30 November 1896, and his wife Elise or Elsie Ruth Sophia, née Green,
born 12 July 1891. The couple
had married in 1921. In 1939 they were living at 2 Wolverton Road, and
Mr Connery was working as a dismantler of machinery.
He served as a Guardsman, 272031, in the Irish
Guards, 2nd Battalion. He was 22 when he died on 8 September 1944. He
was reburied in the Heverlee War Cemetery, Belgium, on 19 April 1947, in
grave 6 B 14. At the foot of his headstone are the words, "Treasured
thoughts, sweet and tender, of one we loved and will always remember".
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CROSS, R. P. Y.
Richard Percy Yeo Cross was serving as a Flight Lieutenant
Pilot, 40087, in the RAF, 235 Squadron, when he was killed in a flying
accident on 29 May 1940. He was 25. The London Gazette notes that he had
been granted a short service commission as acting Pilot Officer on
probation on 5 September 1937, and promoted to Flying Officer on 12 Jan
1940
He is buried at Herne Bay Cemetery, Kent, England, in Sec UR, Grave
2.
Born in 1914 in Kent, Richard was the son of Percy Edgar Cross and
his wife Mary Agatha, née Von Bibra, born 17 September 1885. The couple had married in
1906 in the London area. Mr Cross died in the Blean area, Kent, in 1923,
aged 49. Mrs Cross remarried to Roger H N Lomax in 1927. In 1932 she
married again, to Frederick John Stannard, in the Bromley area. He had
been born on 6 December 1866 and in 1939 was a retired land agent for
the LMS Railway.
On 11 July 1940 Mrs Stannard was granted the
administration of her son's will, whose address was given as Bluehills,
Yalding, near Maidstone. The estate was £76 1s 1d.
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FINCH, L. G.
Leonard George Finch, born in 1911, was the second son of
George Frederick Finch and his wife Esther Eliza, née Butcher. The
couple had married in 1907; their first son, Aubrey, was born in 1908.
In 1911 the family were living at 81 Hawkes Road, Kingston-on-Thames,
with Mr Finch working as a grocer. He had been a grocer's assistant in
Newport Pagnell ten years previously.
Leonard died on 16 May 1944, aged 32. He was then
serving as a Corporal, 5957999, in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire
Regiment, 2nd battalion. He was reburied in the Cassino War Cemetery,
Italy, on 6 August 1945, XII F 1. At the foot of his headstone are the
words, "Faithful unto death". He left a widow, Gladys May née Herring,
whom he had married in 1937.
Leonard was a nephew of
Bertie and Walter
Finch; they were half-brothers to Leonard's father, George.
Leonard's mother may have died at the age of 35, in 1919.
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GADSDEN, L. A.
Leonard Arthur Gadsden was a Private, 6147786, in the East
Surrey Regiment, 2nd battalion. He became a prisoner of war, captured in
Singapore; an address then was 60 Huntsmoor Road, Wandsworth, and he was
recorded as a motor driver. He died on 9 September 1943, and is buried in Chungkai War
Cemtery, Thailand, 4 C 4. At the foot of his headstone are the words
"Always lovingly remembered".
Born on 4 January 1914, he was the son of Arthur Gadsden and his wife Minnie Agnes, née
Turner, born 19 November 1888, who had married in 1913 in Norfolk.
Widowed, Mrs Gadsden was in 1939 living with her son at 64a Huntsmoor
Road, Wandsworth. He was then recorded as a van driver. Mrs Gadsden
remarried in 1942 to James Mead. Mrs Mead died in 1975.
Leonard had married in 1940 in the Wandsworth area
Gladys Nellie Faulkner, born 1916. She later lived at 37 Bradwell Road,
Old Bradwell. Mrs Gladys Gadsden remarried in 1961 to Richard O Mapley.
She died in 1989.
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GOULD, P. F. S., D. E., and M. T.
Philip Francis Stewart, Dermot Evelyn, and Myles Tyrer Gould
were brothers, the three sons of Philip Gould, born 22 August 1870, and his wife Maria
Augusta, née Stewart, born 15 February 1888. The couple had
married in 1914. Lt Colonel Gould had served in the Royal Irish
Fusiliers during the Great War and other engagements and had received
the DSO for his work in the Ypres salient. The couple were living at The Hermitage, 19 Silver Street, in
1939, where they kept a servant.
Philip, their son, was born in 1916. In 1929,
attending school in Canterbury, he passed the naval cadets qualifying
exam for Dartmouth College, beginning there in January 1930. In 1941 he
married Mary Holden in the Bridport area. She was the daughter of
Captain G H Holden, RN, and Mrs Holden, from Broad Windsor, Dorset.
During his naval career, Philip, known as Stewart to
his family, received two MIDs,
one for good services off the Dutch coast, and a DSC with bar. He was
present at the evacuation from Dunkirk, during which his MTB shot down
an enemy plane and was then damaged by a bomb blast. Immediately
after the evacuation he took four days leave in Newport Pagnell while
his MTB was repaired. In 1943,
serving as a Lieutenant and commander of the force, Philip was killed on
28 April. In the early morning Motor Torpedo Boats had mounted an attack
along the coast at Cape Bon Peninsula. They had destroyed two enemy
minesweepers and attacked landing aircraft and a patrol boat, which was
set on fire. They then spotted a further large motor vessel steaming
northwards, protected by aircraft and destroyers. They attacked this
vessel, all the while under fire from coastal batteries, aircraft, and
the destroyers. They torpedoed and sank the motor vessel, but Philip was
killed during the attack. The CWGC attributes him to HM MTB 639, which
was sunk by aircraft.
Philip is buried in the Enfidaville War Cemetery,
Tunisia, grave II F 27. At the foot of his headstone are the words,
"Tell England, ye who pass this monument, one who served her lies
content".
The family had already lost the middle son, Dermot
Evelyn. Born in 1918, he achieved the melancholy distinction of becoming
the first war casualty in Newport Pagnell and in North Buckinghamshire when he died on a flight
from 51 Squadron on 5 April 1940. About four years beforehand he had
joined the RAF, and taken part in battles and reconnaissance flights as
the war began. He had gained his flying officer's certificate at the RAF
college at Cranwell, after education at St
 George's, Windsor, and Clayesmore School, Dorset. He enjoyed sport, particularly hunting, and
was well-known in Yorkshire as a point-to-point rider.
Flying Officer Gould, 33312, is commemorated on the
Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, on panel 5, left. The memorial is not far
from Heathrow airport; a plane just taken off flies over the memorial,
above.
On 17 June 1944, the youngest son, Myles Tyrer Gould,
died from wounds aged 23. He had been serving as a Lieutenant, 114081,
in his father's old regiment, the Royal Irish Fusiliers, attached to the
Black Watch. He was reburied on 8 November 1944 in La Delivrande
War Cemetery Douvres, grave I G 3. The foot of his headstone bears the
words "In perfect honour, perfect truth, you trod the golden paths of
youth".
Very sadly, in just four years, four members of the
family had been lost, as the boys' father, Philip, had died in 1942, on
1 July. There is a headstone for him at St Katherine's Churchyard,
Savernake, which commemorates also his sons. Mrs Gould died twenty years
later, in 1962. Her daughter, the only surviving member of the family,
Gillian Leigh Gould, formerly of 15 High Street,
North Crawley, died on 27 December 2007, aged 85. An attender at St
Firmin's, North Crawley, she had donated an organ to the church. A
service of thanksgiving for her life was held there on 10
January 2008.
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