Private 4859072 Frederick Cameron

2/5th Bn., Leicestershire Regiment

Died on 22nd February 1943, Aged 28.

Buried Enfidaville War Cemetery, Tunisia, VIII.C.11-15

Frederick Cameron was born in London’s Marylebone on 28th December 1914. His mother was Florence (née Carter) and his father was John. John Cameron served in WW1 and was killed in France in March 1918, when Frederick was just 3. A year later, Florence remarried, to William Needham, and the couple had three sons: Zachariah, Arnold and Ronald.

By 1921 Florence and William, along with Frederick and Zachariah, had moved to 16 John Street, Loughborough. However, there’s no mention of William on the Census return so perhaps he was away.

Forward to 1939 and the records tell us that Frederick, now 25, had enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment. His mother Florence was living with half-brothers Arnold (aged 16 and ‘incapacitated’) and Ronald at 8 Alfred Street Loughborough. Also at the address was George Wignall. Florence was working as a charwoman and still married, so it’s not clear what her connection to Mr Wignall was.

The Leicestershire Regiment records say that Frederick Cameron ‘probably served in France in the British Expeditionary Force in 1940.’ He was killed in action in Tunisia, during the North African Campaign, on 22nd February 1943, aged 28. His half-brother Zachariah, serving with the Sherwood Foresters, was held as a POW by the Japanese in Singapore but fortunately survived the ordeal and was released.

Gunner 1090841 Clifford Carpendale

112 (The West Somerset Yeomanry) Field Regt., Royal Artillery

Died on 10th July 1944, Aged 23.

Buried St. Manvieu War Cemetery, Cheux, France, IX. H. 5.

Clifford Carpendale was born in Leicester in 1920, to Herbert Carpendale, a solicitor’s clerk, and Ethel (née Marson). By 1921 they were living at 156 Derby Road, Loughborough.

After Cobden Street School, Clifford attended Loughborough Grammar school from 1932 to 1936. He started well but in his third year was absent for more than half a term, after which he struggled. He left after his 16th birthday to work as a draper’s assistant at Pilsbury’s.

Clifford married Alice Mary Jayes in January 1942 and their daughter Irene was born towards the end of 1943.

Clifford’s military record is lacking detail. All we know is that, serving as gunner/driver/operator with the Royal Artillery, he was reported wounded and missing on 10th July 1944, later presumed to have died from his wounds.

Corporal 4868415 Thomas William Chambers

1st Bn., Leicestershire Regiment

Died on 29th October 1944, Agde 23.

Buried Bergen-Op-Zoom War Cemetery, Holland, 7. C. 9.

Thomas Chambers was born in Rugby in April 1921, although his parents were both from Loughborough. His father was William Chambers, an engineering draughtsman, and his mother was Dorothy (née Cockain). He had siblings May, Mason and Alan, all younger than him. In 1921 his parents took him, aged 2 months, to visit his maternal grandparents at 57 Queens Road, Loughborough. By 1939 this had become William and Dorothy’s address, where they lived with her widowed mother, and their younger children.

The 1939 Register shows a Thomas Chambers, born April 1921, living in Northampton and apprenticed as a plumber.

Thomas Chambers enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment on 19th February 1942, when would have been 21. He was killed in action on 29th October 1944 and is buried at Bergen-Op-Zoom war Cemetery, Netherlands.

Sergeant Arthur Chell

2nd Bn., Gordon Highlanders

Died on 1st November 1944, Aged 32.

Buried Mierlo War Cemetery, Holland, VII. C. 11.

Arthur Chell was born in 1912 in Loughborough. His father John worked at Cottons hosiery works, while his mother Gertrude looked after their large family at 40 Station Street. There were four boys and three girls..

Arthur joined the army in 1933 and served six years in India. He married Doris Moore in 1941. They had two daughters, both born in Loughborough: June in October 1942, and Janet in October 1944. At the time of his death they were living with her parents at 51 Woodgate, Loughborough. (Official notification of his death only mentions one daughter).

Sergeant 1206770   Walter Chester  

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve,   35 Sqdn.

Died   on 5th October 1942, Aged 28.

Buried Lille Southern   Cemetery, France, 5 - A 20.

Walter Chester was born in Loughborough in 1914, the only son of Walter Chester, hosiery trimmer, and Sophia Chester (née Gimson) of 17 Heathcote St, Loughborough.

From 1926 to 1932 Walter attended Loughborough Grammar School where he gained honours in his School Certificate. His final report was slightly critical: ‘He has finished a creditable School career well but still needs breadth of outlook.’ He left to train as a teacher at King Alfred College, Winchester, and before the war he was teaching at Braunstone Hall School, Leicester.

Walter married Doreen Mary Mallison in 1938 in Loughborough. She was the youngest daughter of the late Councillor and Mrs. Harry Mallinson. Their wedding made quite a splash in the Leicester Evening Mail. They were said to be ‘sweethearts from schooldays’. Doreen had attended Loughborough High School and was keen on tennis and hockey. She wore an ivory satin gown of Chinese design, and had four attendants. The newly married couple set up home at 131 Ainsdale Road, Leicester.

Walter enlisted in the RAF and served in Bomber Command. He was killed during a raid on Aachen when his Halifax aircraft collided with a Messerschmitt Bf 110 night fighter over Charleroi, crashing at Marquillies.

Pilot Officer 65521 Peter Chubb

131 Sqdn., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 28th September 1941.

Buried Mount St. Mary's College Churchyard Derbyshire.

Peter Chubb’s parents were Henry, a tax inspector, and Mary (née O’Neill). He was born on 17th June 1921 in London’s Stratford, and had an older brother, John.

By 1939 the family was living at 59 Westfield Drive Loughborough. At the time Peter was a boarder at the prestigious Catholic school, Mount St Mary’s College, Sheffield, in whose churchyard he is buried.

On 24th April 1941 he became a Leading Aircraftsman in the RAF. He was part of 131 Squadron, a fighter squadron flying Spitfires. This squadron had reformed in April 1941 at Ouston in Northumberland. A pilot training unit was also based there. On 27th September 1941 (the day before Peter Chubb died), 131 Squadron relocated to RAF Atcham near Shrewsbury.

What is known about Peter Chubb’s death on 28th September 1941 is that he was involved in a ground accident at RAF Atcham, when the Magister (a training aircraft) he was piloting collided with a Spitfire. The other pilot, Sgt S D Lee, was also killed.

Gunner 1810456 Patrick Close

130 H.A.A. Regt. Royal Artillery

Died on on 3rd June 1942, Aged 38.

Buried Mount St. Mary's College Churchyard Derbyshire.

Patrick Close was born on 23rd March 1904 in Dipton, Durham. He was one of seven children and at the time of the 1921 Census, his father William, a coal miner, was out of work. 17-year-old Patrick was also a miner and possibly providing the household with its main source of income.

Between 1921 and 1939 he moved south to Birmingham. He married Marjorie Neale (born 5th September 1912) there in 1939. According to Army records she came from Loughborough (or possibly Hinckley) and at the time of their marriage was an assistant in a draper’s shop. Patrick by now was a builder’s labourer and he and Marjorie were living with her parents.

Little is known of Patrick’s service record except that he was killed while serving in the Royal Artillery. He was a gunner in a Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment which was based in Edinburgh at the time of his death.

Driver 2015308   Albert Edward Coleman  

4 Bomb Disposal Coy., Royal Engineers   35 Sqdn.

Died   on 24th December 1944, Aged 29.

Buried Loughborough Cemetery, 346/12.

Albert Coleman was serving in the Royal Engineers in the dangerous branch of bomb disposal, but sadly died in an ordinary road accident.

He was born in September 1915, the middle one of five boys in the family of police constable William Coleman and his wife Clara. In 1921 the Colemans were living at 49 Granville Street, Loughborough. (Another two of the boys also served in WW2).

In 1937 Albert married Dorothy Towell. At the time he was a pork butcher, she a hosiery machinist. By 1939 he had become a grocer’s van driver and their son Brian had been born in the summer of that year.

Albert joined the Royal Engineers and had been in bomb disposal for four years when he died. The report of his death said “he had many narrow escapes during his exciting experiences in blitzed areas.”

On the night of 24th December 1944 Albert was coming home on Christmas leave and was given a lift by an army captain, who was driving. Their vehicle collided with a lorry on the Norwich to Thetford road at 9pm. Albert suffered severe head injuries and died in West Suffolk Hospital.

Sergeant 1151281   John Coltman  

115 Sqdn., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve  

Died   on 29th October 1942, Aged 24.

Commemorated Runnymede Memorial

Born on 12th February 1918, John Coltman came from a prosperous background. His father Howard, part of a prominent local family, was a successful farmer. He was involved in public service as a JP, sat on Loughborough Board of Guardians, and in 1920 was the Chairman of Loughborough Rural District Council. His wife was Chryssie (née Kendrick).

The family, later joined by daughter Anne who was born in 1930, lived at Burleigh Hall, a very substantial house with 200 acres of land. The house was demolished in the late 1950s and the land now belongs to Loughborough University.

John Coltman attended Loughborough Grammar School (as his father had) from 1926 to 1935. He was Victor Ludorum during his last year at school, played in the 1st Soccer XI as goalkeeper and often practiced the long jump over the dormitory beds. As he was a hefty young man, weighing 12½ stones, the beds sometimes suffered! He was also troop leader of the School Scouts for four years and in 1933 attended the World Jamboree in Hungary. John stayed in touch with the school after leaving and played for the Old Loughburians. Accounts say that he had many friends in Loughborough, and was blessed with a bright personality and charm of manner.

He passed his Intermediate Law exam and after school was articled to the town clerk. When war broke out, John, aged 21, volunteered for the RAF and was sent to Rhodesia to do his training. Apparently he was very keen to fly and was thrilled when he was briefed for operational flying.

John Coltman was attached to 115 Squadron, a bomber squadron. It undertook many raids, and it was during one of these, on 29th October 1942, that John’s Wellington lll was lost without trace over Essen after taking off from Mildenhall just before 2pm. The other four members of the crew died too. John’s aircraft was one of six Wellington bombers dispatched that day on a roving operation. Only three returned.

Sergeant 1580192 Frederick Ernest Dalby

142 Sqdn., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 22nd July 1944, Aged 28.

Commemorated Malta Memorial Panel 14 Column  2.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Details about Frederick Dalby’s early life are scant. He was born in 1916 to Charles and Amelia (née Fenton) and the family came from Loughborough. There were four boys and four girls. In 1939 some of them were living at 64 King Street, but not Fred. He would have been 23 so presumably had left home.

Fred attended Loughborough College and according to accounts was very popular. After school he worked in the cashier’s office at the Empress Works. It seems that he joined the RAF in 1941. He was attached to 142 Squadron, a bomber squadron, and became a wireless operator/night gunner. He was a very popular member of the crew and was always " the life and soul of the party."

From 1942 to the end of 1944, the squadron was based at Regine, Italy, taking part in the North African and Italian campaigns. On the day Fred Dalby was killed, he was on a night raid in a Wellington X bomber. It was lost without trace during a raid on an oil refinery at Pardubice, Czechoslovakia.

Just before his death, Fred had written to the Loughborough Echo, asking if a reader could send him a photograph of bluebells in Charnwood Forest, a place he loved. Several readers sent photographs to his mother, and a local artist produced a watercolour. She kept these as precious memories of her son.

J. A. Dale

Aircraftman 2nd Class 1833756 Gordon Walter Davidson

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 10th February 1943, Aged 22

Buried The Platt Cemetery, Amersham, Grave 436.

Gordon Walter Davidson was born on 21st November 1920 in Amersham. His parents were Walter Davidson, a postman, and Evelyn (née Edwards). The 1921 Census shows that little Gordon was living in a large household in Amersham, belonging to his maternal grandparents. His mother lived there too but the Census doesn’t list Walter Davidson; he may have been away that day.

In 1939, Gordon, his mother and father were still in Amersham, in a house called Ranchi, 4 London Road. Gordon was listed as electrical wireman.

He married in March 1941, to Jean Beckett. She was a nursery nurse and had previously been working in Derbyshire. The couple married at Holy Trinity, Loughborough and set up home at 24 Boyer Street.

In April 1943 their son Gordon Peter was born in Loughborough; two months after his father’s death.

Gordon had joined the RAF and at the time of his death was based at RAF Kirkham in Lancashire. It was here that he fell seriously ill, and died in the station hospital of respiratory failure and tuberculous meningitis. His father Walter was present at the death.

Sergeant 1575222 Arnold Ernest Davies

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 8th November 1942, Aged 20.

Buried Loughborough  Cemetery, 378/30.                                                                                      

Arnold Davies was born on 20th March 1922, to Joseph Davies and Elsie (née Corah). There were three younger children, Josephine, David, and Cynthia.

He was educated at the Humphrey Perkins Grammar School, Barrow-on-Soar. He was a keen all round sportsman, adept at rugby, tennis and swimming, and was a member of the School Rugby XV.

After leaving school he worked at Herbert Morris in Loughborough.

In the RAF he underwent training in Canada and the USA and before he died had recently returned after receiving his promotion to sergeant. He spent a few days’ leave with his parents in Loughborough, where they lived in Swingbridge Lane. (Coincidentally he had travelled on the same train as the Duke of Kent, who was heading for his final, fatal engagement. He died in a plane crash in Scotland on 25th August 1942)

Arnold Davies was based in Scotland too. At the time of his death he was with Bomber Command at Lossiemouth, flying Wellingtons. He crashed due to engine failure during a night flying exercise; three of the crew survived.

His funeral took place with military honors at Loughborough Woodgate Baptist Church, Loughborough. Aside from his family and friends, the many mourners included RAF colleagues, staff from his workplace, members of the Fire Guard (he probably volunteered with them before joining up) and even his former headmaster.

There were many floral tributes. The one from his parents read “To our darling big boy from his broken-hearted Father and Mother.”

Flight Lieutenant 168659 David Wyndham Davies

74 Sqdn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 10th July 1946, Aged 23.

Buried Bridgend Cemetery, Sec. C. Grave 39.

David Wyndham Davies was the son of Evan Idris and Elizabeth Jane Davies, of Llantwit Major. He was born on 28th May 1923 in Manchester, and had a brother, Idris, who was killed in action in Tobruk in 1941. Their father died in 1940.

He was the husband of Peggy Doreen Davies, of Loughborough, Leicestershire.

Based in Colerne, Wiltshire, with 74 Squadron, David Davies died when his Gloster Meteor jet aircraft collided with another Meteor near Castle Combe. The other aircraft landed safely. At the time of his death his address was The White Lion Hotel, Llantwit Major.

Lance Corporal 2694120 Frederick Davies

Scots Guards.

Died on 17th May 1940, Aged 27.

Buried Buried Mo I Rana Churchyard L-5 8-11

Frederick Davies was born in Wallasey, Cheshire around 1913. His father’s name was Edward, his mother’s Catherine (née Kilty). The couple had five other children besides Frederick.

Frederick’s father died, possibly on war service, and in 1920 his mother remarried, to Robert Marshall, a merchant seaman. It seems he was a widower, and had (at least) two sons and two daughters. The 1921 Census return shows that this large, what we would now call ‘blended’ family were all living together at 45 Oakdale Road, Wallasey: fifteen people in all.

Frederick’s wife was named Mary Ellen. It’s not clear when they married, but at the time of his death they lived at 2 Malt Cottages, Long Whatton. He had come to Loughborough to work on Fletcher’s housing estate, where he was popular amongst his work-mates, and he may have met Mary Ellen in this period. They had a child.

Serving with the Scots Guards, L/Cpl Frederick Davies was posted as missing during the Norwegian campaign in May 1940.

Stoker 2nd Class C/KX 122092   Arthur Vernon De-Hayes  

H.M.S. Galatea, Royal Navy  

Died   on 15th December 1941, Aged 20.

Commemorated Chatham Naval Memorial, 48, 1.

The son of Arthur De-Hayes and Florence (née Gidley) was born on 19th September 1921 in Loughborough. He had two younger sisters and one younger brother.

As stoker, 2nd class, Arthur was pretty much at the bottom of the pecking order on board ship. Feeding coal into the boilers was heavy, sweaty work, but nevertheless absolutely essential.

In 1941 Arthur was toiling away in HMS Galatea, a Royal Navy light cruiser. After being deployed in the Mediterranean and the Norwegian campaign, in July 1941 she joined the Mediterranean Fleet via the Red Sea, and by November was based at Malta with Force "K", operating against the Axis supply convoys to North Africa.

On 14 December 1941 before midnight HMS Galatea was torpedoed and sunk by U-557 off Alexandria, Egypt. Captain Sim, 22 officers and 447 ratings were killed, including Arther De Hayes. Some 100 survivors were picked up by the destroyers Griffin and Hotspur. Less than 48 hours later, U-557 was rammed and sunk with all hands.

HMS Galatea

Chatham Naval Memorial

Private 14415092  James Parker Denike

2nd Bn., Gordon Highlanders

Died on 26th June 1944, Aged 18.

Buried St. Manvieu War Cemetery, Cheux, IX. J. 16.                                                                             

James Parker Denike’s early life requires a little untangling. He was born in Canada. On 19th August 1927 he arrived in the UK with his mother Grace (née Parker), on board the Montclare, docking at Liverpool. He was one and a half years old. Their proposed address in the UK was to be 15 Arundel Street, West End, Leicester. Grace was 24 and described as ‘housewife’.

Contemporary reports of James’s (Jim’s) death say that his parents were Mr and Mr Thomas Harrison, of Garendon Avenue, Hathern. The 1939 Register reveals the mystery. It would seem that Grace remarried, to Thomas Harrison, a postal and commercial clerk. It’s not clear what became of James Denike senior.

As a youngster, James Parker Denike was in St Peter’s Church choir and St John’s Cadets. Until he was 18, he worked at the Brush factory in Loughborough. He volunteered for a Highland Division, with the intention of being a professional soldier in a Scots regiment. He quickly proved an apt soldier, secured the distinction of being first home in the Battalion cross country run in full kit, and was number one on the Bren gun in Normandy. He was killed on D-Day, the Allied Invasion of Normandy.

Flying Officer 114251 Edward Patrick Deville

7 Sqdn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 12th June 1943, Aged 28.

Commemorated Runnymede Memorial, Panel 124.

He was born on 29th June 1915, the youngest of four, to pork butcher Theophilus Ham Deville and his wife Emily. In 1921 the family were living in Uttoxeter.

In June 1938 Edward married Helena (Helen) Goodall, the bride wearing oyster satin and and carrying a bouquet of cream roses. The newlyweds were to set up home in New Road, Uttoxeter.

However, by the time the 1939 Register was taken, the couple had moved to Ashbourne in Derbyshire, where Edward had his own pork butcher’s shop. Incidentally, in 1939 he was fined £2 for blackout irregularities. His wife Helen was said to be living in Loughborough when Edward died.

Edward enlisted in Bomber Command, 7 Squadron. On his final day, he took off at 23.38 hours from RAF Oakington, Cambridgeshire, in a Stirling. He was the wireless operator. They were heading for Munster. Reports say “Fixed at 0358 in position 5248N 0213E after which nothing was heard.” Six other crew also perished.

Sergeant 1388107 Stephen Nelson Dougan

630 Sqdn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 27th April 1944, Aged 23

Buried Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany, 9. F. 17-21.

Stephen Dougan was born on 20th August 1920 in Suffolk, where his mother May (née Medcalf) came from. His father Jim was from Galway. In 1921 the family, including older son James, had moved to Paddington, London, where they lived in Hall Place. Jim Dougan was a hall porter at a Lyons Corner House.

By 1939 they had moved to Wharncliffe Gardens, listed as Marylebone, (but no longer in existence). Jim Dougan was now a road sweeper, while Stephen worked as a piano accordion tuner.

In 1942 Stephen married Edna Hewitt, who was from Willesden in north west London.

Stephen Dougan served in Bomber Command, 630 Squadron, flying in Lancasters as a wireless operator. On 26th April 1944 he took off at 21.24hrs from RAF East Kirby in Lincolnshire. During a raid on Schweinfurt they were shot down by a night fighter and crashed at Mulhausen in central Germany. All seven of the crew were killed and were initially buried at Mulhausen. Their bodies were later reinterred in Durnbach War Cemetery, south Germany.

At the time of Stephen’s death, his parents were living in Loughborough.

Able Seaman P/J 82621 Mark Downs D.S.M.

H.M.S. Gladiolus, Royal Navy

Died on 21st October 1941, Aged 40.

Commemorated Portsmouth Naval Memorial Panel 47, Column 3.

Mark Downs was born in Loughborough on 22nd March 1901 to Robert Downs and Mary Ann (née Moore).

At the age of 18, on 22nd March 1919, Mark signed on for 12 years in the Royal Navy, giving his occupation as miner. The 1921 Census sees him as able seaman as part of the ship’s company of HMS Beaufort, berthed in Pembroke Docks.

In 1922 he married Albina Needham and they had four children. Mark’s last address was 38 Moor Lane, Loughborough. He had left the Royal Navy in 1931 and at one time worked at Herbert Morris in Loughborough, though remaining a naval reservist. He rejoined at the outbreak of war.

Serving in the corvette HMS Gladiolus, on convoys and U-boating hunting, he was one of four crew members to be awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. In 1940 and 1941 HMS Gladiolus had attacked and destroyed two U-boats, the scourge of the North Atlantic.

Sadly, in October 1941 it was the turn of Gladiolus to come under attack while escorting SC-48, a convoy of 52 ships. However, how the ship was lost is inconclusive. She had become separated from the convoy and may have been hit by U-558, U-432 or U-553 on the night of 16th/17th October. At 22.00 hrs contact was lost and nothing more was heard or found.

Alternatively, it could have been an accident. A former crew member speculated Gladiolus was unstable due to a refit, and had overturned during a violent manoeuvre. There were no survivors.

Corporal 7045573  Basil Leslie Duesbury

2nd Bn., West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own)

Died on 27th March 1945, Aged 31.

Buried Taukkyan War Cemetery, Myanmar, 20. D. 13.                                                                                              

Basil Duesbury was born on 28th January 1914 in Essex. His mother Dorothy (née Jackson) was a London girl. In 1919 she became a widow. Basil’s father Henry, who had served in WW1, died of ‘flu, bronchitis and pneumonia.

The 1921 Census shows that Dorothy and 7-year-old Basil were visiting the Stanton family in Loughborough. Perhaps they were already living in the area. Whatever the case, Basil married Lilian Waterfield in 1938 and in 1939 they were living, with her mother, in Loughborough Road Hathern. He was employed as a joiner and carpenter. The couple later had two daughters, and at the time of Basil’s death were living at 47 Woodlands Drive, Loughborough.

Basil Duesbury joined the Army in 1940 but was killed in action in Burma (Myanmar) five years later.

Sergeant 1435865  Walter Thomas Dunning

158 Sqdn., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 22nd June 1943, Aged 33.

Commemorated Runnymede Memorial.

Walter Dunning was born in Loughborough on 8th October 1909. His parents were William and Emma (née Batty). He had one brother, Herbert, and a sister, Ella. In 1921 the family were living at 18 Shakespeare Street, Loughborough.

Walter went to Shakespeare Street school and then to the junior college, later entering Winchester Training College. He was appointed to the junior staff at Cobden Street Boys School in 1930.

By 1939 Walter’s mother was a widow, and he lived with her and his sister Ella at 19 Highlands Drive. In 1941 he volunteered for the RAF and went to South Africa for his training.

As part of Bomber Command’s 158 Squadron, Walter took off from RAF Lissett for his final flight on the night of 21st June. He was the wireless operator on the Halifax bomber and one of eight crew.

The aircraft took part in a devastating raid over Krefeld, an important industrial town in Westphalia. Altogether, 705 Allied aircraft were despatched. In the raid almost half the town, including public and military buildings, was destroyed. 5,500 houses were destroyed, 1,056 people killed and 72,000 bombed out of their homes. On a moonlit night 44 allied aircraft were lost, most shot down by night fighters, including Walter Dunning’s.