Private 5891807 Gilbert Samuel Gadsby

5th Bn., Northamptonshire Regiment

Died on 28th November 1942, Aged 19.

Buried Massicault War Cemetery, Tunisia, IV. A. 12.

Gilbert Gadsby was born in Loughborough in summer 1923, to parents Samuel and Mary Ann (née Hull).

His probate record gives his address as 101 Nanpantan Road, his effects left to his mother, who was by this time widowed. It is known that he was killed on active service in North Africa, but nothing else can be discovered about his life.

H. Garner

Private 5380725 Herbert Douglas Gibbons

40 Coy., Aux. Mil., Pioneer Corps

Died on 29th May 1940, Aged 31.

Commemorated Dunkirk Memorial, Column 151.

Born in Loughborough in 1909, Herbert Gibbons’s parents were Charles and Hannah. His younger siblings were Charles, George, Phyllis, Hannah and Gilbert, and in 1921 the family lived at 1 Union Lane. Herbert’s father was a house painter, his mother a charwoman.

In April 1929 he married Rose Hudson and they subsequently had five children: Jessie, Douglas, Maureen, Brian and Geoffrey. The family lived at 55 Wellington Street. In 1935 there was a near-miss to what would have been a family tragedy, when five-year-old Douglas fell off a bridge into the canal, but he was rescued by a young lad who had just learned to swim. Fortunately, Douglas recovered from his ordeal

Herbert Gibbons took up boxing and became something of a local celebrity, training in pubs around Loughborough, where he was known as ‘The Kid’ or ‘The Tiger’. He later turned professional and gained distinction in the lightweight class. His photo (above) certainly shows that his face had undergone some battering!

Before turning professional he worked as a painter, decorator and signwriter, as well as at the Empress Works.

Herbert’s death at Dunkirk, serving in the Pioneer Corps, occurred between 29th May and 2nd June 1940. His body was not recovered.

Warrant Officer Class III 4854472 John H. William Gilbert

1st Bn., Leicestershire Regiment

Died on 16th August 1944, Aged 35.

Buried Ranville War Cemetery, France, V. F. 6.

Born 20th May 1909 in Loughborough to Horace and Albert Gilbert, John Gilbert had siblings Hilda, Constance, Horace, Edith and Edward. Their father was a general fitter.

In 1937 he married Kate Collington, and in 1939 they were living at 32 Tuckers Road, with children Jeanette and Gillian. John was employed at Tuckers brickyard. Kate is listed as ‘unpaid domestic duties’ but at some time she also worked as a conductress on Allen’s buses.

John Gilbert served in the Territorials for 12 years from 1927, where he was drum major in the territorial band. He was called up into the regular Army two weeks before war broke out, serving in Norway, Northern Ireland, in a training establishment in Kent, and then went to France, a few days after D-Day, where he took part in the Battle of Caen. His brother Edward, also serving in France, wrote to Kate suggesting that John might have been taken prisoner. However, he was later reported as missing, then presumed killed.

Trooper 7927248 Harry Gledhill

F Sqn. 2nd Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, Royal Armoured Corps

Died on 20th December 1941, Age 29.

Buried Halfaya Sollum War Cemetery, Egypt, 19. G. 2.

Harry’s father Halliwell Gledhill (aka Harry) was landlord of the Green Man in Swann Street, Loughborough, and his mother was Ada. Harry was born in Leicester in 1912 and attended Loughborough Grammar School from 1926 to 1928. He struggled with lessons, being criticised as ‘weak…lazy…could work harder.’ He did however show some aptitude for drawing.

In 1939 he was living at home and working as a builder’s contractor. The Gledhills were now at 72 Ashby Road, Kegworth. His father had retired to Kegworth six years previously. In a newspaper report at that time, he said that recent changes in beer taxation had made it more and more difficult to make a living. Or for “an honest working man to buy a reasonable amount of refreshment.”

Harry (junior) married Joan Bramley in Loughborough in summer 1940. She had been a Loughborough carnival queen. Before joining the Army he had served in the Home Guard. Joan received notification of his death, saying he had been killed as a prisoner during an air raid. This is not proved by available documentation, but that doesn’t mean that it is not true; there certainly were prisoner of war camps in Egypt close to the cemetery where Harry was buried.

Captain Noel Herbert Godkin MBE

No. 48 R.M. Commando., Royal Marines

Died on 4th November 1944, Aged 32.

Buried Oostende New Communal Cemetery, 9/ 7/5.

Born in Loughborough in 1912, Noel was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Godkin. He had one sister, Amy. Their father was head of Herbert Godkin and Co, a firm of accountants in Baxtergate, Loughborough. Their home, 57 Park Road, is a substantial property, indicating that the Godkins were well-off. Noel left almost £5,800 in his will; about £320,000 in 2025 values.

Noel Godkin was educated at Loughborough Grammar School from 1920 to 1929, where he was an enthusiastic cricket, tennis and football player, House Captain, sergeant in the Cadet Corps and treasurer of the Literary and Dramatic Society.

School was followed by five years in London, where he was articled as a Chartered Accountant. He returned to Loughborough to be a partner in the firm with his father and uncle. He took a great interest in literature, art, and music, and was a fluent French speaker. He was a popular member of the Loughborough Rugby Club. According to reports of his death, he was quiet and unassuming, but had many friends.

In 1939, Noel served in the ARP as a hospital orderly whilst his father was an ARP Driver. It could have been during this period that Noel met his fiancée, Sister A Collins, who worked at Loughborough Hospital.

He joined up as a Private in 1941, and later obtained his commission. At the date of his death, he was an Administrative Officer in the Royal Marine Commando. He was in the thick of the fighting on many occasions including the landings at Sicily, Italy and Normandy. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) (Military Division) for distinguished service during the landing of Allied Forces in Normandy.

Noel died of wounds he received during Operation Infatuate, to open the port of Antwerp, on the beach of West Kapelle on Walcheren Island. The Royal Marines’ objective was to attack enemy gun placements.

His father Herbert Godkin died in 1948. He had ceased to be active in his company, and it was said that he became ill due to the grief caused by his son’s death.

Private10630532  Lewis Granger

Army Catering Corps

Died on 6th October 1945, Aged 29.

Buried Coleorton (St. John's) Churchyard

Lewis Granger was born in Normanton on 25th July 1916, to Edgar and Edith Granger. He had a younger brother, Arthur, and sisters Maggie, Nora, and Beryl. Their father was a labourer on the Midland Railway. In 1921 the family was living in Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

In 1939 he lived at 14 Caldwell Street, Loughborough, with the widowed Clara Smith, and was a journeyman baker. In November of that year, he married Alice Brown in Woodville, Derbyshire. The bride wore a gown of mauve figured crepe, with navy accessories, and Arthur Granger was his best man.

Of Lewis’s Army career there is little trace. He joined the Catering Corps, which would have fit with his civilian trade as a baker. At the time of his death, he was attached to the Royal Signals. How he died, five months after the war ended, is not known.

Sergeant 1877215 Richard Thomas Grapes

192 Sqdn., Royal Air Force

Died on 4th March 1945, Aged 34.

Buried Loughborough Cemetery, 346/13. 

He was born on 5th May 1911 in Hartlepool to Edwin and Alice Grapes. In 1930 he married Olive Coultas; they later had a daughter, Olga. In 1939 they were living in Leicester at 7 Biddulph Avenue, and Richard was a marine engineer.

When he joined the RAF he served in Bomber Command. On the evening of 3rd March 1945, he took off in a Halifax from Foulsham, for intelligence operations over the North Sea. On returning to base, his aircraft was attacked by a Junkers Ju88 whose fire set light to the fuel tanks and wrecked both inner engines. The aircraft crashed on a chicken farm in the Norfolk village of Fulmodeston and caught fire. Richard and four other crew died. The pilot survived but was so badly burned that he was sent to the Special Burns Unit at East Grinstead and was not discharged until 1947.

Private S/14014647 Alfred G. Green

Royal Army Service Corps.

Died on 9th August 1946, Aged 25.

Buried Loughborough Cemetery, Comp. 398. Grave A/27/402.

Alfred Green was born in 1921 in Loughborough, to Arthur and Ethel Green. In 1921 they were living at 50 Paget Street with Alfred’s maternal grandparents, the Lawteys.

In 1939 they were at the same address, but Alfred’s mother was now a widow. She worked as a hosiery machinist while Alfred was a dental mechanic. He married Georgina Naylor in 1945.

Alfred married Georgina Naylor in 1945.

During the war he served in the Royal Army Service Corps. He died over a year after the end of the war, presumably in the UK, but there are no further records.

Trooper 14425722 Jack Green

Nottinghamshire Yeomanry, Royal Armoured Corps

Died on 25th June 1944, Aged 24.

Commemorated Bayeux Memorial, Panel 10, Column 2.

Jack was born in Loughborough in 1919, one of five children. His parents were Walter and Alice Green, who in 1921 lived at 124 Ratcliffe Road, Loughborough, along with Walter’s parents.

Jack went to Church Gate School and Limehurst Senior School. Later he worked for Clemersons, a department store in Market Street. (It closed in 1971).

Serving in Royal Armoured Corps, Jack Green was killed during B Squadron's attack on Fontenay on Sunday June 25 1944. According to information on www.findagrave.com “his tank was hit and 'brewed up' but no remains of him were found.”

Sergeant 6093136 Leonard Green

1/6th Bn. The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)

Died on 18th August 1944, Aged 26.

Banneville-La-Campagne War Cemetery,  III. B. 18.                                                                                       

Born on 5th April 1918 to Arthur and Elizabeth Green, Leonard had a brother and two sisters. In 1921 the family lived in Court A, Conery Passage, in Loughborough, Arthur a labourer and Elizabeth a hosiery winder. In 1939 Leonard was living with his widowed mother at 30 Burleigh Road. He worked as a slater for Loughborough firm Palfreyman.

At some point he married a girl called Jessie, who lived in Quorn at the time of Leonard’s death. This may have been Jessie Bowler, and if so, they married at the beginning of 1944.

In the Army Leonard Green served at Dunkirk, North Africa and Italy.

W. Green

Aircraft Woman (2nd Class) 2058680 Irene Elsie May Guy

Women's Auxiliary Air Force

Died on 17th December 1941, Aged 28.

Buried Loughborough Cemetery

Irene Elsie May Guy is the only woman to be listed on the Carillon’s WW2 Roll of Honour. Her parents, Henry James and Annie Guy, came from Oxfordshire but Irene was born in Loughborough on 16th November 1913. Her father worked as an iron driller at the Herbert Morris Empress Works. The family’s address was 114 Russell Street.

Annie Guy died in July 1939 from complications following an operation at Loughborough Hospital. So on the 1939 Register we find Irene and her father, both newly grieving, living at the family home in Russell Street. According to newspaper reports of her death, Irene worked as a ‘runner on’ at Matland Knitting Mills, and Henry was a driller/constructional engineer, probably still at Herbert Morris.

Irene Guy joined the WAAF in October or early November 1941 and was based at RAF Bicester, Bomber Command. Women of course could not engage in combat. Irene was put onto parachute packing duties, but just two months into her service, in December 1941 she became seriously ill and was taken to Cowley Road Hospital in Oxford, where she died. She had a severe form of diphtheria and her death certificate states: 'cardiac failure associated with acute bronchial obstruction by diphtheritic membrane and gravis type diphtheria of the pharynx’. An inquest into her death was held on 14th January 1942.

Diphtheria, before the advent of antibiotics, was considered a very serious illness, and sufferers were often treated in isolation hospitals. In 1941, Irene Guy was one of 2,641 people (from 50,797 cases) who died as a result of diphtheria

Some of this information courtesy of researcher Mark Smith ladamark@btinternet.com

Steward C/LX 26141 Thomas Haines

Thomas Haines was born in Loughborough on 9th December 1916. He was the son of Samuel Haines and his wife Stella (née Statham).

Thomas’s father was a railway platelayer for the Great Central Railway and when Samuel and Stella Haines were first married in 1902 they lived in Main Street, East Leake. Between 1911 and 1912, however, they moved to 48 Cobden Street, Loughborough. Thomas had three brothers: James, Ronald and Frederick and four sisters: Annie, Elsie, Joan and Stella.

Thomas was educated at Cobden Street and Church Gate Schools in Loughborough. When he left school he was employed by Hall and Earl, hosiery manufacturers in Baxter Gate. By 1939 he was a bus and coachwork labourer.

Thomas joined the Royal Navy in 1939. In early 1943 he was an Officers’ Steward on HMS Welshman, a cruiser-minelayer (Dido class) which in 1942 had completed eight supply-runs between Malta and Alexandria, Egypt.

On 1st February 1943, when Welshman was carrying out another supply-run, it was torpedoed about 45 miles off Tobruk, Libya, by the U-617. The ship capsized and sank by the stern after two hours. Eight officers, 144 ratings (Thomas Haines amongst them) and 13 passengers, including two civilians and four air crew members who had been badly burnt in a plane crash on Malta, all died

Thomas's brother Ron Haines served in the RAF and survived the war.

Pilot Officer 199321 Charles Eric Hall

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 14th September 1945.

Buried Karachi War Cemetery India, 1. D. 15.

Born 11th July 1921, he was the only son of Charles Hall and Charlotte (née) Tivey. They lived at 33 King’s Avenue, Loughborough, and his father was a factory foreman. Charles junior attended Loughborough Grammar School from 1932 – 1937, where he was a popular figure with a great zest for life. He retained a deep affection for the school, often returning for visits after he had left education.

Before joining the RAF, Charles worked at the Brush factory as a transformer designer, which was priority work. However, he wanted to be in the RAF and felt frustrated that the factory would not release him to join up.

Eventually he got his wish and very quickly became a keen flier, gaining his pilot's wings after 10 months training in Canada. At the time of his death he was based in Cairo as part of Transport Command.

Piloting a Beaufighter Tfx, the aircraft went into a spin, possibly due to an engine fire, and crashed near Karachi. Charles Hall, the wireless operator and navigator were all killed.

Corporal 1889118 Jeffrey Hallam

560th Field Company, 18th Division, Royal Engineers

Died in Loughborough on 8th January 1948, Aged 29.

Jeffrey Hallam, known as 'Jeff' to his family and friends, was born in the Barrow on Soar area on 3rd October 1918. He was the only child of Charles Wilfred Hallam and his wife Gertrude (née Smith) and attended Rosebery Street and Limehurst schools in Loughborough. After a period working at Herbert Morris, Jeff joined his father, who ran a haulage contracting business. In 1921 the Hallam family lived at 32 Oxford Street, Loughborough.

Jeff enlisted on 18th October 1939 and joined the 560th Field Company, part of the 18th Division of the Royal Engineers. Posted to the Far East he sailed to Bombay and boarded the US Navy troop carrier West Point which travelled in convoy with HQ 18th Division Royal Engineers on USS Wakefield and arrived in Singapore on 29th January 1942, during the last weeks of the Malaya campaign.

After the fall of Singapore on 15th February 1942 Jeff was one of 877 ordinary ranks captured and sent to Changi prison camp in Singapore. Immediately upon arrival at Changi, the Royal Engineers played a full part in providing essential sanitary facilities for the greatly overcrowded barrack area. Soon, however, the Japanese authorities demanded working parties for clearing, building and cargo handling duties in the city.

Between June and November 1942 a succession of rail transports took prisoners of war from Singapore to Ban Pong to work on the 'death railway' between Thailand and Burma. Jeff was one of those transported. From January 1943 to May 1944 he worked at various camps under different commanding officers.

After the fall of Singapore Jeff's parents did not hear from him for nineteen months until they received a postcard in September 1943 informing them that he was a prisoner of war in Japanese hands.

Unlike many held by the Japanese, Jeff survived captivity and returned home in October 1945. He married Margaret Florence Fickling in summer 1946 in Sheffield and the couple set up home at 257 Derby Road, Loughborough. Jeff died at his parents' home less than two years later on 8th January 1948, aged only 29, six weeks after having an operation at Loughborough Hospital. As the report on Jeff's funeral noted 'the privations which he suffered [as a POW] were largely responsible for the failure of his health' . His funeral took place at the Congregational Church, Loughborough.  

Gunner 2046937 Louis William Hancock

27 Searchlight Regt., Royal Artillery

Died on 24th August 1945, Aged 23.

Buried Loughborough Cemetery, 394/9 B. 

Louis William Hancock was born in late 1921 in East Retford, Nottinghamshire. He was the son of Robert Hancock and his wife Gladys (née Stenton). Louis had five brothers: Gordon, Stanley, Robert, Thomas and Edward and one sister, Olive.

Louis’s father was a bricklayer’s labourer and the family moved around from Leicester to Ripon, Worksop, East Retford, Shardlow and Loughborough. In 1939 they were living at 17 Oxford Street, Loughborough.

In 1944 Louis married Marjorie Hickling, a Loughborough girl.

There is little to be found about Louis Hancock’s army service. 27th Searchlight Regiment was formed in August 1940 by the transfer of 27 (London Electrical Engineers) Anti-Aircraft Battalion Royal Engineers (TA) to the RA. It saw action in the Middle East until being placed in ‘suspended animation’ in June 1945: several months before Louis Hancock died. His death was registered in Market Bosworth.  

Flight Lieutenant  Raymund Joseph Hannan D.F.C.

Pilot 207 Sqdn. Royal Air Force

Died on 25th November 1942, Aged 25.

Buried Bottesford (St. Mary) Churchyard                 

Unlike many of the WW2 casualties commemorated on the Carillon, there is ample documentation about Raymund Hannan and much further detail can be found at https://www.goadby-marwood-history.co.uk/the-crew-of-r5694-em-f

Ray Hannan was born on August 9th, 1917, in Hāwera, New Zealand, and the family later moved to Palmerston North. His father was John Hannan, and mother Helen (née Hall). Ray’s siblings were Noel, Elizabeth, Joan, Madelyn and Elaine. He was sporty and in the late 1930s played for the 'Black Sticks', the New Zealand national men's field hockey team.

After serving a year with the RNZAF, he went to the UK in August 1939, and in September volunteered for the RAF and was selected for pilot training.

He was granted a short-service commission as Acting Pilot Officer on probation from March 23rd 1940, later confirmed as Pilot Officer for the duration of hostilities on September 11th.

A severe attack of chicken pox in late 1940 put Ray in Leicester Isolation Hospital, where romance blossomed in the person of fever nurse Barbara Lowe, who came from Wymeswold. The couple married in the spring of 1941, and their daughter Susan Elaine was born in summer 1942.

Ray first served with 49 Squadron at RAF Scampton, and in July 1941 was promoted to instructor in 25 Operational Training Unit at RAF Finningley, flying Wellington bombers. He was awarded the DFC in October 1941 for “an act or acts of valour and courage or devotion to duty performed whilst flying in active operations against the enemy.” RAF reports said “His determination and outstanding keenness have set a splendid example.”

He was then posted to 207 Squadron conversion flight at RAF Swinderby in preparation for his second tour of operations flying the Lancaster, followed by a move to RAF Langar. It is during his time at Swinderby that Ray would have met the comrades who were to form his crew. Together they flew a variety of aircraft and attacked many different targets, but in was in a Lancaster that Ray Hannan and his comrades met their end.

RAF records show that the aircraft took off 15.00hrs on 25th Nov 1942 from RAF Langar, but while returning from an operational flight, crashed and burst into flames near Easton, six miles from Grantham. All eight men on board were killed.

Sergeant 1818459  William Ernest Harbidge

15 Sqdn., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 26th February 1944, Aged 19.                                                                    

Buried Loughborough Cemetery, 346/11 

William was born on 16th June 1924 in Loughborough, the son of John, a joiner and cabinet maker, and Ethel (née Basford). She died in 1943. He had a sister, Ethel, and two older brothers, Herbert and John. Another brother, James, died in 1936 aged 12. The family lived at 73 Leopold Street. As a boy William attended Rosebery and Limehurst Schools and was a member of the St. Peter's Scout Troop, as well as being a regular churchgoer. After school he worked for a plumbing firm, T Barker & Sons.

He served in 132 Squadron of the ATC and joined the RAF in 1943; both his brothers served in the force too. William was seconded to Bomber Command based at RAF Mildenhall. His final and fatal flight was raid on Ausburg; a controversial operation due to the destruction of the beautiful old town centre where more than 85,000 people were bombed out of their homes. Little damage was done to the industrial areas.

William’s Lancaster returned from the raid but when attempting to land at Lakenheath, it overshot the runway, overturned and caught fire. Two of the crew survived but William Harbidge was not one of the lucky ones. His funeral was at St Peter’s Church.

Gunner 2063179 Cecil Hemslie Harding

 241 Bty., 77 H.A.A. Regt. Royal Artillery

Commemorated Singapore Memorial, Column 20.                                                                               

Cecil Harding was born in Loughborough in early 1920. His father Samuel worked at the Brush factory, his mother had been born Mabel Pollard. Cecil went to Limehurst Senior School. He later joined the Territorials, while working for Stensons the brewers, and was called up at the outbreak of war.

He was captured by the Japanese in Java, on 9th March 1942. His parents received a postcard, the first they had heard from him in two years, saying: "I am constantly thinking of you. It will be wonderful when we meet again. Our camp is well equipped and the accommodation is comfortable. Our daily life is pleasant.” Knowing what we know now about Japanese POW camps, he must have been shielding his parents from the truth, or his mail was censored. It is likely he was held in a camp on Ambon island, a place where the levels of cruelty, disease and starvation, worse even than the depraved standards set by the Japanese in their other POW camps, were inflicted on prisoners, many of whom were Australian. The prisoners were used as slave labour to build airfields.

Samuel Harding’s death occurred during one of the most shameful episodes in the Far East theatre of war. In November 1943, the Japanese decided to ship the sick prisoners in Ambon back to Java. 640 men, including 422 British, Cecil Harding amonst them, were loaded onto a passenger-cargo ship Suez Maru. They were accommodated in the ship’s holds. The Suez Maru was one of the many ‘hell ships’ used by the Japanese for transporting prisoners. The passengers also included about 200 sick and wounded Japanese soldiers

It was not marked as a prisoner or hospital ship, as required by the Geneva Convention.

The vessel was torpedoed by an American submarine, USS Bonefish. As the ship sank, many men were drowned in the holds. Some managed to escape the ship and swam away. The Japanese survivors were picked up by a Japanese minesweeper, W-12. But its captain, Captain Kawano Osumu, after conferring with Lieutenant Commander Masaji Iketani, then gave orders to fire on the Allied survivors in the water, with machine guns and rifles. Lifeboats and rafts holding prisoners from the Suez Mara were rammed and sunk. When all the prisoners had been massacred, the minesweeper sped away.

This atrocity was investigated as a war crime in 1949. Kawano and Iketani were arrested but never sent for trial and released. To this day, descendants of the murdered men are still seeking justice. Cecil Harding’s POW record simply says he died ‘at sea’.

Lieutenant 304217 John Robert Harvey

Leicestershire Regiment

Died on 23rd March 1945, Aged 28.

Buried Taukkyan War Cemetery, Myanmar, 25. C. 16. 

Sergeant 580542  Victor Harvey

18 Sqdn., Royal Air Force

Died on 27th December 1939, Aged 19.

Buried Le Quesnel Comm. Cemetery Ext. Row B. 10.

Victor Harvey has the sad distinction of being Loughborough’s first RAF casualty in WW2. He was the son of Samuel and Flora Harvey and had two older brothers, Samuel and Jack. Their father was a coach builder and a special constable. The Harveys lived at 6 Albert Street, Loughborough.

Victor attended Emmanuel Church School, and later was by all accounts a brilliant student at Loughborough Grammar School, and a keen and able sportsman who excelled at swimming and cricket. He assisted the Old Loughburians Football Club and was associated with Emmanuel Church. After leaving school he became a solicitor’s clerk at Deane & Moss

Victor interrupted this promising career to join the RAF shortly after the September crisis of 1938, but he was quick to apply himself to his new task, and his ability earned speedy recognition. At the time of his death he had held the rank of Sergeant for over six months, and was thought to have been one of the youngest sergeants in the service.

His death occurred on a leaflet-dropping mission in the Somme region of France. The Bristol Blenheim bomber he was in crashed near Le Quesnel. It appears to have been an accident and all four crew were killed, and were buried with full military honours. By an especially tragic irony, Victor was due to have gone home on leave on the day he died.

Vic and his three crew members, (LAC John Job, AC. William Martin & Ft. Lt. James Sabin) were shot down on a leaflet - dropping mission.The four crew were buried with full military honours in the British Cemetery at Le Quintex, France.

Sergeant 1578211 Albert Henry Hawes 

51 Sqdn., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 26th June 1943, Aged 21.

Buried Eindhoven Cemetery, Holland, EE.  23.                                                               

Albert’s parents were Henry and Elizabeth Smith. He was born in Loughborough in the summer of 1921. After leaving school he worked in the sorting office of Loughborough Post Office and also served in the Loughborough Home Guard.

He joined the RAF in the early months of 1942. Flying in a Halifax bomber as navigator, he died when the aircraft was shot down by a night fighter. All seven crew perished. The Halifax had been part of a night raid on the Ruhr town of Gelsenkirchen, and had taken off from Snaith in South Yorkshire, on a night with ‘38% moon’. Of the 473 aircraft in the mission, 30 were lost. Apparently the raid was not judged a success, with most of the targets missed. Albert had been home on leave a week before he was reported missing.

Sergeant 1578071 John Bernard Hebditch

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 1st December 1943, Aged 24.

Buried North Curry (Ss. Peter and Paul) Churchyard                                                                        

Born on 26th November 1919 to parents Bernard and Beatrice in Taunton, John Hebditch’s siblings were Beatrice, Elizabeth, Richard, George, Ann and Victoria. Their father was a farmer. In 1921 the family lived at North Curry in Somerset.

John Hebditch was educated at the Huish's school, Taunton and Taunton School. After leaving school he was apprenticed to the engineering trade with Petters, of Yeovil, and later moved to Loughborough to work at Brush Engineering. This may have been how he met the girl he married there in July 1943, Phyllis Adeline Moss. She was an engineer’s clerk.

John signed up in the RAF in 1941 and obtained his wings in Canada. He was a keen dirt track rider and the winner of several cups. At one time he was a member of the Leicester Query Club (a motorbike club).

He met his death in a flying accident while training in Broomhall, Scotland, when his aircraft flew into a hill. At the time records noted it: “Notified by Watch Officer that crash was located at Broomhill about 1½ miles west of St Cyrus. Two dead airmen pilots discovered under wreckage of Oxford – later identified as 1473147 Sgt V.G. Wilson and 1578071 Sgt J.B. Hebditch. Death in each case was instantaneous. Fracture bases of skulls and multiple injuries.”

T. Highton

Corporal 4860087  Leonard Raymond Hilsdon

Born 17th December 1918, Leonard Hilsdon was the son of Frederick and Emma Hilsdon, who also had two younger sons, George and Arthur. They lived at 76 Cobden Street, Loughborough.

Leonard, whose trade was upholsterer, married Evelyn Blackshaw in 1939. They went to live at 78 King George’s Road, Loughborough. He worked at Lowe & Sons, Church Gate. (The company is still there).

Serving with the 1st Leicesters in the Far East, Leonard was taken prisoner by the Japanese in Singapore on 15th February 1942. His name appears on a list of ‘parties transferred overland 1942’. As he died in a POW camp in Thailand the following year, it’s likely that he was sent to work – and to his death - on the notorious Thailand-Burma railway. Whether he died as a result of starvation, disease or brutal treatment, we cannot know, but it was likely to have been a combination of all three.

Able Seaman D/SSX 14259 Arthur Leslie Holland

Royal Navy, H.M.S. Jaguar

Died on 29th May 1940, Aged 28.

Buried Dover (St. James's) Cemetery, Row F. Joint grave 14.

John and Clara Holland had at least 13 children, of whom Arthur was the fifth, born in Loughborough on 12th July 1912. Theirs was a family where many of the children died very young: Clara at 1, Walter at 5, Agnes soon after birth, Florence at 3, Richard at 6, Gladys at 16. Perhaps there was a congenital condition, or it could have been one of the many infectious diseases that curtailed young lives in those times.

In 1939 John and Clara Holland were living at 119 Meadow Lane, Loughborough, along with son John, who’d been born in 1921, and Ivy, born 1927.

No record can be currently found of Arthur Holland’s naval service. However, he was serving on HMS Jaguar when he was killed.

HMS Jaguar was a J-Class destroyer, launched in November 1938. In May 1940 she was patrolling the British east coast engaged in various operations, including escorting trawlers and hunting U-boats. On the 26th May the ship joined the evacuation of Dunkirk along with other Royal Navy destroyers. On the 29th she took on board 370 evacuated servicemen in Dunkirk harbour, coming under enemy air attack. At one point, another ship, HMS Grenade, was bombed and sunk alongside. Arthur Holland was one of three seamen who were killed in the bombardment.

Setting off for Dover, HMS Jaguar came under further air attack, Unable to continue, some of the troops were transferred to another ship. Eventually power was restored and HMS Jaguar made it home on the 30th May for repairs at Immingham.

Lance Sergeant 4862259 Arnold Edward Howlett

1st Bn. Leicestershire Regiment

Died on 23rd August 1944, Aged 28.

Buried St. Desire War Cemetery France, I. B. 2.

Arnold Howlett was born in Barrow upon Soar on 19th September 1915, to parents Edward and Susan. By 1921 the family, including older son Leonard, had moved to Quorn. Edward Howlett was a farm labourer.

By 1939, Edward had died, and Arnold was living with his mother Susan in Barrow upon Soar. John Widdowson lived with them; he was divorced and in 1959 he married Susan.

Arnold was a keen sportsman, playing for Quorn Methodists football team, and was a well-known sprinter at school. In July 1936 he was best man at his brother’s wedding and in the summer of 1941, Arnold also married, to Doreen Latham. He worked at Newbold and Burton in Sileby, a company making shoes and hosiery.

Arnold joined the Army in May 1940, serving with the Leicestershire Regiment. His battalion, the 1st Leicesters, took part in Operation Overlord in Normandy (aka D-Day). He was one of 22 men from the 1st Battalion to die on 23rd August 1944. Many of them were killed on a farm in the centre of the village of Quilly-le-Vicomte, taking a direct hit from a shell. Some of the men had been acting as stretcher bearers, others were engaging in forward patrols.

Sergeant 1197623 Donald Frank Hubbard

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 28th July 1942, Aged 20.

Buried Malta (Capuccini) Naval Cemetery, Plot F. Coll. grave 8.

Donald Hubbard was born in Loughborough in 1920 to parents Frank and Lilian. They lived, with daughter Kathleen, at 77 Knightthorpe Road. Frank was a hosiery warehouseman. In 1939 Donald, now also in the hosiery trade, was living at the same address with his sister and widowed mother.

In the RAF, Donald was a Spitfire pilot. He served in 1435 Squadron, formed in July 1942 to provide air defence over Malta. It was formed from men from several other squadrons, one of which Donald Hubbard may have belonged to previously. Their base was RAF Luqa. He was killed when returning to Luqa, his Spit damaged by enemy aircraft when he intercepted a fighter sweep. He crashed at Kirkop.

Gunner 11403154 Jack Hubbard

52 Lt. A.A. Regt., Royal Artillery

Died on 30th September 1944, Aged 29.

Buried Ancona War Cemetery, Italy, II. L. 4.

Jack Hubbard was born in Wymeswold on 16th February 1914, one of a family of five boys and four girls born to William and Edith Hubbard. William was a farmer.

On 2nd May 1936 Jack married Evelyn Robson in Worcester; she was a domestic servant and he a farm labourer. They had two children, Allen (born 1936) and Audrey (born 1940).

By 1939 they had moved to Loughborough and were living at 35 Derby Square. Jack had changed jobs to become a khaki weaver at Wright & Sons.

Jack joined the army in 1941 served throughout the whole of the North African Campaign, and in the advance on Rome. He was one of the original "Desert Rats" with the 8th Army. As a despatch rider, he was killed in a motorcycle accident.

Lance Corporal Cyril Hudson

Parachute Regiment

Died c. 6th June 1944, France, aged 32

Cyril Hudson was born on 18th January 1912. He worked at Brush in Loughborough in the stores department, and lived with his aunt, Mrs Winson, at 48 Russell Street. An uncle, Leonard Hudson, had been in the Leicestershire Territorials Band.

His wife was Maggie Hatton, who he married in 1939. They lived at 4 Toothill Road in Loughborough

Cyril enlisted in the Commandos and later transferred to the Parachute Regiment. We know he landed in France on D-Day (6th June) so we must assume he died in this operation.

Lance Corporal 4866439 Stephen Hudson

7th Bn., Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

Died on 17th August 1944, Aged 21.

Buried Banneville-La-Campagne War Cemetery, France, V. D. 16. 

He was born in 1923 to parents Stephen and Mary Hudson, who lived in Loughborough. No further details are currently available.

Corporal 4861143 John Hull

2/5th Bn., Leicestershire Regiment.

Died on 6th February 1944, Aged 27.

Buried Minturno War Cemetery, Italy, I, A, 4.

Born 17th December 1916 in Loughborough, John was the second eldest child of John and Clara Hull; he had a sister Hilda, and brothers Ernest, Sydney and Kenneth. In 1921 the family home was 42 Rendell Street. John attended Rendell and Limehurst Schools.

In 1939 young John was a bus coach finisher at Brush Coachworks. His father John had signed up as a Special Constable. They now lived at 24 Ashleigh Drive.

He enlisted in the Leicestershire Regiment on 15th February 1940. In February 1944 the family received notice that he had died of wounds whilst he was serving with the Central Mediterranean Forces in Italy.

Craftsman 7637060 Thomas Leslie Hurst

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

Died on 6th October 1944, Aged 29.

Buried Mierlo War Cemetery, Holland, I. A. 6. 

Thomas Hurst’s father was born in London in 1869 as William Zurhorst. He married Thomas’s mother, Ethel Mima Knight, in India. She had been born there in 1881.

The couple had five children, all of them born in India except for Thomas, who was born in Brentford on 16th June 1915. His brothers William and Harry lived to adulthood, but sister Margaret died aged 5 and Molly aged 4; both of them in India.

William Zurhorst, aged 45, also died in India in February 1915, so Ethel must have been pregnant with Thomas at that time.

At some point the family name, which was German, was changed to Hurst. Ethel must have come to England in the early part of WW1, when it would not have been advisable to have a German name. It would seem that she maintained some connections with India though; in November 1919 she arrived in Liverpool from Bombay via Karachi on HMS City of Marseilles with 4-year-old Thomas. Neither of the other boys was with her. It might be possible that she had taken Thomas to meet family members in India; after all, they wouldn’t have met him at that point.

The family seem to have settled in west London. In 1939 Thomas was living in Ealing with his mother and stepfather Norman Davidson. Thomas was an electrical condensor assembler.

In 1941 he married Doris Ford, a Loughborough girl.

It is not known when Thomas Hurst enlisted. When he died in October 1944 he was in the Netherlands. At this point the Battle of the Nijmegen salient was in full force and Thomas Hurst may have perished during this operation.

Pilot Officer 176159 Geoffrey Hutt

434 (R.C.A.F.) Sqdn, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Died on 18th March 1944, Aged 21

Buried Thorpe Acre (All Saints) Churchyard

Geoffrey Hutt was born in Loughborough 1923, the son of Albert and Beatrice Hutt. The family lived at 23 Clifford Road. He had three younger sisters. He attended Limehurst School and after leaving school he was employed by the building and contracting firm of Thomas Barker and Sons of Loughborough.

He enlisted in the RAF in July 1942 and completed most of his initial training in Scotland. After achieving his qualification as a Flight Engineer, he was posted first to 1659 HCU at Topcliffe and then to 434 Squadron. His first operational flight was over Berlin on 22 November 1943. He received his commission to the rank of Pilot Officer on 10 March 1944.

On 18th March 1944 Geoffrey and the crew of eight, took off at 18.34 hours from RAF Croft, Yorkshire, in a Halifax, to undertake a mine laying operation in the Heligoland area. It was his twelfth mission. Returning home, they hit bad weather but for some reason descended through cloud over the North Yorkshire Moors, something all crews were briefed not to do. The aircraft struck the ground and crashed near Kepwick Bank Top, at 23.00 hours, killing all on board.