Northbourne WWII Casualties

Glyndwr Price Burwood

(2nd June 1941)

Glyndwr Price Burwood - Aged 23, Leading Aircraftman, 273 Sqdn., Royal Air Force. He was buried at the Borella cemetery, in the Municipality of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Colin Bates

(August 1941)

Colin Bates: - The son of William and Elizabeth Bates of Finglesham, aged 20, a Stoker 1st Class on a Royal Navy Submarine lost with all hands in August 1941.

At present I am unclear which submarine he was on, P-32 or P-33. The date given by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (24th August) suggests he was aboard P33, however, the Submariners Association website (http://www.submariners.co.uk) lists him among the crew lost in P32. These two boats were U class coastal submarine commissioned in May 1941. Most of the other submarines in the class had names beginning with 'U', such as Unity, Ursula, Unique and Untamed. These small and nimble submarines, of around 630 tons, were originally intended as unarmed training vessels. Most of the boats were electric and served with part of the 2nd Submarine Flotilla based at Malta. In all 19 were lost during the war, 13 in the Mediterranean and the remainder in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

P-33 was under the command of Lt. R.D. Whiteway-Wilkinson, DSC, part of the 10th Flotilla of Malta. Her complement consisted of 33 men (which included four officers).

On 15 July 1941 P33 attacked and sank the Italian motor-vessel Barbarigo (5,300 tons), south of Punta Sciaccazza, Pantelleria.

On 6 August 1941 P33 sailed from Malta with orders to intercept an Italian convoy. Three submarines (Unique, P32 and P33) were ready to ambush an Italian convoy heading into the Libyian port of Tripoli.

On 18 August 1941 P32 reported hearing a prolonged depth charge attack that lasted for two hours. When the attack was finally over P32 attempted to contact P33 but received no response and it is almost certain that P33 had perished in the attack. P33 was reported overdue on 20 August 1941 when she failed to return to Malta. However the Italians claim that she was sunk by the torpedo boat Partenope off Pantelleria on the 23 August 1941.

Submarine P32 was also lost just off the port of Tripoli on the 18 August when the submarine returned to periscope depth to check the convoy's position and struck a mine on the port side. Eight died in the fore ends immediately, 24 men survived the initial explosion but were unable to make a successful escape. Only two men, the commanding officer Lieutenant Abdy and Chief Petty Officer Kirk, managed to escape from the sunken submarine. On 20 August 1941 the remaining submarine, Unique, avoided the convoy's defensive screen, and succeeded in positioning itself close enough to the S/S Esperia to fire three torpedoes, and the ship sank in about eight minutes. The Unique, avoiding the convoy's defensive screen, succeeded in positioning itself close enough to the S/S Esperia to torpedo it on 20 August 1941.

Colin Bates is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent, which commemorates members of the Royal Navy, the majority who died at sea, who have no known grave.

A kerbed grave with headstone, north of the west end of St. Augustine's Church, Northbourne, has the inscription:

In ever loving memory
of a dear father and husband
WILLIAM BATES
who died 24th December 1947
Aged 65 years
Also of his beloved son
COLIN BATES
Killed in action at sea August 1941
Aged 20 years
Until we meet.

William Reginald Arscott

(25th November 1941)

William Reginald Arscott:  - Aged 29, Royal Marine Bandsman on H.M.S. Barham, which sank on 25th November 1941.

H.M.S. Barham was a Devonport-based ship, a 27,500-ton Queen Elizabeth class battleship built at Clydebank, Scotland; completed in October 1915. During the First World War she served in the North Sea, and was seriously damaged in the battle of Jutland in 1916. The battleship was modernized in 1931-34, fitted with better protection against long-range gunfire, bombs and torpedoes, an improved anti-aircraft gun battery and an aircraft catapult.

Operating in the Atlantic and Mediterranean during World War II, she was damaged by a German submarine torpedo in December 1939, while at sea north of the British Isles. In September 1940, she engaged the French battleship Richelieu at Dakar, Senegal. Barham was in the Mediterranean in 1941, taking part in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March and received bomb damage in May.

On 25 November 1941, Barham was off Alexandria, in the company of two other battleships and escort of destroyers. She had sailed into the Mediterranean to distract enemy attention away from a large convoy heading for Malta. H.M.S. Barham was hit by three torpedoes from the German submarine U-331. As she rolled over to port, her aft magazines exploded and the ship quickly sank with the loss of over two-thirds of her crew. Some of the men in the water were killed by falling debris after the explosion. There were 169 Royal Marines on board, and only 34 survived. H.M.S. Hotspur picked up most of the survivors; H.M.S. Nizam picked up the remainder.

U-331 was commissioned on 31st March, 1941 and commanded by Hans-Diedrich Freiherr von Tiesenhausen, who had sunk four ships for a total of 41,235 tons. The submarine was sunk on 17th November 1942, in the Mediterranean north of Algiers, after she had been badly damaged by a Hudson aircraft. She signalled surrender to a seaplane but was attacked by a torpedo-equipped aircraft Albacore from the British aircraft carrier H.M.S. Formidable; 32 were killed with 17 survivors including the captain.

David Dick

(19th December 1941)

David Dick: - Son of David and Mary F. Dick, of 16 Circular Road, next to Betteshanger Colliery. Royal Marine Bandsman on H.M.S. Neptune.

H.M.S. Neptune; a Leander Class Light Cruiser completed on the 12th February 1934. It was sunk by a mine 20 miles off Tripoli on 19th December 1941. 764 lives were lost (150 of these were New Zealanders). There were 74 Royal Marines on board, 11 of these were bandsmen.

In 1941 it was destined for New Zealand but it was diverted to the Mediterranean. At this time there was a concentrated effort to disrupt enemy supply lines from Italy to North Africa. In the months leading up to December 1941 as much as 77% of the ships sailing from Italy to Tripoli were sunk. The convoys were supplying troops and equipment to Rommel's Afrika Korps in North Africa. The cruisers Neptune, Aurora, and Penelope, along with the destroyers Kandahar, Lance, Lively, and Havock, sailed from Malta at high speed to try to intercept a convoy. The force was under the command of Captain Rory O'Conor, of the Neptune.

The bow of Neptune was fitted with paravanes which were designed to cut the anchors of any moored mines. One of the paravanes triggered a mine; and to escape the minefield the ship went full astern but it triggered two more mines which damaged her propellers and steering gear. The Aurora turned and hit a mine, but managed to escape without further damage. The destroyers Kandahar and Lively were sent into the minefield to attempt to tow Neptune. However, Kandahar was disabled by a mine and Neptune drifted until 4am when it hit a fourth mine and the ship keeled over then sank in a few minutes. A heavy sea was running and many perished while trying to swim to the crippled Kandahar. The survivors of the Kandahar were rescued but due to the minefield, and the danger of being attacked, the other ships had to return to Malta. By daybreak there were only 16 survivors from the Neptune, who were on, or clinging to, a raft; among them Captain O'Conor. Over the following days they died one by one; the only survivor was Leading Seaman John Walton, who was rescued on Christmas Eve by an Italian torpedo boat and taken as a prisoner of war.

This was the second most substantial loss of life suffered by the Royal Navy in the whole of the Mediterranean campaign. David Dick is commemorated at Northbourne and on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Percy George Lancaster

(5th April 1942)

Percy George Lancaster: - Son of Emma Lancaster, of Finglesham, Able Seaman on H.M.S.Cornwall, Royal Navy. Who died aged 46 on 5th April 1942.

H.M.S. Cornwall in 1942 was under the command of Capt. Manwaring. The ship was a 9,750 ton 8-inch gun heavy cruiser, launched at Devonport in 1926. She saw service on the China Station until the outbreak of the Second World War when she joined the East Indies Fleet.

In November 1939 she was reallocated to the South Atlantic Command, returning to England with a convoy in July 1940. Sailing again in early August, she operated off West Africa, supporting the Dakar operation, Senegal, and the Free French occupation of Duala. Based in Simonstown on the Cape Peninsula in South Africa, from December 1940, she escorted convoys in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. On 8th May 1941, north of the Seychelles, she found and sank the raider Pinguin.

In March 1942 she joined the Eastern Fleet, operating in the Ceylon area. On 5th April 1942, when Cornwall and her sister ship Dorsetshire (commanded by Capt. Agar) were detached from the Fleet they were sighted by Japanese aircraft.

A little later they were overwhelmed by approximately 50 dive-bombers from the carriers Akagi, Soryu and Hiryu, whose accurate attack sank both ships quickly; 190 of Cornwall's crew of 650 were lost. The Cornwall sinking in 22 minutes at 1.40pm.

H.M.S. Dorsetshire took at least nine direct hits and sank in less than eight minutes and lost 227 men. The cruiser Enterprise and two destroyers rescued 1,122 men from the water.

Percy George Lancaster is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent, which commemorates members of the Royal Navy, the majority who died at sea, who have no known grave.

Rowland Douglas Board

(2nd October 1942)

Rowland Douglas Board: - Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class on H.M.S. Curacoa, Royal Navy, which sank on Friday 2nd October 1942.

About 20 miles off Donegal on the coast of Ireland, the light Cruiser Curacoa of about 4,200 tons was escorting the Queen Mary to provide anti-aircraft cover. The Queen Mary, 80,774 tons, was carrying 15,000 United States troops of the 29 Division who were to start training for the Normandy landings. Both ships were zigzagging because of the threat of attack from German U-boats.

The Queen Mary had superior speed and steaming at 28.5 knots was catching up with her escort. On the one of the zig zags she collided with the Curacoa, and sliced the Cruiser in two. The stern half of the ship sank quickly, taking many crew members trapped behind closed watertight doors, and the fore section quickly followed. There was no time to launch either boats or life rafts. Some of the Queen Mary crew, and US soldiers on board, threw down life belts.

Captain Cyril of the Queen Mary had orders not to stop so the survivors were picked up by other escort ships. From the Curacoa, 338 men were lost,  only a few survivors were picked up, many bodies were washed up on Skye, Oban, Mallaig and the other Scottish isles. A number of graves can be found at Lower Breakish in Skye, Arisaig and Morar.

The mishap was kept from public record until an official enquiry in 1945 at the end of the war. The Commissioners of the Admiralty sued Cunard White Star Line, alleging that Queen Mary was responsible for the accident. After a long legal process it was decided that both ships were to blame with two thirds of the blame going to H.M.S. Curacoa.

Samuel Mellows

(23rd April 1945)

Samuel Mellows: -  Age 24, Son of Charles and Florence Mellows, of Betteshanger. Leading Aircraftman, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died on Monday 23rd April 1945.

Headstone and kerbed grave east of church:

In
Memory of
FLORENCE MELLOWS
Died 15th Oct. 1939
Aged 45 years
A loving wife and devoted mother

Also our dear son
L.A.C. SAMUEL MELLOWS, R.A.F.,
Who died from injuries received
from air crash April 23rd 1945
Peace perfect peace.

Raymond William Alliston

(1st April 1946)

Raymond William Alliston: - Gunner, Royal Artillery, who died on Monday 1st April 1946.

Gravestone and kerbed grave in the churchyard south of St. Augustine's Church, Northbourne, has the inscription:

In
Loving memory of
Gunner Raymond W Alliston R.A.
who died from the effects of war service
1st April 1946 Aged 25
Also Percy
father of the above
who died March 12th 1923
Aged 29