Family of Marshal of the Royal Air Force Arthur William Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder, GCB

I recently sent an email to the CWGC concerning the death of his son, Flying Officer Arthur Richard Brian Tedder, concerning the fact that no family details appear on his record.

I received a reply indicating that I would have to source his birth certificate and a death notice linked to it – I was wondering if this was worth pursuing or not.

Searching through Google shows that this line of enquiry regarding the Tedder family has popped up before on sites such as rafcommands, but I don’t know if it was pursued.

The name of his wife fluctuates between Lady Rosalinda & Lady Rosalinde on various sites.

Wiki names his sons, and makes reference to the fact that he had “a daughter” – this would be Flight Officer Mina Tedder WAAF / RAF


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From: David

Sent: 20 September 2012 03:42

To: Casualty Enquiries

Subject: Family of Marshal of the Royal Air Force Arthur William Tedder, 1st Baron Tedder, GCB (11 July 1890 - 3 June 1967) []

Good morning CWGC - I have a query concerning a couple of British casualties so I haven't gone through the OAWG here in Australia.

I came across a reference to the loss of the wife & son of ACM Tedder and while looking through his Wiki page I noticed a couple of points that may need clarifying on their CWGC entries.

Wiki refers to the loss of his son in France in 1940 - which would match the loss of Flying Officer Tedder, Arthur Richard Brian 70666 RAF

However, the entry does not have any family info linking him back to his parents. Is it possible to get their details added as extra info?


regards

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He was granted a peerage as Baron Tedder of Glenguin in the County of Stirling on 8 February 1946

Family life - in 1915 Tedder married Rosalinde Maclardy; they had two sons and a daughter. Following the death of his first wife in an aircraft crash in Egypt in January 1943, Tedder married Marie (Toppy) Black (née Seton) in October 1943.

Tedder was the parent of: Dick (killed in France 1940), John Michael (1926-1994; Late Purdie Professor of Chemistry, University of St. Andrews), and a daughter.

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TEDDER, ARTHUR RICHARD BRIAN

Rank:Flying Officer

Trade:Pilot

Service No:70666

Date of Death:03/08/1940

Regiment/Service:Royal Air Force 139 Sqdn.

Grave Reference Coll. grave XVI. C. 23.

Cemetery BAYEUX WAR CEMETERY

Additional Information:


TEDDER, LADY ROSALINDA

Rank:Civilian

Date of Death:04/01/1943

Age:50

Regiment/Service:Civilian War Dead

Reporting Authority EGYPT

Additional Information: Wife of Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, G.C.B. in an air crash near Heliopolis, Egypt.

 

From: Casualty Enquiries [mailto:casualty.enq@cwgc.org]
Sent: Wednesday, 17 October 2012 23:15
To: David
Subject: Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Flying Officer Tedder

Our Ref: 74673

Date: 17 October 2012

Thank you for your e mail of 20 September regarding:

Rank: Flying Officer

Trade: Pilot

Surname: TEDDER

Forenames: ARTHUR RICHARD BRIAN

Service No: 70666

Unit: 139 Sqdn.

Regiment: Royal Air Force

Date of Death: 3 August 1940

Commemoration

BAYEUX WAR CEMETERY, Calvados, France, Coll. grave Plot XVI. Row C. Grave 23.


With regard to the possibility of adding information to our record of the above, I am afraid that we can not use information on Wikipedia to do this. I would explain that before we can add names of parents or ages to our records of any of our casualties, we actually need to see a copy of the casualty’s full birth certificate and also additional documentary evidence connecting the birth certificate with the casualty - this could be a memorial card or obituary notice etc. In other words, additional documentation which refers both to the casualty with his military particulars and to the parents mentioned on the birth certificate. The reason for this is that we must be sure that the birth certificate does refer to the precise casualty to whose details the addition is to be made. As you will appreciate this is simply to ensure accuracy in our records. We always ask the enquirer to then send relevant documentary evidence to us by post or by e mail.

I hope this is explanatory and thank you for your interest.

Yours sincerely


Enquiries Administrator

 

I was wondering if this was worth pursuing or not.




One thing to think about is that in some cases there are reasons the family wanted nothing on the grave marker. I have run into the whole "He was the black sheep of the family and when he was killed Dad forbade any talk of him" scenarios.

But having said that, if a birth certificate is what the people of Maidenhead want, then you will need to spend about nine or ten quid.

Arthur RB Tedder appears in the September 1916 quarter, Pancras district, volume 1b, page 35, mother's maiden name Maclardy. You will need that when you fill out the form found here:

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp

Regards,

Dave

 

TEDDER, ARTHUR RICHARD BRIAN

Rank:Flying Officer

Trade:Pilot

Service No:70666

Date of Death:03/08/1940

Regiment/Service:Royal Air Force 139 Sqdn.

Grave Reference Coll. grave XVI. C. 23.

Cemetery BAYEUX WAR CEMETERY

Additional Information:



Details of the above loss.

3 August 1940

139 Squadron
Blenheim IV L9239

Failed to return to Horsham St. Faith from an attack on Cherbourg airfield. The aircraft is believed to have been shot down near Macqueville.

Crew.

F/O. A. Tedder +
Sgt. D. Spencer +
Sgt. O. Evans +

Source - The Bristol Blenheim - G. Warner.

 

TEDDER, LADY ROSALINDA

Rank:Civilian

Date of Death:04/01/1943

Age:50

Regiment/Service:Civilian War Dead

Reporting Authority EGYPT

Additional Information: Wife of Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, G.C.B. in an air crash near Heliopolis, Egypt.



Details of the above loss.

4 January1943

Loadstar EW986
173 Squadron

The aircraft was returning from a trip by Air Marshal McClaughry, Lady Tedder and their staff to a number of units. During the approach to land, the aircraft crashed 2 miles south of Heliopolis but the Accident Card is unclear as to the cause. Lady Tedder was the wife of Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, AOCinC Middle East. Their son had died on 3 Aug 1940 whilst a pilot with 139 Sqn and he is buried in Bayeau Cemetery France.

Flying Officer Graham Grant COWLING 22 Pilot +
Flying Officer Eric Ralph Dalton JAMES 25 Pilot +
Sergeant Norman Louis CLARKE +
Squadron Leader Richard George CHESTER 37 +
Air Vice Marshal Wilfred Ashton MCCLAUGHRY 48 CB DSO MC DFC +
Lady Rosalinde TEDDER +
Squadron Leader Hugh Wynston CLELAND 34 +
Pilot Officer William Alfred HAWKINS 32 +
Wing Commander Gerard Basil NICHOLAS 42 DFC +
Flight Lieutenant James Ronal RITCHIE +
Leading Aircraftman Albert John William HURDLE 20 +

Source – Though Without Anger – C. Cummings

 

Lady Tedder was killed in the same crash as Australian Air Vice Marshal Wilfred Ashton McLaughrey (CB) (DSO) (MC) (DFC) (MID***) AOC, AHQ Egypt.

An Australian originally named Kingston-McClaughry, he was the elder of two brothers, both destined to become AVM’s, he dropped the "Kingston" from his surname in order to avoid confusion with his brother?. He was awarded RAeC Certificate No 2368 on 1 February 1916. However, his career and life was brought to a premature end when he was killed at Cairo in the aircraft accident which also killed Lady Tedder (ACM Sir Arthur Tedder’s first wife).