Jonathan Charles GANDER, HMS Forte

I am looking for any information on how Jonathan Charles GANDER, age 34, met his death on 16th December 1940. His service number is D/JX192102. He was in the Royal Navy at HMS Forte which is the Falmouth Naval Base. He is buried in Gerrans Churchyard on the Roseland Peninsula in Cornwall. I have photographed his headstone. The Navy Casualty List has him as "killed" as opposed to "died". I have seen the CWGC entry for him. Any information on how he died and came to be buried at Gerrans would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hi Phil

There are no 'stories' or other explanations on Ancestry, the only offer is perhaps to obtain a copy of his death cert which might explain what he died of ??

Details:
Name: Jonathan C Gander
Birth Date: abt 1906
Date of Registration: Dec 1940
Age at Death: 34
Registration district: Truro
Inferred County: Cornwall
Volume: 5c
Page: 391

I note from his birth cert he was born in Kent:

Name: Jonathan Charles Gander
Registration Year: 1906
Registration Quarter: Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration district: Dartford
Inferred County: Kent
Volume: 2a
Page: 626



From http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCasAlpha1939-45Ga.htm
GANDER, Jonathan C, Ordinary Seaman, D/JX 192102, Forte, 16 December 1940, killed

Sorry I cannot be more help
TD

 

TD,
Thanks for your reply. The Death Certificate seems the best option. For him to be buried at Gerrans and his death registered in Truro he had obviously left Falmouth, one would assume on a boat, but I can't find any details in local records of anything happening that day in terms of air raids, action at sea, etc.

 

Dear Phil,

My mother, whose father was the Portscatho coastguard during the war years, was a friend of Jonathan Gander, who was affectionately known as Goosey Gander, after the nursery rhyme. My mother, who passed away in 2019 aged 90 years, remembered him with great fondness. The circumstances of Jonathan's death were truly traumatic. Having picked up what appeared to be a spent artillery shell on the beach, Jonathan was tragically killed when the shell exploded. I visited his grave in the Gerrans churchyard only yesterday, as I did with my mother, each time we visited Portscatho. Although Jonathan died many years before my birth, I still feel the magnitude of that tragic event, on 16th December 1940.

With kindest regards,

Gerard Wright

 

The latest post made me relook at the records on Ancestry - not sure why I didnt do this first time around

UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960
Name: J. C. Gander
Event: Death
Death Date: 16 Dec 1940
Death Place: Portscalts.
Ship: Forte


It seems to read 'explosion of Float'

UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960
Name: Jonathan Charles Gander
Event: Death
Birth Date: 1 Aug 1906
Birth Place: Bexley Heath, Kent
Death Date: 16 Dec 1940
Death Age: 34


A number 1 in the death column signifies - 'Died on War Service'


TD

Gerard - thank you for your information

 

Gerard,
Many thanks for sharing your family connection to Jonathan Gander. Since my original posting I had discovered more detail but had not posted it back on here which was remiss of me.
Jonathan was based at Porthcurnick House which was an outpost of HMS Forte in Falmouth. It was an ASDIC Station that ran cables for hydrophonic equipment from what was the front room of the house down to the beach and out to sea in the hope of detecting enemy submarines that may be a danger to the shipping going in and out of Falmouth.
What Jonathan discovered was an enemy mine which had washed up on the beach at a time when the navy were very concerned about the new acoustic and magnetic mines the Germans were using. He carried it up to the house and proceeded to dismantle it in order to try and understand its workings. It exploded and he was killed.
I make a brief mention of it without naming Jonathan in my second historical novel set in Cornwall during the war 'A Place And A Name'.
Admiralty also had AES Perranporth over on the north coast. The Admiralty Experimental Station was an outpost of the Admiralty Research Laboratory. It was the main site in the UK for underwater acoustic experiments such as underwater acoustic propagation and transducer investigations. The experimental work done at Perranporth was put into practice for real at Porthcurnick. There were some impressive brains, both naval and civilian, stationed at Perranporth including a certain Mr Francis Crick that people may have heard of!
Jonathan's death was indeed a tragedy and it's good to know that it is not forgotten and others still visit his grave.
I also mention it in my YouTube videobook presentation on Fortress Falmouth. You'll find it at about the 11 minute mark.

 

J C Gander (unknown-1940) - Find A Grave Memorial

 

Very interesting story. Do you have any more details? Except for an EMS mine, which was not around in 1940, I am having difficulty thinking of a sea mine that could be easily transported.

Tim

 

I don't have any more details. The local non-military sources say it was a mine. It's possible it could have been an anti-minesweeping conical float which he could have carried single-handedly, or it was possibly an EMA which one would have thought he would have wanted dealt with in situ but is feasible for it to have been manhandled in a wheelbarrow or trolley but would have required assistance. The impression I gained from the local sources is that he was acting independently but I've concluded he obviously felt it was safe to transport it back to the house. I have yet to locate any official report into the incident but presume something must exist somewhere in amongst naval records.

 

BEWARE OF THESE GERMAN FLOATS. FEBRUARY 1941. GERMAN CONICAL ANTI-MINESWEEPING FLOAT WHICH HAVE CAUSED CIVILIAN CASUALTIES WHEN THEY HAVE WASHED UP ON THE SHORE.


In my post above the image seems to read 'explosion of Float' which at the time I didnt think was true and was sort of made up, transcribed incorrectly etc but now it seems highly possible


Maybe somewhere there is a Coroners report ??

TD

German Ordinance
The Captain of an ML located a sub-laid mine and manhandled it delicately ashore at Great Yarmouth. Commander Edwards, the local RMSO, a legendary character who had rendered safe vast numbers of enemy moored mines and conical floats, obtained permission from DTM to have a go at it. In the process of stripping the mine, it detonated, killing Edwards and his American observer.

 

Tricky ,

are ALL ww2 RN deaths listed in those files on ancestry now please ? And it mentions Army ? Is that the same ?

thanks

Jon

 

Hi Jon

The details of that database are:
UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960 Birth, Marriage & Death, including Parish 437,190 (This is the number of records within that database)

To be honest most of them are Naval (inc Marines) its not somewhere I would go to find details of an Army death - heres the details
Source Information
Ancestry.com. UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960 [database on-line]. Povo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
Original data: The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England.
Admiralty: Service Records, Registers, Returns and Certificates. ADM 6/433-439.
Admiralty and predecessors: Office of the Director General of the Medical Department of the Navy and predecessors: Service Registers and Registers of Deaths and Injuries. ADM 104/102-118,122-149.
Admiralty: Royal Marines, Chatham Division: Order, Discharge and Letter Books, Registers and Returns. ADM 183/114-120.
Admiralty: Royal Marines, Plymouth Division: Order, Discharge and Letter Books, Registers and Returns. ADM 184/43-54.
Admiralty: Naval Casualties, Indexes, War Grave Rolls and Statistics Book, First World War. ADM 242/1-15.
Admiralty and Ministry of Defence: Chaplain of the Fleet and successors: Registers of Baptisms, Confirmations, Marriages and Burials. ADM 338/141,145.
War Office: Officers' Birth Certificates, Wills and Personal Papers. WO 42/1-75.
War Office and predecessors: Records of Militia Regiments. WO 68/429A,441C,441D,497,499A,499B.
Ordnance Office, Military Branch, and War Office: Royal Artillery Records of Service and Papers. WO 69/67-69,72,73,551-573,575-577,579,580,582.


About UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960
The records, spanning more than 200 years from all over the world, were collected by the various armed services of the British forces.
Many are from registers kept by the chaplains of the various services and include births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials. Bearing in mind the size of the British Empire in the 19th century, there was a military or naval presence in a large number of locations, on every continent.
Also included in this collection are British Navy reports of deaths as well as British Officer births, wills and personal records.

TD