Portsmouth War Dead project

I've had an idea for a project, thought some of you might find it interesting.

At present there is a fundraising drive going on to raise enough money to erect a WW2 memorial to the people of Portsmouth who died 1939-1945. There is a WW1 memorial but after 1945 I guess people were tired of war and there wasnt the will to erect a memorial.

The centrepiece of the memorial is in place, and now the aim is to raise enough money to pay for engraving names on a wall running around the centrepiece.

To do this the Council published a full list of all known Portsmouth people who died during WW2. I had a look through to make sure that my great-uncles details were correct, and it got me thinking.

I've been using MS Access at work a lot recently, and theres a lot of possibilities for creating reports, queries etc for extracting information from a database. And using the details on the Council's list, CWGC website and other research it should be possible to find out all kinds of things. For example I'm thinking about average ages, the proportion of men in particular arms of service, how many men died in particular theatres, where they are buried or commemorated, etc.

Already I've noticed that Portsmouth was hit pretty hard when ships were sunk, in particular big Battleships like the Hood, Royal Oak and Barham - hundreds of men killed at once. And very few Portsmouth people seem to have served in the RAF, compared to the RN and Army.

It could also be a useful way of flagging up interesting stories that might have slipped through the net so far. For example, how did Private Richard Aikman, of Portsmouth, come to be serving in the New Zealand Infantry? And how come Able Seaman Walter Andison, also of Portsmouth, came to be buried in St Pancras in London?

I've entered all of the A surnames so far!

 

Good stuff - look forward to that. How about a Blog to chart the progress of your research, and some of the stories?

 

I'm liking the blog idea, at the moment im having some security issues with my blog but hopefully soon I will have plenty of stories to tell.

I've just found a chap from my neighbourhood who was one of the Airborne Engineers executed after the Operation Freshman in 1942. Really brings it home realising how many of these guys walked the same streets that I do today.

 

Civilian casualties, or just forces?

 

I assume given the end of your post that in answer to Steve G the people on the memorial will be civilian and military? I look forward to seeing how this project develops and im curious as to the name of the Airborne engineeer as I have two books with the roll of honour for OP Freshman, also my stepmum lives in Portsmouth, so hopefully on one of my future visits I can see the end product! all the best with youer endeavours

 

One for James, there was a very large explosion during the blitz on Pompey which decimated a street near the old Portsmouth Royal Hospital now a Sainsbury, I believe the area was Cornwellis crescent, because of the large damage it was suspected it was a new german secret weapon have anyone else heard of this story or is it just a story?

 

One for James, there was a very large explosion during the blitz on Pompey which decimated a street near the old Portsmouth Royal Hospital now a Sainsbury, I believe the area was Cornwellis crescent, because of the large damage it was suspected it was a new german secret weapon have anyone else heard of this story or is it just a story?

I think I know the incident you mean, I believe there were rumours that it was either a new kind of weapon or an aircraft. If my memory serves me right it was a particularly large mine that got dropped on land.

 

Civilian casualties, or just forces?

The list contains civilian as well as military, and I plan to look at both. Regarding civilian casualties I think analysing them will tell us a lot. Using electoral rolls I should be able to plot who was living where when they died. We do have a map in Portsmouth of where bombs fell but we suspect that its not too accurate, so the civilian side of things should be interesting

 

Just had a thought, James. If you wanted to, you could probably compile your own bomb damage map from the detailed RAF aerial photographs taken in 1946-8. Of course, any repairs or rebuilds from earlier may not be that obvious but it would make a very interesting local history resource if you could digitally stick lots together to create panaramas etc.

English Heritage NMR:Enquiry Services : Enquiry & Research Services : Public Archive (NMR) : Learning & Resources : English Heritage
Be warned: the EH website is rubbish......

CS

 

Regarding civilian casualties I think analysing them will tell us a lot ..... The civilian side of things should be interesting


Good. I have a ready rolled story for ye then. Friends of my Great Aunt. They met her in the street and invited her over the road for a crafty pint. She was on some mission and so agonised, but refused and carried on about her errand.

Direct hit took care of everything else. I have the pub, the names, the lot. Sorted out for me by a couple of Local Historians. If ye interested, as and when, I can let ye have chapter and verse.

She told me this when I was a nipper. Only got it sorted out earlier this year.

 

Thats interesting Steve, I suspect there are lots more stories like that.

My Grandad was a young teenager during the war. Used to go to the 'picture house' - as he calls it! - every tuesday. One tuesday his dad told him to go to the park instead. Yep, picture house got flattened.

He's also told me about delivering papers when he was a paperboy, after a cemetery took a direct hit. The Police turned him away and delivered the papers for him.

 

I'm about halfway through the B's now, 173 so far.

This really is a work in progress, ive added columns to my database for burial notes (ie, collective grave or NKG), and for decorations. Also for the area of Portsmouth that they came from.

Heres a few interesting stories that have cropped up so far:

Sapper Ernest William Bailey
9 (Airborne) Field Coy Royal Engineers
Age 31
Died between 19/11/1942 and 20/11/1942
Son of Walter and May Bailey; stepson of Mrs. L. E. Bailey, of Paulsgrove, Hampshire
Stavanger Curchyard

Sapper Bailey took part in the ill-fated Operation Freshman raid against the heavy water plant in Norway, and was executed under the Commando Order. I'm very interested in this one because Paulsgrove is the neighbourhood where I live, and in 1942 it would have consisted of literally a couple of streets and some farms.

Corporal Thomas Bedford
11th Battalion Parachute Regiment
Age 22
Died 18/09/1944
Son of Edgar and Ada May Bedford, of Fratton. Portsmouth
Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery

This is interesting because my Grandad was also a 22 year old Portsmouth lad in the 11th Battalion at Arnhem. Wonder if they knew each other? considering how many men a Battalion consists of possibly not, but who knows?

Colour Sergeant Frederick Willie Bird
Royal Marines
Age 62
Died 25/10/1943
Son of Mark and Eliza Bird; husband of Lucy Bird, of Eastney
The Cross of St. George, 4th Class (Russia)
Highland Road Cemetery, Portsmouth

This one jumped out at me straight away. 62 seems an incredible age for an RM Colour Sergeant! I suspect he was based at the RM Depot in Eastney Barracks. Also, what did he do to earn such an exotic decoration?

 

Great research you have done so far and I was just this week mentioning the 11th battalion to another member and you pop up with two pieces of information! I look forward to following this thread with intrest, my intrest being twofold with my stepmum and Sisters having lived and worked in Portsmouth and my Dad lived thier for just over 10 years before he died also the big memorial in Pompey just happens to have my Dads name and his brothers but not them of course but two other Parr's from the First world war!

 

I'm about halfway through the B's now, 173 so far.

This really is a work in progress, ive added columns to my database for burial notes (ie, collective grave or NKG), and for decorations. Also for the area of Portsmouth that they came from.

Heres a few interesting stories that have cropped up so far:

Sapper Ernest William Bailey
9 (Airborne) Field Coy Royal Engineers
Age 31
Died between 19/11/1942 and 20/11/1942
Son of Walter and May Bailey; stepson of Mrs. L. E. Bailey, of Paulsgrove, Hampshire
Stavanger Curchyard

Sapper Bailey took part in the ill-fated Operation Freshman raid against the heavy water plant in Norway, and was executed under the Commando Order. I'm very interested in this one because Paulsgrove is the neighbourhood where I live, and in 1942 it would have consisted of literally a couple of streets and some farms.

Corporal Thomas Bedford
11th Battalion Parachute Regiment
Age 22
Died 18/09/1944
Son of Edgar and Ada May Bedford, of Fratton. Portsmouth
Arnhem Oosterbeek War Cemetery

This is interesting because my Grandad was also a 22 year old Portsmouth lad in the 11th Battalion at Arnhem. Wonder if they knew each other? considering how many men a Battalion consists of possibly not, but who knows?

Colour Sergeant Frederick Willie Bird
Royal Marines
Age 62
Died 25/10/1943
Son of Mark and Eliza Bird; husband of Lucy Bird, of Eastney
The Cross of St. George, 4th Class (Russia)
Highland Road Cemetery, Portsmouth

This one jumped out at me straight away. 62 seems an incredible age for an RM Colour Sergeant! I suspect he was based at the RM Depot in Eastney Barracks. Also, what did he do to earn such an exotic decoration?

Looks like Colour Sergeant Bird had an exotic posting in 1918-1920ish:
Tank Corps Russian Medal of St George 4th Class - Great War Forum

CS

 

Aha, I did wonder if Colour Sergeant Bird had been involved in the Russian Civil War somehow. Might be an interesting little project here...

 

Heres an interesting one:

Flying Officer Arthur Ernest Venables AND Flying Officer (Navigator) Guy Willberforce Vanables
78 Squadron Royal Air Force
Died 5 September 1945
Buried at Mazargues War Cemetery, Marseilles

I have checked and Arthur and Guy were brothers, from Hilsea in Portsmouth. In September 1945 78 Squadron were flying Dakotas in Transport Command and was at the time transferring to the Middle East. I guess this was an accident, but was it unusual for brothers to fly in the same crew?

 

I've been doing some research on Colour Sergeant Frederick Bird.

He was born in London in 1880, and joined the Royal Marine Artillery in 1910 at the age of 17. He saw action in WW1 onboard HMS Inflexible, at the Battle of the Falklands, in support of the Galipoli campaign and at the Battle of Jutland. It was for Jutland that he was awarded the Cross of St George by the Russian Government.

He was discharged to the Royal Marines Reserve in 1921, and then discharged in 1930 at the age of 50. He was recalled in 1940 and served as a drill instructor at the RM Barracks, Eastney, Portsmouth. He was discharged on 20 October 1942, 5 days before he died.

Quite an interesting old soldier indeed I would say!

 

Captain Bernard Alfred Maclean Brown MC

Captain, Royal Army Medical Corps (MO 1st Bn Welch Regiment)
Died 25 February 1945
Age 32
Buried at Forli War Cemetery, Italy
From Southsea, Hampshire
MB (Bachelor of Medicine) from Oxford

Awarded MC for continued bravey under fire in June and July 1942, during battle of Gazala and first battle of El Alamein as Medical Officer with 6th Royal Tank Regiment. I have his MC citation if anyone is interested in reading more.

 

Sergeant Sidney Cornell DCM
7th (Light Infantry) Battalion, Parachute Regiment
Killed 7 April 1945, buried Becklingen War Cemetery, Germany
Age 31

Awarded DCM for bravery during Battle of Normandy. Recommendation follows:

‘This soldier was one of the parachutists to land behind the German lines in Normandy on the night 5/6 June 1944. During the next five weeks he was in almost continuous action of a most trying and difficult nature. Cornell was a Company runner and has repeatedly carried messages through the most heavy and accurate enemy mortar and Machine Gun fire. Four times wounded in action this soldier has never been evacuated and carries on with his job cheerfully and efficiently. Very many acts of gallantry have been performed by members of the Battalion but for sustained courage nothing surpasses Cornell’s effort. His courage and many wounds have made him a well known and admired character throughout not only his own Battalion but the whole Brigade. Space does not permit a record of all his feats as he distinguished himself in practically every action and fighting took place daily. On 18th June 1944 his company carried out a raid on a strong enemy position in the Bois de Bavent area. The position was stronger than expected and the company was hard pressed and the wireless set destroyed. Cornell was sent back with a verbal message, he was wounded during the journey but carried on and delivered his message correctly and set off with the reply. He was wounded a second time on the return journey but again carried on and again delivered the message correctly. During the remained of this raid, and despite his two wounds, he was outstanding for his courage and dash. The courage and devotion to duty displayed by Cornell on this occasion was an inspiration to all who witnessed it. He has performed similar runs on countless occasions and, as has been pointed out before, has been wounded twice more but is still the runner for his company and is as cheerful as before. On 10 July 1944 his company again carried out a raid on the same area and again, as usual, Cornell’s complete disregard for his own safety became the chief topic of conversation amongst his fellow soldiers. He has never failed to deliver a message correctly despite the fact that he has carried through a perfect hail of enemy mortar bombs and shells and very frequently aimed Machine Gun fire as well. He is a truly magnificent parachutist and I cannot recommend him too highly for a decoration’.

 

Flight Sergeant (Air Gunner) Herbert George Clarke
617 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Killed 7 October 1944, buried at Durnbach War Cemetery, Germany
Age 22, from Mile End, Portsmouth
Mentioned in Despatches.

Flying in Lancaster LM482 from Woodhall Spa, 617's target on this raid was the Kembs Dam. Tallboy failed to release on the first run and the crew were seen to turn away and position for a second run-in. Hit by light Flak and crashed at Efringen-Kirchen, a village just inside Germany and about 8 km SSE of the target and an equal distance NNW from the Swiss town of Basel.