Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Davies, Kenneth Frederick, 1918-1943
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1918-1943
History
Davies, Kenneth Frederick, son of Frederick Albert Davies of Beaconsfield, and Ellen Florence, d. of Alfred George Phillips of Devonport; b. 16 Dec. 1918; adm. Sept. 1932 (R); left Dec. 1936; RAF in WW2 (Corpl Armourer); lost in HM Minelayer Welshman (Med.) 1 Feb. 1943.
Kenneth Frederick Davies was born at Acton, Middlesex on the 16th of December 1918 the son of Frederick Albert Davies, secretary to a public company, and Ellen Florence (nee Phillips) Davies of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire. He was christened at St Martin’s Church, West Acton on the 21st of June 1919. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Rigaud’s from September 1932 to December 1936. On leaving school he worked as an Assistant Transport Superintendant and lodged at 9, Nevern Square, Kensington in London.
He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve where he trained as an armourer and rose to the rank of Corporal.
In January 1943, Kenneth Davies boarded the cruiser minelayer HMS Welshman (M84) , under the command of Captain William Howard Dennis Friedberger DSO RN, which was transporting men and stores from Malta to Tobruk. At 5.45pm on the 1st of February 1943, HMS Welshman was struck by two torpedoes from of a spread of four which had been fired by the U Boat U-617, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Albrecht Brandt. The main deck area flooded and she capsized and sank two hours later with the loss of 163 of her passengers and crew. Several of the casualties were caused by exploding depth charges as she sank. 118 survivors were picked up after five hours in the water by the destroyers HMS Tetcott and HMS Belvoir and were taken to Alexandria. A further 6 survivors were rescued by small craft which had sailed out from Tobruk.
He is commemorated on the Malta Memorial Panel 9, Column 2.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
Corporal 913563 Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
GB 2014
Rules and/or conventions used
International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition
Status
Final
Level of detail
Full
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Prepared for import into AtoM by Westminster School Archive staff, 2019-2020. Updated by Bethany Duck, Archives Assistant, September 2022.
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
The Record of Old Westminsters: A biographical list of all those who are known to have been educated at Westminster School from Play 1919 to Election 1989, Volume 4, compiled by F.E. Pagan and H.E. Pagan, Padstow, 1992.
Westminster School Second World War Memorial by John C. Hamblin, 2022.