Herbert, Christopher Reginald Courtenay, son of Arthur Stewart Herbert of Cahirane, Co. Kerry, and Lady Theresa Selina, d. of Col. Gerald Edmund Boyle and sister of Admiral of the Fleet William Henry Dudley Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork & Orrery GCB GCVO; b. 23 Mar. 1906; adm. Sept. 1920 (R); left Dec. 1923; a stockbroker; m. 4 Sept. 1939 Celia Winifred, d. of Christopher Foulis Roundell CBE; PO RAFVR Nov. 1940, killed in action June 1941.
Christopher Reginald Courtenay Herbert was born at Montreux, Switzerland on the 23rd of March 1906 the younger son of Arthur Stewart Herbert, a director of the North London Railway, and Lady Theresa Selina (nee Boyle) Herbert of 6, Grosvenor Hill, Willow Lane, Wimbledon in South London. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Rigaud’s from September 1920 to December 1923. On leaving school he worked as a solicitor in the City of London and later became a Partner. He achieved a Royal Aero Club Certificate (No. 16073) at the Airwork School of Flying, Heston on the 27th of July 1938 while flying an Avro Club Cadet aircraft. He was married at Paddington, London on the 4th of September 1939 to Celia Winifred (nee Roundel) and they lived at 8, Pelham Place, Kensington.
He enlisted as an Aircraftman 2nd Class in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve at the Uxbridge Depot where he trained as a pilot and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer on the 30th of November 1940, with seniority from the 10th of November 1940.
On the night of the 26th/27th of June 1941, Bomber Command dispatched 30 Hampdens and 14 Wellingtons for an operation on Dusseldorf. The results of the bombing were not able to be observed.
Christopher Herbert and his crew took off from RAF Newton at 11.05pm on the 26th of June 1941 in Wellington Mk IC R1644 JN-L for the operation. The aircraft was hit by anti aircraft fire and crashed on farmland on the west bank of the River Maas near Grubbenvorst, 14 miles due north of Venlo, at 4am with the loss of the entire crew.
The crew was: -
Pilot Officer John Winston Sievers RNZAF DFC (Pilot)
Pilot Officer Christopher Reginald Courenay Herbert (2nd Pilot)
Pilot Officer Alan George St John Ross (Observer)
Sergeant Hector George Burgess (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant William John Grieve (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Sergeant Francis Joseph Hart RCAF (Air Gunner)
Theirs was the only aircraft lost during the operation.
His wife received the following telegram dated the 19th of July 1941: - “Further information received through the International Red Cross states that your husband Pilot Officer Reginald Courtney Herbert previously reported missing is now reported missing but believed to have lost his life as the result of air operations. Any further information received will be immediately communicated to you. Letter confirming this telegram follows.”
Four of the crew’s bodies were found in the wreckage of the aircraft with two more being found a few hundred yards away. One of these had tried to bail out as his parachute was found near his body and was open.
The crew was buried at Ehrenfriedhof Cemetery, Venlo but their bodies were later exhumed by No. 5 Royal Air Force Missing Research and Enquiry Unit and were moved to their present location.
He is commemorated on a plaque in the Protestant Church at Killarney, Co. Kerry and on a memorial window at the King Henry VII Chapel, which was unveiled on the 10th of July 1947. .
He is buried at Jonkerbos War Cemetery Plot 3, Row H, Grave 3.
