Showing 393 results

People & Organisations
GB-2014-WSA-11248 · Person · 1921-1945

Instone, David Simon Theodore, brother of Ralph Bernard Samuel Instone (qv); b. 7 May 1921; adm. Sept. 1933 (H); left Dec. 1937; Ch. Ch. Oxf., matric. 1940; lntell. Corps (Corporal), d. on active service (Italy) Mar. 1945.

David Simon Theodore Instone was born at Kensington, London on the 7th of May 1921 the younger son of Captain Alfred (formerly Einstein) Instone JP, a ship owner and coal exporter, and Phyllis Hilda (nee Goldberg) Instone of 4, Cottesmore Court, Kensington in London and of Corner Cottage, Smock Alley, West Chiltington in Sussex. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Homeboarders from September 1933 to December 1937. He matriculated for Christ Church, Oxford in 1940 where he spent a year before enlisting for military service.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Christ Church, Oxford.
He is buried at Cesena War Cemetery Plot II, Row H, Grave 13.

Jacobs, Derek, 1917-1941
GB-2014-WSA-09963 · Person · 1917-1941

Jacobs, Derek, brother of Bryan Sydney Jacobs (qv); b. 20 Dec. 1917; adm. Sept. 1931 (A); left Dec. 1932; a cane merchant; PO RAFVR Oct. 1941, killed in action Dec. 1941.

Derek Jacobs was born at Brighton, Sussex on the 20th of December 1917 the son of Sydney Jacob, a gentleman, and Ella Bonham (nee Collins) Jacobs of “Rosebriars”, 441, Woodham Lane, West Byfleet in Surrey. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Ashburnham from September 1931 to December 1932.
On leaving school he worked as a traveller for a general merchant. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve where he trained as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner and rose to the rank of Sergeant before being commissioned as a Pilot Officer on the 31st of October 1941.
On the night of the 7th/8th of December 1941, Bomber Command dispatched 130 aircraft for an operation on Aachen. The headquarters building of the local Nazi party was to be used as the aiming point for the bombers. Weather conditions were difficult with only 64 aircraft having claimed to have dropped their bombs on the target. The Aachen railway goods yards were hit by three bombs during the raid with 7 houses being slightly damaged. There were no casualties on the ground.
Derek Jacobs and his crew took off from RAF Scampton at 2.13am on the 8th of December 1941 in Hampden Mk I AE191 OL-Z for the operation. It was to be his sixth operation. Having dropped its bombs the aircraft was leaving the target area at a height of 17,000 feet when it was hit in the port engine by anti aircraft fire. Derek Jacobs was instructed by the pilot to send an SOS call and received a “fix” from RAF Heston. With flames coming from the damaged engine Anthony Parsons, the pilot, throttled the engine back and stopped the propeller, in an attempt to let the fire extinguisher put the fire out. When the fire was extinguished, but with only one engine still working, the aircraft began to yaw and was in danger of entering a flat spin. In order to prevent this Parsons shut down the starboard engine and stabilised the stricken bomber but, when he attempted to restart it, it failed. The crew had made two radio distress calls, one at 5.30am and the second at 6.08am, before they were forced to ditch in the North Sea near Walcheren Island at 6.40am.
Air Sea Rescue boats were dispatched to look for them but found no trace of the missing aircraft and its crew.
The crew was: -
Sergeant Bernard Athelstan Basevi (Observer)
Pilot Officer Derek Jacobs (Wireless Operator/Air Gunner)
Pilot Officer Anthony Leslie Parsons (Pilot) (POW No. 39646 Stalag Luft III)
Sergeant George Wiscombe (Air Gunner) (POW No. 24785 Stalag Luft III)
The four members of the crew had all managed to climb into the dinghy but it was four days before they were rescued, during which time Bernard Basevi died from cold and exposure during the night of the 10th of December and was buried at sea the next morning. Derek Jacobs died on the 11th of December and the two surviving crew members also buried him at sea. The two survivors were picked up by a German convoy escort ship “Wuppertal”, some 15 miles to the south west of Heligoland at 1.45pm the following day and were taken to Cuxhaven Military Hospital where they were treated for frost bite and exposure.
His father received the following letter dated the 23rd of December 1941: -
“Sir, I am commanded by the Air Council to express to you their great regret on learning that your son, Pilot Officer Derek Jacobs, Royal Air Force, is missing as the result of air operations. Your son was wireless operator/air gunner of a Hampden aircraft which set out at 2.13am for action over Aachen, Germany, and has failed to return. Two wireless signals were received from the aircraft, one at 5.30am and the second, an S.O.S. call, at 6.08am. The Air/Sea Rescue Services were put into operation and searching continued throughout the day, but no trace could be found of any of the crew. Enquiries will now be made through the International Red Cross Society and if any news is received you will be at once informed. If any information regarding your son is received by you from any source you are requested to be kind enough to communicate it immediately to the Air Ministry. The Air Council desire me to convey to you an expression of their sincere sympathy with you in your present anxiety.”
George Wiscombe wrote the following to his wife from prisoner of war camp in a letter dated the 16th of January 1943: - “..... engine trouble made us crash in the sea, the four of us getting away in the rubber dinghy unhurt apart from shock ..... Navigator Basevi died the third night and Jacobs as you know the following day. Saw land on morning of fifth day but were blown away soon after. P/O Parsons and myself picked up by German boat after 104 hours afloat. Treated very well and taken into Cuxhaven Military Hospital.”
Anthony Parsons wrote the following letter to the Air Ministry from Dulag Luft dated the 3rd of May 1942: -
“Dear Madam, I regret to say that P/O Jacobs, 112160, died on the night of Dec. 11th 1941 from shock, exposure and lack of fresh water. Sgt. Basevi passed away through the same causes, the previous night. They both died quietly and without pain, being unwounded. Please convey my sympathies to their families, and say that I did the little that I could for them, without avail.”
Theirs was one of two aircraft lost during the raid.
He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial Panel 33.

GB-2014-WSA-10156 · Person · 1887-1917

Johnson, Sidney Frederick, second son of George Frederick Johnson, of Tooting Bee, by Blanche Evelyn, daughter of George Anderson, of Adelaide, South Australia; b. Aug. 19, 1887; adm. Sept. 26, 1901 (A); left July 1906; London Univ.; B.Sc. 1906; 2nd Lieut. Queen Vic­toria's Rifles May 1910; became a partner in Hendren's Trust, Ltd., a financial company for promoting British enterprise in Canada; 2nd Lieut. 3rd Batt. (Reserve) Border Regt. Dec. 13, 1914; attached 2nd Batt. and went out to the western front Feb. 20, 1915; was wounded at Festubert in May 1915, and invalided home; Lieut. March 13, 1916; returned to the front Dec. 29, 1916, and was appointed brigade bombing officer with the rank of temp. Capt. Oct. 7, 1916; m. Nov. 28, 1914, Helen Marguerite, elder daughter of Farquhar Robinson, of Montreal, Canada; killed in action at Beaumont Hamel Jan. 10, 1917.

GB-2014-WSA-10158 · Person · 1897-1918

Johnson, Thomas Colwell, son of Kendall Warren Johnson, of Hampstead, by Nellie, daughter of the Rev. T. M. Colwell, of Lowell, Massachusetts, U. S. A.; b. Jan. 9, 1897; adm. Jan. 18, 1912 (R); left Dec. 1912; travelled in the United States, South America, and on the Continent; went to Australia in the early autumn of 1914, and in Nov. of that year enlisted as a Private in the 1st Batt. Australian Imperial Force; went with his batt. to Egypt, and in April 1915 landed at Gallipoli, where he served until he was wounded Aug. 10; was invalided to Egypt, and in April 1916 was sent to the western front, where he was again wounded in July 1916; received special mention for gallant conduct in the field in July 1918; killed in action near St. Quentin Sept. 18, 1918; unm.

GB-2014-WSA-10175 · Person · 1911-1946

Johnston, Patrick Henry, brother of William Franklin Johnston (qv); b. 16 Jan. 1911; adm. Sept. 1924 (R); left July 1928; shipping business Peru 1930-5, Venezuela 1935-8, Trinidad 1938-42; 2nd Lieut RIASC Feb. 1944, served India, Burma and Malaya; d. at sea on his way home to be demobilised 4 Nov. 1946.

Patrick Henry Johnston was born at Santiago, Chile on the 16th of January 1911 the younger son of William Johnston, an engineer, and Ethel Gertrude (nee Turpie) Johnston of 19, Courtfield Gardens in London, later of “The Warren”, 223, Harefield Road, Uxbridge in Middlesex.
He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Rigaud’s from September 1924 to July 1928. On leaving school he entered the shipping business and was based in Peru from 1930 to 1935, in Venezuela from 1935 to 1938 and in Trinidad from 1938 to 1942. He was married at Hammersmith in 1938 to Marjorie A.L (nee Hall later Betts); they had two children one of which was Carolyn Jean, born on the 6th of November 1939.
He was in the army from February 1944 and served in India, Burma and Malaya. He was returning home to be demobilised when he died and was buried at sea.
He is commemorated on the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial Panel 25, Column 3.

GB-2014-WSA-10192 · Person · 1881-1917

Jonas, Frank Charlton, brother of Herbert Charlton Jonas (q.v.); b. July 21, 1881; adm. May 2, 1895 (R); left July 1898; went to Copenhagen to study brewing, and subsequently to India as manager of a branch brewery of Messrs. Miskin and Co.; returned home at the out­ break of Great War I and entered the Camb. Univ. O.T.C. in Sept. 1914; 2nd Lieut. 2/1st Cambs Regt. Oct. 1914; Lieut. Jan. 1, 1915, Adjutant and temp. Capt. May 1915; Capt. Oct. 13, 1916; went out to the western front in Nov. 1916; m. 1908 Maria, only daughter of John Fell Swallow, of Mosborough Hall, Derbyshire; killed in action at St. Julien July 31, 1917.

GB-2014-WSA-10349 · Person · 1894-1915

Kellie, Esmond Lawrence, younger son of Lawrence Kellie, of Maida Hill, singer and composer, by Gertrude, daughter of John Stonier, of Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffs; b. April 27, 1894; adm. April 29, 1909 (G); left July 1912; London Univ.; passed the exam. for the Civil Service; joined the 28th (Co. of London) Batt. the London Regt. (Artists' Rifles) Aug. 3, 1914; 2nd Lieut. 1st Batt. Beds Regt. Jan. 1, 1915; went out to the western front; killed in action at 'Hill 60', Ypres, Belgium, April 19, 1915; unm.

GB-2014-WSA-10350 · Person · 1874-1916

Kellie, Kenneth Harrison Alloa, youngest son of George Kelly, of Shanklin, Isle of Wight, printer and publisher, by Julia Rosina, daughter of Francis Watts, of Pimlico; b. July 28, 1874; adm. Jan. 18, 1888 (G); left July 1893; Caius Coll. Camb. (adm. pensr. Oct. 2, 1893); B.A. 1898, M.A. and B.C. 1904; M.B. 1905; St. George's Hospital; M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. 1903; M.R.C.P. 1908; Physician to the Belgrave Hospital for Children 1912; practised in Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square; assumed the surname of Kellie in lieu of Kelly; Lieut. R.A.M.C. April 1, 1915; Capt. April 1, 1916; went out to the western front May 15, 1915; was first attached to the Guards' Brigade, but was subsequently transferred to the Canadian contingent as Second Senior Medical Officer; m. Constance Hamley, of Chester; killed in action near Albert, France, June 25, 1916.

GB-2014-WSA-10369 · Person · 1884-1916

Kelsey, Leon de Barr, only son of Richard and Annie Kelsey, of South Kensington; b. March 3, 1884; adm. April 28, 1898 (H); left July 1901; studied architecture for six years and subse­quently entered his father's business; joined the Inns of Court O. T. C. April 22, 1915; 2nd Lieut. 23rd (Co. of London) Batt. the London Regt. June 11, 1915; went out to the western front Sept. 24, 1915; killed in action between Guinchy and Fiers Sept. 16, 1916; unm.

GB-2014-WSA-10376 · Person · 1895-1918

Kemp, Kenneth Reginald Flint, only son of Reginald Kemp (q.v.); b. April 17, 1895; adm. April 29, 1909 (A); left Easter 1910 on account of ill health; went to the Chelsea School of Art; showed much artistic promise; was elected an Assoc. of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1917, and three of his pictures were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1916 and 1918; went to the western front with the Munro Corps attached to the Anglo-French Hospital Ccmmittee as a driver Nov. 9, 1915; was slightly gassed near Nieuport in April 1917, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre for saving life under fire April 25, 1917; returned home and obtained a commission in the R. A. S. C. as 2nd Lieut. Aug. 13, 1917, but was relegated to Home Depots on account of his health; d. of influenza Oct. 18, 1918; unm.