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DRIFFIELD AND WOLDS GENEALOGY |
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KILHAM MAN’S DISTINCTION AWARDED DISTINGUISHED FLYING MEDAL FIRST E.R. MAN TO BE DECORATED Corporal T. Hoggard, a 24 year old Kilham man, is included in the list of R.A.F. honours, issued on Saturday. Corporal Hoggard, who has been awarded the D.F.M. was formerly an assistant teacher. He enlisted in 1936. “VENGEANCE FOR DORAN” Corporal Hoggard is a native of Kilham, and the following interesting story appears in “The Daily Express.” When Britain’s air ace, Squadron Leader Doran – he got the D.F.C. for the Kiel raid – was shot down and made a prisoner of war during an attack on Stavanger, the Germans started a private war for 24 year old Corporal Tom Hoggard, country born air gunner and radio operator. Hoggard was in Doran’s regular crew and had been with his daring leader on all his trips, except the one on Stavanger. For this fateful raid Doran took a new radio operator and gunner because Hoggard was on leave. Doran, too, should have been on leave but he insisted on remaining on duty. News that Doran was missing came to Hoggard through a newspaper report brought in by a neighbour in Cleckheaton. Hoggard then vowed vengeance. That vow has been fulfilled and in the latest awards list, Corporal Hoggard’s name appears. He gets the D.F.M. Hoggard is the first East Riding man to be decorated. There have been many callers at his village home. The villagers know him as a good footballer and cricketer, a man who walked out of a comfortable job as a schoolteacher to join the R.A.F. His mother told a reporter that Tom, on his Christmas leave, married the 23 year old daughter of the former Olympic marathon runner, Fred Lord, of Cleckheaton. During Tom’s Easter leave, Squadron Leader Doran was shot down. On his next leave Tom will bring home his D.F.M. There is one other thing Tom’s mother would like her son to bring home, and that is an original photograph of Squadron Leader Doran, to replace the newspaper picture of him which stands on the dining room mantelpiece. A SAPPER’S THANKS To the Editor Somewhere in France Dear Sir – please accept my apology for not writing to thank you before for the cartons of cigarettes you sent out to me by your paper’s readers. I appreciate the kindness in helping to make us more at home. These little gifts make us feel not forgotten, out here. I ask you to convey my thanks to your readers. This is all I have to say in writing, but I will call upon you in person when home on leave, hoping this is near at hand – Thanking you, once more, yours etc Sapper GORDON FOSTER KILHAM’S GOOD WISHES White Hall Farm, Kilham To Corporal Tom Hoggard, R.A.F. Dear Tom – please accept our heartfelt congratulations on your receiving the D.F.M. We people at Kilham thank you for your gallant act, which I am sure will long remain in our minds. We wish you the very best of luck, and a safe return home. At present we can only say, “Thank you, Tommy, and God protect you.” F. WOOD, Kilham June 15, 1940 DRIFFIELD’S OLD GERMAN GUN A LAST KICK The old German gun that for may years adorned a position at the junction of Eastgate North and North Street, was taken away to the Council’s yard some time ago, and was later purchased for scrap by Messrs H. Bowser & Son. On Monday this enterprising firm set to work to prepare it for the smelting furnace. More scrap for bullets, planes and tanks to wind through to victory in this 1939 --- war. Mr Bowser, jnr, assisted by his father, on Monday afternoon, put the acetylene cutter on the gun and Cllr Boser warned his son that there would be a spring somewhere. His son carried on, and when the gun was partly held in position the spring flew out, causing Mr Bowser jnr to receive a severe cut to the elbow, which necessitated attention at Mr Harrison’s chemist’s shop. Cllr Bowser was also cut, but not so badly as his son. The spring, which weighed about six stones, flew up in the air after striking both members of the firma nd ended up on the roof of a neighbouring building. Thus Jerry had his last kick. Messrs Bowser are the bosses, however, and the scrap has left for the furnace. SOLDIER DIES FROM INJURIES The death has occurred in the Alfred Bean Hospital, at 8.30pm on Sunday evening, of Pte John Floan, of Maryport, Cumberland, as the result of head injuries. It appears that he was leaning out of the window of a bus commandeered by the Army when, as the vehicle passed a lamp post in Skerne Road, Driffield, he received injuries which proved fatal. HER V.C. LOVER DRIFFIELD YOUNG LADY WAITS ANXIOUSLY Cheated out of marriage for the third time since the war began, Miss Zoe Sedman, aged 23, of Eastfield Road, Driffield, is waiting anxiously for news of her missing lover, R.A.F. Sergeant Observer Thomas Gray, one of the first two air V.C.’s of the war. Gray and Flying Officer Donald Edward Garland, have just been awarded the Victoria Cross for brilliant work in the epic raid to destroy “at all costs” the last bridge left by the Belgians over the Albert Canal, when the Germans stormed into their country. Since this great exploit, Miss Sedman, employed at the Driffield Co-operative Stores, has heard nothing of the dashing young airman who , a few days before, wrote, “I shall soon get my leave now, I will come straight to your house, and we will get married as soon as possible. And no fooling with the moustache, young lady.” Miss Sedman smiles as she reads that passage about the moustache. “I feel confident that Tom will come back and that we shall be married.” Miss Sedman said. “What he did was typical of him, he is 26 and loved the R.A.F., which is why he joined as soon as he left school “I used to tease him about his moustache, and when he proposed – we have been courting or five years – I said, Yes, but you will have to shave off that moustache. We were going to be married just as the war broke out, then Tom’s squadron was rushed off to France. When he came home in January we discussed the wedding in the light of the war and thought it might be better to wait. Then, by post, we decided to go ahead. It was all agreed on for his next leave. That leave he gave to another man in the squadron, whose wife had had a baby. And he was to take the other man’s turn. And that turn never came for Tom. On the day he won the V.C. he went into action with a letter from me in his possession, stating that I had planned the wedding at All Saints Church, Driffield, by special licence, almost immediately after he arrived. I told him too, that we would go straight off to London after the wedding and then on to Bath, so that he could spend the rest of his leave with his parents as well as with me. Miss Sedman has another letter she will treasure. It is from Mr and Mrs E.A. Gray, Tom’s parents, who live in Alexander Place, Bath, telling her he had written about the wedding. “We are keeping our chins up and hoping for the best,” says Mrs Gray. When the order was given that the R.A.F. must destroy the canal bridge, every crew in the squadron volunteered, and lots had to be drawn for the five crews. Despite a blizzard of fire they blew up the vital target, but only one of the aircraft came back. Flying Officer Garland was pilot and Gray observer of the leading machine and an Air Ministry bulletin says much of the success of the raid must be attributed to them. NEWS ANXIOUSLY AWAITED DRIFFIELD SOLDIERS The evacuation from Dunkirk a fortnight ago was keenly followed by many Driffield and district families for it was known that local men in many of the Regiments involved were serving. A few of those who arrived safely back were able to spend a few hours with their parents and families last weekend. So far no news has been received of Col Thompson and Lt Harold Hopper, of Kelleythorpe. Both were serving with the Tank Corps. Pte J. Randall, a former member of the Driffield Times editorial staff, who was a despatch rider, was also in the Dunkirk region and his parents are anxious about him. News is also anxiously awaited regarding Pte Lewis, of Westgate. Sgt Major E. Lowe was able to come to Driffield on a very short leave. He was one of four, out of a group of 50 men to escape. He had laid in a gutter three days and three nights to keep clear of the enemy. The parents of Pte F. Lowe who was employed by Mr Chas Dawson before joining up, have received a Field Card dated the 6th, that he had been wounded. Pte Lowe visited his home town at Whitsuntide. FORMER POSTAL WORKERS Pte H. Constable, who was serving in a mobile section, and who was formerly postman driver at Driffield Post Office, is safely in England from Dunkirk. Pte A. Parker, another Driffield postal driver (Driffield Head Office), has been wounded in the arm and no news as to his arrival in England has yet been received. Cpl Campion, whose home is at 29 Eastgate North, Driffield has sent a letter stating that although amongst the last to leave Dunkirk, he has arrived in England. He is well and hoped to meet his friends in Driffield next week. June 22, 1940 SAPPER’S SAD DEATH IN DRIFFIELD Soldier’s Give Evidence at Inquest A verdict of “death by misadventure” was returned at a Driffield inquest last Thursday, held at the Police Court on John Sloane, a Sapper in the Royal Engineers, of 3 Sunny Slacks, Broughton Moor, Cumberland, who died in the Alfred Bean Hospital on the previous Sunday and the result of injuries received in the morning. Mr Thos Holtby, the East Riding Coroner, conducted the inquiry. The first witness was Dr E.H. Milner, who said he was sent for on the on the Sunday morning to Skerne Road, and there he found Sloane lying in the outhouse of a house in Skerne Road. He was not dead, but he was in a terrible state and the doctor made arrangements for his removal to the hospital. He followed him there and examined him. He found a cut two and a half inches long on he right side of the back of the head. There was evidence of the fractured base of the skull. He was unconscious and never regained consciousness. Sapper Sloane died a 8.30pm that evening as the result of the injuries. Evidence of identification was given by Pte Joseph Pemberton. He said that on the Sunday morning he was in a bus proceeding in the direction of Skerne, the time being about 12.30pm. Witness said he was sitting in the seat behind the deceased and suddenly he heard the sound of breaking glass and then he noticed that Sapper Sloane was not in his seat. He looked out of the window and saw him lying in the road. The bus was stopped and the soldiers got out. Lance Corporal Fred Corry said he had noticed that Sloane was standing up at the window and looking out. He was leading on the window. Witness explained to the coroner, the position in which Sloane was standing. NO MARKS ON BUS BODY The driver of the bus, Sydney Blackett, of West Stanley, County Durham, said the bus was travelling about 20 miles an hour and after the bus had been stopped he got out and examined the vehicle. The third and fourth windows had been broken, but there were no marks on the body of the bus. He thought the lamp post was in a most unusual position for a lamp, but he cleared the base. 2nd Lieutenant K.M. Baxter, an officer who was present, informed the coroner that the deceased was a concreter, aged 24 and was called to the Colours in May as a militiaman. PC McKenna, of Driffield, said he had examined the lamp-post and found that the ventilator had been smashed off. The base of the post was about 12 inches from the kerb. The coroner returned his verdict and said that Sloane had died from his injuries and it was real downright bad luck. He had probably peeped out to see a district that probably he had never been in before. Several officers of the East Riding Yeomanry, including Colonel W.O.B. Thompson, of Kelleythorpe, Driffield, the Commanding Officer and his stepson, 2nd Lieut Harold Hopper, also of Kellythorpe, are posted as missing. KILNWICK Safe Return – Two Kilnwick men, Pte W.H. Brant and S. Jenkinson, have arrived safe in England from Flanders. Pte Brant has been spending a short leave in the village with his parents. June 29, 1940 MIDDLETON Prisoner of War – Mr and Mrs Walter Railton, of South Street, have had news that their youngest son, Guardsman Laurie Railton, is a prisoner of war in Germany. He is the first prisoner of the present war in that village. HUTTON SOLDIER DECORATED FOR BRAVERY Guardsman A. Elsworth, who went out to France with the Coldstream Guards and has seen much fighting has been decorated for bravery while in action in Belgium. He was also engaged in the rearguard action at Dunkirk. A letter received at Hutton from Mr Elsworth’s fiancé in London tells the news. Guardsman Elsworth who has been in the Coldstream Guards for five years, is expected home on leave shortly. July 6, 1940 DRIFFIEL SOLDIERS MISSING News has been received by his parents at 50, Middle Street North, Driffield, that Pte Arthur Wm Pattison, 4389395, 5th Batt Green Howards, was reported missing on June 14. Pte Pattison came on leave from France about two months ago. When he returned he sent a letter home to say he had not yet reached his regiment. Nothing has been heard since until the official notice came on Thursday to say he was missing. Pte Pattison was a member of the Territorials and worked with Mr F. Waites, the Ropery, Harper Street. Mrs Marsden, daughter of Mr and Mrs J. Brown, of Eastgate South, Driffield, received official information on Thursday last that her husband, Sgt Marsden, of the 5th Green Howards, was posted as missing on June 14. He was a member of the local Territorials previous to the war. The last letter received by his mother was dated May 8. Previous to being called up Pte Lewis was engaged temporarily at the Post Office. Much concern is felt by the relatives of Pte Ray Newlove, of Brook Street, Driffield. His number was 4457681 10th Batt, D.L.I. He had been in France for a few weeks but no news has been received from him since before the evacuation of Dunkirk. The relatives of any of these men will be very pleased to receive any information from any member of the B.E.F. It is thought that most of them took part in actions near Dunkirk and it is probably that they may have been taken prisoner. KILHAM SOLDIER KILLED We understand that the parents of Robert Green, who was a member of an Artillery Brigade, received news at Kilham of Thursday last, that their son had been killed while serving abroad. He was well known in Driffield and previous to the war was batman to an officer at an R.A.F. Station. Soldier granted a divorce – At the York Assizes, John Roland Cobb, a labourer, formerly of Driffield, and now serving in the Army, was granted a decree nisi due to the misconduct of his wife, Alice Maud Cobb, with William Sykes, of Ebeneezer Square, Worsborough Dale, Barnsley. July 13, 1940 WILL OF FLYING OFFICER Squadron Leader James Aldo Bartlett Begg, of Driffield, who died on war service on November 10 last, aged 33 years, son of George B. Begg, M.A., left £1,327 2s 1d. He died in testate Letters of administration have been granted to his father, one of the persons entitled to share in the estate. Officially missing – Official news has been received this week by the relatives of Pte Ray Newlove, of Brook Street, Driffield, that he is missing, date not known. Pte Newlove joined up with the Militia at the age of 20 and was posted to the 10th Batt D.L.I. The funeral took place at Driffield Cemetery on Wednesday morning of Gunner Edward Henry Smethurst, who died in a Base Hospital after being wounded in action. He was 38 years of age. The service was taken by Padre Sq-Ldr Kingston. Many comrades attended. (aka alamein barracks)
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