A lone airman of the Royal Flying Corps

A passing comment regarding the lone military grave of an airman of the Royal Flying Corps which is due to be relocated due to building work at a local church, stirred my interest to know more about this solitary man. Who could he be and why was he interred in a small sleepy church yard in Bentley on the boarders of Hampshire and Surrey.

It seemed as though this could make another interesting addition to the Royal Flying Corps display at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust museum, which includes recording members of that fore runner of the Royal Air Force.
I quickly found records of him listed on the Australian forces nominal roll  his transfer to the RFC & finally his death, but then a real piece of luck, from an Australian web site "Connecting Spirits". Connecting Spirits is a project that involves Australian students travelling to the World War 1 battlefields, cemeteries and memorials of France and Belgium to learn first hand the role that Australians played in the battles of  WW1 and to understand the sacrifices made.

And what luck this grave had been one visited by a member of this group of young people and what follows is an illustration of bravery, commitment, adventure and in this case luck that finally ran out.

Name: Richard (George) Turner

Rank: 2nd Lieutenant

Service Number: 106 (AIF)

Units Served: 2nd Battalion AIF; Army Ordnance Corps; 37th and 47th Reserve Squadrons, Royal Flying Corps.

Richard George Turner, whose preferred name was George, was born on the 30th January, 1894 in Jamestown, South Australia, to parents Sydney and Louisa. He attended primary school in Jamestown before completing most of his high schooling at Gladstone, but moved back to Jamestown in 1910 to complete his schooling. After finishing school he worked as a bank clerk for the Union Bank, working in branches at Laura, Melrose, Port Pirie, Adelaide, Port Adelaide, and Port Elliot before transferring to Sydney. He was a member of the Church of England and had served in both school cadets and the militia.

George enlisted  in the AIF on the 21st August 1914 in Sydney at the age of 20 years and 6 months. He was 5’6 ½” tall, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and fair hair. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion.

George left Australia from Sydney on the 18th October aboard the “HMAT Suffolk”. He was part of the first landing on Anzac Day at Gallipoli and was wounded the following day with a gunshot wound to the leg. He was evacuated to Alexandria to recover but returned to Gallipoli on the 18th May and was made a stretcher bearer on the 18th July. He remained on Gallipoli until the evacuation. After returning to Alexandria he was transferred to the Australian Ordnance Corps on the 4th March 1916 and the following day transferred to the Deputy Assistant Director of Ordnance Services for clerical duties. He returned to the 2nd Battalion in time to leave Egypt on the 22nd March arriving in Marseilles on the 28th. He was then promoted to corporal on the 18th April, and was again transferred to DADOS at the 1st Divisional Headquarters on the same day. He moved between the 2nd Brigade HQ and 1st Div HQ over the next 6 months but obviously did not wish to continue with clerical duties as he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps on the 8th November 1916. He marched in to Bracenose College in Oxford for flight training on the 26th January 1917 and received his commission on the 16th March. He continued his training at Scampton near Lincoln. He completed 22 hrs and 40 mins of solo flying time, mostly in an aircraft known as a “Shorthorn” before crashing on the 4th May. George was killed in this accident, and a board of inquiry found it to be due to “a lack of judgment on the pilot’s behalf in causing the machine to get into a spinning nose dive on a turn”. He would normally have been buried at Scampton, but during his training in England he had befriended some elderly cousins of his father who lived in Farnham. These ladies lobbied the Royal Flying Corps, the railways, the police and the church to have his body released from the Flying Corps so that he could be buried in Bentley with his ancestors.

Age at Death: 23

Cemetery : BENTLEY (ST. MARY) CHURCHYARD, Hampshire

 If you know of anyone who served in the RFC and think their story should be  recorded for posterity or would just like their name and image to be recorded in our growing collection please get in touch with me at:    igf@royalflyingcorps.info

These early airmen Pilots, Mechanics, officers and other ranks deserve to be remembered.

Zulu Wars soldier buried in Surrey

Date 22nd January 1879 Many people will have heard of the great British stand at Rorke's Drift during the Zulu wars but how many people know that earlier in the same day there was a tragic defeat of the British at Isandlwana by the Zulu army . Even more surprising is that just one man who fought and died during this battle was eventually brought back to England to be interred in a small church yard in St Johns on the out skirts of Woking in Surrey. His  grave marker is shown above. A little of his history follows: Edgar oliphant Anstey Son of George Anstey, Esq. (originally of London) was born in Highercombe, South Australia. named after his father's family's original home near Dulverton, Somerset. In 1873, he graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the First Battalion, Twenty-fourth Regiment of Foot (later known as the Second Warwickshire Regiment, the South Wales Borderers, and the Royal Regiment of Wales). During the Anglo-Zulu War he was attached to Captain William Mostyn's "F" Company, !st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot, and was killed in action during the disastrous engagement at Isandlwana on January 22, 1879 in which over 1,200 British Imperial, Colonial, and Native forces were massacred. Anstey was the first soldier from South Australia to die in battle overseas. His body was found two days after the battle by his brother, Captain Thomas Anstey of the Royal Engineers, not far from the place now known as The Fugitives' Trail. Zulu warriors did not take prisoners in battle, and normally ritually disemboweled their enemies. Anstey's body, however, was intact and clothed. Originally buried under a cairn of stones, near where he had been killed, his remains were later interred in the graveyard at the Church of St. John the Baptist in Woking, Surrey, England. Below is the true story of the events leading to his remains being brought to England. My thanks to Pete for uncovering this additional note. Isandlwana was the action immediately prior to the action at Rorke's Drift made famous by the film Zulu. Isandlwana as it was in 1879 Isandlwana as it is today

Learning in a time gone by

Here is a snippet from the past (1911) which reminds me of how children grew up quickly
learned the 3 Rs with the minimum of teaching aids and started a working life at an age where today they may be considered to young for such responsibilities. 

I started school when I was just two and a half years old, although I didn't go on the register until I was five. My brother drove me to school - he had an orange box on wheels and I used to sit in it, and he used to wheel me. I was four when my mother died.
Throughout my school days I only missed three half days and received bronze and silver medals for attendance before I left at the age of thirteen.
The headmaster was a wonderful man who took great interest in me and all pupils. He taught everything including football, cricket and gardening, he was also the scout master.
The  teachers were a bit fishy, a Miss Herring, Miss Salmon and the headmaster Mr Whiting all much loved by the pupils. Each teacher taught two classes and twice a week the rector visited for the first hour. We started with a hymn and were told about all the historical events which had taken place that day.
Any trouble and you got the stick. None of the boys mentioned this to their parents as they might well have got belted by their father had they done so.
Manners were very important in those days. If the boys didn't raise their caps and the girls curtsy to the gentry, then we were given a lesson in manners.
On leaving school there were few openings for girls who nearly all went into service. The pay was 3/6 per week with just one half day off. Boys could go into agriculture, carpentry or carters etc.. If you were an apprentice, or you had a job to go to you could leave school at thirteen other wise you had to stay till you were fourteen. After that you had to leave school regardless of a job to go to. My first weeks work earned me 2/4 roughly equivalent to 12 pence in today's money.

How is it that this very simple start in life which was common to so many of the people of this country at that time was still sufficient to produce literacy that some today could only wish for.
It is not to say that life was easy or comfortable, far from it, but one only has to look at the great achievements of those times, from great ships ,trains,buildings,bridges,dams to the introduction of electricity etc....with not a computer in sight unless you count log tables and slide rules, to appreciate the possibilities for any man or woman and it was the ordinary man or woman who implemented  all  these different activities.
Maybe the current trend of being at school until the age of 18 and then a university degree that will most likely be of little use to many except as a key to the job market is to ignore the fact that the best tool for learning is life experience, which given the opportunity allows most people to achieve in their chosen endeavours.

The Great Escape !

Well most of us may have heard of the great escape, that great tunnel building enterprise at Stalag Luft III during 1944 which, whilst illustrating great enterprise, ingenuity and courage resulted in a tragic result for 50 of the 76 escapees, just three escapees making a home run.



Well today I see  a new somewhat different version of tunnelling enterprise has taken place in Germany.

Berlin fire fighters called on Monday to an underground garage put out a blaze only to find a 30-metre-long tunnel leading to the vaults of a nearby bank - which had been emptied. 

Thieves had smashed through reinforced concrete to dig their tunnel, meaning they must have had access to heavy duty equipment and police said they had no idea where the material excavated from the tunnel had ended up. The fire, police believe was begun by the thieves in an attempt to erase any evidence and cause a distraction while they robbed the bank.
Police were still examining the scene in the Steglitz area of the capital on Monday afternoon and are yet to find any clues pointing to suspects, despite thorough questioning of people living in the area. 

What a difference nearly 100 years makes

No 99 Squadron Then  (1920s)





And Now (2013)

99 Squadron C17s off to Mali.
We are assuredby Mr Cameron  that no troops will be sent in a combat role.
Let us hope not but take a look at this article on the subject , nothing seems black & white.
http://www.thelocal.de/national/20130112-47287.html#.UPKglx0gZ_8

Wreck of the Benvenue November 1891

This story first caught my imagination when, amongst old family photos, I found  a picture of the life boat  Meyer De Rothschild and her crew. Following a little research I found that one of my ancestors was a crew member of that life boat and regretfully lost his life in pursuance of his duty. This post is a small tribute to him.

This is a much shortened account of a dramatic event off the coast of Kent which featured ingenuity, collaboration,bravery and tragedy. It also proves that voyeurism is by no means a modern phenomenon.

On November 11th 1891 a fearful storm hit the south east coast of Kent, caught by the ferocious seas the full rigged ship Benvenue in command of Captain Moddrel with a compliment of 32, encountering mountainous seas eventually arrived off Sandgate Kent at 5am on that dark morn. Meanwhile a French schooner the Eider was smashed to bits under the sea wall between Hythe & Seabrook. Coast Guard Hennessey ,coxswain of the Seabrook life boat succeeded in rescuing two sea men by lifebuoy & rope but the French captain with his wife & child drowned.
The Benvenue now close inshore began firing distress rockets, with the heavy seas now flooding her bow she foundered 450 yards off shore, 27 seamen made it aloft into the mizen top but captain Moddrel was drowned in his cabin, two seamen and two apprentices, named Bruce & Ironmonger were washed overboard , one clung to an upturned table, Bruce almost made it to the shore near the Royal Kent Hotel, but the mountainous sea claimed them all. Wreckage from the ship started to be washed ashore, casks of rum,linseed oil,vinegar,candles, clothes & even rolls of linoleum littered the beach. With typical British accord 200 armed soldiers were brought from nearby Shorncliffe camp to guard the property.
By now Hennessey with a volunteer crew had brought the life boat from Seabrook to Sandgate coast guard station slipway and attempted to launch but without success. The life boat was then taken to Hythe & launched but soon capsized and one young coast guard, Charles Fagg was drowned when his cork life vest was washed from him. Further attempts at rescue were halted until night fall due to 80 mph winds.
at 11am the body of the French captains wife drowned at Seabrook appeared in the breakers stripped of her clothing. She was taken from the surf by coastguards who reverently covered her body for removal to the Bevan hospital. All this time the crew of the Benvenue were still  huddled in the rigging of the stricken vessel. During the day 17 rockets were fired in attempts to get a line to the ship but without success, at one point Alderman Daniel Baker, a strong swimmer insisted on being allowed to brave the surf with a line attached & it was only the refusal of captain Smythies R.N  which prevented him losing his life in a hopeless task.
A further attempt to get a line across was made by the army, a long iron rod hastily welded to a cannon shot with a short length of wire attached to a line was fired from a 15 pounder gun but the line broke.
By mid afternoon the population of neighbouring towns had gathered on the sea front, some residents even wired friends in London with many travelling by train, arriving in the afternoon. Helpers collected broken wreckage at battery point  & set it alight to cheer the exhausted crew. About 8 pm the storm abated and the life boat launched, she was quickly along side & the 27 crew taken aboard and eventually landed at Folkstone, exhausted after 15 hours in the rigging, being exposed to one of the worst storms of the 19th century.

Foot note:
Captain Moddrel was laid to rest in St Martins Churchyard Cheriton  where his gravestone can be seen.
Charles Fagg the brave coastguard who lost his life had been married just a few months, his wife received £150 by local subscription.

Charles W. Fagg   Born September 6th 1864  who was drowned by the capsizing of the lifeboat at Hythe In the endeavour to rescue the Crew of the Benvenue wrecked At Sandgate, Kent on November 11th 1891. His body was washed on Shore at the Warren between Folkestone and Dover on Dec^r 2nd and interred at Smeeth hurch Yard on December 5th 1891.

Photo by Chris Roche

The figure head of the Benvenue currently resides in the bar of Bognor Regis Yatch club in West Sussex.

Photo by Ian Fagg