Hove in the Past: Hove Heroes in the Second World War

Judy Middleton 2020 (revised 2022)

Lieutenant Marcus Bloom (1907-1944)

copyright © J.Middleton
This interesting view was once sent as a Christmas card.
It shows the original elegance of the façade with its canopy
and lovely ironwork balcony. In the modern photograph,
the absence of these features leaves the windows of
the first floor looking somewhat out of proportion

Marcus Bloom was born into an Orthodox Jewish family on 24 September 1907 in the famous Brick Lane area of London. He was the second of four brothers – the others being Alex, Bernard and Jenice. His father, Harry Bloom (1882-1949), was also born in London but his parents were impoverished immigrants from Poland. Marcus Bloom’s mother, Anna Sadie (née Davidoff), had Russian antecedents, but was born in Germany.

During the First World War the Bloom family moved to safer surroundings in Hove, and lived at 13 Medina Villas until 1929. During their stay in Hove, the four Bloom brothers attended Hove High School at 49 Clarendon Villas. Harry Bloom had wide business interests, and one of them was a restaurant in Hove, and after he left school, Marcus helped in the management of this establishment. Harry Bloom was also involved with the Super Palace cinema in Battersea, London, and Marcus also helped in this enterprise.

Another string in Harry’s bow was Sterling Textiles, which was a mail-order company. In 1931 Harry asked Marcus to go to Paris to look after the company’s interests in France. Marcus stayed in Paris for six years and made the most of his situation – he took up riding and shooting, which he listed as favourite hobbies, plus polo and horse racing, and mixed with people of wealth. He also met his future wife, Germaine Bertha Fevrier, and they married in March 1938. Unfortunately, Germaine did not feel happy living in London – she missed France and her friends, and particularly her widowed mother who lived in Normandy. She therefore made frequent trips across the Channel, and when France fell to the Germans in 1940, she was stranded there.

Marcus Bloom volunteered for war service, and thought the authorities might think his knowledge of the French language an advantage. But he was informed bluntly by the War Office that because his mother was born in Germany, he would not be allowed to take up a sensitive post. Frustrated, Bloom decided to become a plain gunner and joined the Royal Artillery in January 1941. He was sent for training but his superior realised he had the ability to become an officer, and so in November 1941 he was despatched to an Officer Training Unit in Wales.

This course was supposed to last until April 1942. but Bloom, impatient as ever, had another shot with the War Office, and on 16 March 1942 he joined the SOE (Special Operations Executive). He had a new identity – Michel Blount (to avoid placing his wife in danger) but by the time he went to France he was Michel Boileau. Initially of course, there was the specialist training to be gone through. It was noted that he was somewhat overweight, and he was not good at field-work, but he was an excellent shot. It is sad to learn that two of his superiors had a prejudice against him because he was Jewish, writing their comments down using language that would not be acceptable today. But Bloom became good friends with another recruit in training called Maurice Pertschuk, although Bloom was aged 35 while Maurice was only 21, but Maurice was also Jewish. This friendship became a double-edged sword.

In November 1942 Bloom arrived in France by sea – he was to serve with the ‘Pimento Circuit’ around Toulouse, and he had the codename ‘Bishop’ and the field name ‘Urbain’. He was in trouble with his superior almost at once. He was supposed to report to Captain Tony Brooks at a warehouse straight away, but instead made a detour to see his friend Maurice Pertschuk – the meeting having been arranged when they were both still in England. That was bad enough, but when Bloom did meet Captain Brooks, he spoke in English. This was too much for Brooks who refused to have him on his team, and sent him off to serve with Pertschuk. At first he was not much use to Pertschuk either because he could not make his wireless transmitter work. Perhaps the trouble lay with inadequate training in its use and maintenance because the solution was simply that the antenna he used was too long. However, Bloom was keen to serve in other ways, and was involved in the destruction of an enemy train in January 1943, and indeed his records states he served with bravery.

When Bloom’s problem with his W/T was sorted out, he began transmitting and receiving some 50 messages between March 1943 and April 1943: he also organised ‘drops’ of weapons on four occasions. By this time Bloom and some others were located in a ‘safe’ house at Esquiré. But they were betrayed. They did not know that Pertschuk had been arrested on 12 April 1943 – on the 13 April the Germans arrived at the country house and took away four people, including Bloom. It was noted that although Bloom was handcuffed to a fellow prisoner, the two managed to jump from a window, and escape. But in seeking help, they were betrayed once again, and Bloom was taken to Toulouse Gestapo headquarters. Meanwhile, the Germans were operating the captured W/T equipment, masquerading as Bloom. But the receivers in London were suspicious, especially when a wrong answer was submitted that the ‘real’ Bloom would have known at once.

Bloom was badly beaten up during questioning, but gave them no information. He was removed to Fresnes prison, outside Paris. Somehow, he managed to alert his wife to his whereabouts, and she ensured he was supplied with food.

Around 1 September 1944 some 47 allied prisoners, including Bloom, were transferred to Mauthausen concentration camp. In Austria. On 6 September these prisoners were divided into two groups and taken to a quarry – one group going in the morning and the second in the afternoon. They were stripped of their outer garments, and wore only underwear and shirts, with no shoes on their feet. At the quarry they were faced with a descent of 180 stone steps. The Germans decided on a bizarre exercise; it is not known if it was a gruesome form of sport, or whether they wanted to justify the killings by saying the prisoners were shot trying to escape – they ordered the prisoners to run back up the steps. Then the machine-guns opened up. As a last act of defiance, Bloom picked up a rock and flung it at a German soldier who fell down the steps. Then Bloom ran up the steps and was shot in the back. His grave is unknown.

Bloom’s parents and wife had to wait until the end of the war before the War Office told them of his death, and returned to his widow his wedding ring and a badge. He left just over £500 and the War Office decided it should be divided between the widow and Bloom’s three brothers. But Bloom’s widow protested because she was left destitute, and she related how she had borrowed 40,000 francs from friends plus 10,000 francs of her savings on making sure her husband had adequate food while in Fresnes prison. The War Office refunded that amount to her.

Lieutenant Bloom received a posthumous Mention in Despatches – he was accorded nothing by the French. This is in marked contrast to Brighton-born Captain Edward Zeff, a fellow SOE Jewish agent who survived the war, and who was awarded an MBE (Military) as well as decorated with the Croix de Guerre. Zeff was also at Mauthausen concentration camp but not at the same time as the 47 allied prisoners just mentioned, or else he might have been added to the total. Zeff was there before and after the killings with an interlude in Zelk. But he was in Mauthausen in May 1945 when Americans liberated the camp. It is interesting to note that after the war he returned to Brighton where his address was at 94 Embassy Court, and he also must have visited his father and step-mother who lived at 80 New Church Road, and other family in Carlisle Road, both in Hove.

In Bloom’s war record it was recorded that there had been a risk in sending the officer into such a dangerous field because of his ‘imperfect French’ - he spoke with an English accent – plus the fact that he did not look like a Frenchman at all but had an ‘Anglo-Saxon appearance’. However, the desperate need for W/T operators in the field overrode such misgivings. Every SOE man or woman knew the dangers they faced. There was also the fact that Bloom was Jewish, and from German records recovered after the war, it is apparent the Germans knew this, which may account for him being beaten up, as was also the case with Zeff. With regards to Bloom, the Germans had his full details, his date of birth, his codename and field name, and even the fact he had been a cinema operator. The Germans also possessed a photograph of Pertschuk wearing a British Army uniform.

Squadron Leader Lewis Brandon DSO DFC

He was born in 1911. Before the Second World War broke out, Brandon spent nine years earning a living as an actor; he was also much in demand for his ability as a double on behalf of Robert Donat, Rex Harrison, and Robert Newton. Ronald Donat suffered from asthma, and in one scene he was supposed to carry Marlene Dietrich but he just could not manage it – Brandon stepped into the breach. Brandon always maintained that it was no trouble at all to carry Dietrich because she was as light as a feather. Years later, Marlene Dietrich appeared at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, and Brandon went backstage to have a good chat with her about old times.

Ironically, when Brandon received his call-up papers, he was dressed in the uniform of a Gestapo officer. Brandon went on to have the most remarkable record of war service. Brandon teamed up with Wing Commander James Gillies Benson, and the pair became one of the RAF’s most successful night-flyers crew. They undertook no less than 80 defence flights across Britain, as well as 50 sorties over occupied Europe. During their three-year partnership, they destroyed nine enemy aircraft (with three more probables) damaged three others, and destroyed six flying bombs. They flew in Beaufighters at first, then in Mosquitos. For his bravery, Brandon was awarded a DSO, plus a DFC and Bar.

Brandon stayed in the RAF until 1959, and then with his wife Jean and their three children moved to Melton Mowbray, and opened a café. Later on, the family moved to Brighton, taking over the Rex Hotel. It was while Brandon was there that a fellow war veteran persuaded him to write about his wartime experiences, and so he took up his pen. The result was Night Flyer, published to great acclaim and regarded as a classic of its kind to this day, and it was reprinted several times. Even Winston Churchill read it and offered his warm praise.

In 1965 Brandon took over as landlord of the Albion, in Church Road, Hove, and lived in The Drive, Hove.

Flight Officer Veronica Burleigh (1909-1999)

Self Portrait with the Artist's Parents
Veronica Burleigh (1909–1998)

Hove-born Veronica Burleigh was a very talented artist, whose parents were both well known artists too. She was awarded a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art and studied there from 1927-1930 under the redoubtable Henry Tonks (1862-1937) who was described as ‘the most renowned and formidable teacher of his generation’. The Burleigh home was at 7 Wilbury Crescent, Hove, where each of the Burleighs had their own separate studio. Veronica Burleigh continued to occupy this house until 1970 when she moved to 2 Corner Cottages, Blackstone, Henfield.

During the Second World War Veronica Burleigh served for eight years in the WAAF, seeing service in the Middle East and Italy, and earning five campaign medals in the process. She was Mentioned in Dispatches, and also spent time as an RAF cypher officer and code-breaker. In view of her exemplary service, it is rather sad to record that in her hour of need, she was let down by the authorities. By September 1998 she was old and frail, and obviously a prime candidate to be admitted to the Sussex Down Residential Home in Storrington, which was run by the RAF Association on behalf of ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen. However, they refused to take her on account of her mental confusion plus the fact she had been registered blind. Instead, she had to go to the Upper Mead Residential Home in Henfield, where the fees were £450 a week - £135 more than the charges at the RAF Home. In order to fund her care, her Guardian was obliged to sell her house, and also the prized collection of her mother’s paintings depicting mediaeval fantasy scenes.

Cyril John Clifford

He was born in Wales in 1910. In the 1930s he came on a trip to Brighton where a certain young lady, Mabel Banks, dropped her glove accidentally, and he stooped to retrieve it for her – reader, he married her, in April 1938. At first the happy couple lived at Southampton where their daughter Ann was born, but it became rather dangerous once war had broken out, and it was decided it might be safer back in Hove, where the Banks family ran a florist’s shop at 40 Church Road. They left their bungalow in Southampton with all the furniture still inside, and it was fortunate the move was made, because the bungalow was later destroyed by a bomb.

Clifford served with the South Wales Borderers in the Second World War, as had his father during the First World War. Apart from his periods of leave, Clifford went on to serve throughout the war. He was part of the British Expeditionary Force in 1940. His brother Ronald was taken safely off the beaches at Dunkirk, but Clifford’s regiment was not, and the men had to find their own way to other ports, with many dying along the route. Later on, Clifford transferred to the Royal Engineers; this was done at his mother’s request because his half-brother had joined them, and she thought he could look out for him.

Clifford continued to fight on the front line, and became part of the 8^th Army – the famous Desert Rats fighting the formidable Rommel. When that was concluded, Clifford was involved in no less than three campaigns; the first being Operation Husky, when British troops landed in Sicily. It was the largest sea-borne invasion up until that date, but that distinction later passed to the D-Day campaign. Then followed Operation Baytown where British troops moved from Sicily to southern Italy, and finally Operation Shingle when a combination of the British 8^th Army and the American 5^th Army sailed fron Salerno to Anzio. The fighting continued until May 1945.

Meanwhile, back at Hove, his wife and daughter Ann had been evacuated to Scotland. It was not a happy experience at all because the family in whose house they were billeted were horrible to them. In fact the situation was so unbearable that they soon hastened back to Hove, where they would shelter in the basement during air raids. In August 1941 another daughter was born at 40 Church Road, followed by a son in 1943.

This evocative photograph shows Cyril John Clifford, his wife Mabel,

and their eldest child Ann

Later in the war Mabel suffered an unnerving time when she was told that her husband was missing in Italy. It was some time before it was discovered there had been an unfortunate mix-up. What happened was that Clifford and another soldier were sent out to reconnoitre the land ahead. Naturally, they travelled light, leaving their kit behind them. But such was the pace of war that by the time they tried to return to their own lines, they found to their horror that the Germans were there instead. They then had to tread very carefully, to by-pass the enemy, and re-join their unit. It was the Germans who took charge of Clifford’s kit, and this was why he was posted as missing. He never did get his kit back, but two years later his original pay-book and diary somehow resurfaced, and were returned to him – by which time of course he had been issued with a replacement pay-book.

Clifford returned home with many stories to tell, some of them amusing. There was the occasion when he and fellow soldiers were crawling along the ground at night while German bullets whizzed around them. At one point Clifford felt sure had had been hit because he could feel his battledress jacket was wet and soggy. It transpired that the dampness had been caused by crawling over a field of tomatoes, and squashing them. Another time but also at night, Clifford was sent to test the depth of a river that needed to be crossed. In he went, and the water only came up to his chest, and so dripping wet he went to report to his senior officer saying ‘It’s all fine, sir.’ Unfortunately, it was a dark night and he did not realise that he had been standing upon a rock. When the radio operator went into the river, he and his precious equipment, were immediately submerged. No doubt some choice words were exchanged. Not so amusing for Clifford was when he lost all his teeth. It was not during a battle, but was caused by the simple act of getting down from a lorry. Somehow, he was hit in the mouth by another soldier’s rifle-butt. Perhaps his teeth were not very robust in the first place, and he suffered from gingivitis, but a rifle-butt was just too much.

Clifford also related a shameful incident, and one can feel every sympathy for his righteous action. Some Italian soldiers were holed up in a cave, and had already surrendered, when a senior officer chucked in a hand grenade. Clifford at once attacked him, and was demoted for his pains.

When he was finally de-mobbed Clifford helped out his father-in-law in the family’s business at 40 Church Road. Their last child Helen was born in 1952, but the war had taken a heavy toll on Mabel. (Information kindly supplied by H. Shipley).

Warrant Officer (Battery Sergeant Major) Frederick Frost

The family home was at 109 Cowper Street, Hove, and young Frederick attended the Connaught Road Schools. His father ran a grocery business in Goldstone Street, and after he left school he helped out there. Frederick Frost served with the Territorials for seven years, and almost as soon as war broke out, he found himself on active service. In October 1943, at the age of 27, he was awarded the Military Cross. Frost had three brothers who were all in the Forces, and two of them were with him in the Eighth Army. A sister was in the NAAFI.

Major Kenneth Daintry Gilkes MC

In a newspaper report, Major Gilkes was said to live in Queen’s Gardens, Hove, and in the Street Directories for 1936 and 1937 a J. Ewart Gilkes was recorded as the occupant. Perhaps he was Major Gilkes’s brother. The newspaper report also stated that Major Gilkes was the youngest son of Mr J. Harry Gilkes of Dyke Road Avenue.

Major Gilkes received a Military Cross for his bravery and leadership in Burma on the recommendation of his superior Brigadier O. C. Wingate. Although Major Gilkes was one of the famous ‘Chindits’ his army career started off conventionally enough in the North Staffordshire Regiment, and he was later attached to the 13^th Battalion King’s Regiment (Liverpool). In Burma he was attached to the 77^th India Brigade, and in 1943 he was the leader of the 7^th (British) Column. He was one of those men born to be a leader, being described as genial, but his men knew perfectly well that he would never ask them to undertake a task that he was unwilling to perform himself. In Burma the 7^th Column was involved several times in what was described as ‘sharp fighting’; they shadowed Wingate and the Brigade HQ, but when the orders were given to disperse, Gilkes and his column were on their own. Gilkes decided not to head west in the direction of India, the quicker path, but to follow an unknown route to China that could take anything from four to six weeks longer with their ultimate destination being Fort Hertz, an outpost in north Burma still held by the British.

First of all, the men had to get across the Shweli, and made it at the third attempt. The long march was fraught with difficulties, not to mention inaccurate maps, and this is where the temperament of the leader was all-important. A quick progress was impossible because there were many men who were sick or wounded, and when it was necessary to make a ‘painful decision’ he fully accepted the responsibility. He was a cheerful character and kept up his men’s morale. Indeed, when they crossed over the Chinese border and met their allies, it was reported that the Chinese were impressed by the ‘bearing and behaviour of the troops’; there were nine officers and 140 men. The Chinese also fed them well before they embarked on their final lap to Fort Hertz and safety.

Michael and Marie Yvonne Harrison

Michael Harrison was born in 1907 at Milton, Kent, and his full name was Maurice Desmond Rohan Harrison. He was educated at King’s College, and at the University of London, studying in the School of Oriental and African Studies. During the Second World War he served as a sapper with the Royal Engineers, seeing action in Greece and Egypt. It also appears that he did a short stint with British Intelligence. The Harrisons spent some 26 years living at Hove, firstly in The Drive and then at 2A Palmeira Court, Palmeira Square. At one stage there were also flats in Paris and Bloomsbury. But Harrison kept all his research materials at Hove, and thus tended to regard it as his main residence. He became the managing editor of Trade News Ltd and British Ink Maker.

Michael Harrison was a most prolific and versatile author starting off in the 1930s. He had such a wide range of knowledge that he adopted a different nom de plume according to which genre he was writing about. His book-writing industry ranged from fiction, science fiction, crime, suspense, the occult, to cookery, biography and other factual books. Thus the author became variously Michael Harrison / Maurice Desmond Rohan / Quentin Downes / Martin Fiala / Michael Egremont. His books included Mulberry – The Return in Triumph about the use of artificial harbours during the war. He wrote the book on which the successful TV series The Duchess of Duke Street was based. In an interview he said ‘I was enchanted and obsessed with the old world, and still am. I find it very difficult to come to terms with the modern decay of manners and language.’ He was also an expert on Sherlock Holmes and undertook lecture tours of the USA upon this subject. Indeed he was held in such regard there that in 1974 the Humanities Department at the University of Texas acquired two lots of his literary material including everything to do with one of his best-regarded books In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes published in 1958. The material is housed in the Harry Ransom Library.

Michael Harrison died aged 84 in 1991 at his home in Palmeira Square. His friends at the Bow Street Runner hired a mini-bus in order to attend his funeral at St Thomas of Canterbury, Brightling.

Michael Harrison’s wife, Marie Yvonne Aubertin, also lived an interesting life. She was a personal friend of General de Gaulle, and served as a senior Aide during the general’s exile in London. Together they plotted various incidents to be undertaken by the French Resistance. It was also claimed that she was one of only three women who had ever joined the ranks of the French Foreign Legion. Whether or not this is true is open to question. The on-line history states there has only been one women to join the elite legion and she was London-born Susan Mary Gillian Travers who seems to have been one of those fortunate people escaping bombs and bullets and various scrapes while comrades were killed. She ended her military career covered with honours. Mrs Harrison pre-deceased her husband, dying at their flat in Palmeira Square on 9 August 1977.

Captain P. M. Jermyn Harrison

He served with the Royal Sussex Regiment, and in 1941 was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in the Western Desert. He was the son of W. Jermyn Harrison, who filled the post of Town Clerk at Hove for 30 years. Probably, the busiest time for him and his staff was the period leading up to the boundary changes in 1928. He was due for retirement but thought it his duty to stay on during the difficult war years. He died in February 1945.

Commander Geoffrey Holder-Jones

It was while he was still a teenager in 1933 that he joined the Royal Navy as a signalman aboard HMS Renown. When the Second World War broke out, a sailor with his experience was considered a prime candidate to become a RNVR officer, and off he went for training at HMS King Alfred, on Hove sea-front. On becoming an officer he was somewhat chuffed to take possession of a new uniform especially made for him by the Brighton firm of Hope Brothers. In 1941 he was awarded the DSM for diffusing a German mine at Scapa Flow. He served aboard HMS Adventurer on the Arctic Convoy (taking goods to Russia, our wartime allies) suffering excruciating weather conditions in the process. There were many casualties, both from German U-boats and the intense cold; men with severe frostbite sometimes had to suffer the amputation of a leg in order to save their life. Then he crossed the pond, apparently at the express wish of President Roosevelt, where Holder-Jones was stationed in New York. He served aboard an armed trawler, which, together with other vessels. managed to free up the east coast of America from the German U-boat blockade. Then he was given command of his own ship, and patrolled the waters off Newfoundland and Canada. He returned to Britain in 1944.

After the war Holder-Jones took a temporary job working on the Palace Pier, Brighton, and it is amusing to note that at his interview he was asked if he was used to working above water. Subsequently, he trained to be a teacher, and worked in various schools in the Brighton and Hove area. His final position was to be headmaster of St Andrew’s Church of England School, Hove, a post he held for 22 years. He did not talk about his war experiences, and it is said that even a future admiral amongst his charges had no idea of his wartime role. Indeed, his memories might have been lost for good, had not Tim Parker encountered him at a King Alfred re-union, and decided there was enough material for a book.

Wing Commander Bertie Rex O’Bryan Hoare DSO & Bar DFC & Bar (1912-1947)

During the 1930s Hoare lived at 5 Davigdor Road. He joined the RAF before the war but during the war he soon became an outstanding character and almost an icon of how the public expected a flying ace ought to look. No doubt this image was helped along by his magnificent 6-in handle-bar moustache, of which he was naturally proud. His definition of the feature was that the moustache had to stick out from either side of your head when viewed from the back, or else it had no right to the name.

There was also the matter of his glass eye although people could not work out which was the glass one, and the eyes were of different colours. There were conflicting stories about how such an accident had happened. One account said it was caused by a duck flying into the windscreen, while another theory was that it was a piece of loose engine cowling that took out his eye. Whatever the truth of the matter, after the incident Hoare managed to land his plane safely. The accident had an unexpected bonus for his good eye, which suddenly acquired excellent night vision. This meant that instead of being grounded by the authorities, he became a night flyer.

Hoare will always be associated with the Mosquito, and he was regarded as a superb pilot with this machine. His flying record was quite extraordinary because by March 1944 he had clocked up well over one hundred sorties over enemy-held territories. No wonder he was so highly decorated. But he had another talent too, and that was to train and pass on his knowledge to other members of his squadron – not always the case with an expert. In the citation for his last honour it was stated that he was ‘a magnificent leader whose personal example of courage and devotion to duty has inspired all’.

He became Base Commander at an Air Field with the delightful name of Little Snoring. It seems probable that he met his future wife there because she was a WAAF Section Officer. She was far from home, having been born in Nairobi. The couple married on 22 December 1945 but their story was tragic. Hoare was lost on 26 May 1947 way out east – ironically aboard a Mosquito – and his name is remembered at the Singapore Memorial Cemetery, although it is uncertain whether or not he was buried there. On 1 November 1947 Mrs Lucy Hoare gave birth to their daughter Rosemary Verity – it is sad to think her husband might not have known a child was on the way. Mrs Hoare died at the early age of 49 on 22 June 1970, and was buried at Little Snoring.

George Inverarity DFC

He was educated at a Prep School in Hollingbury, Brighton, before joining the rest of his family in Canada. But he returned to England a few years before the Second World War, and at the age of nineteen he volunteered for the RAF. When he had completed his training as a wireless operator, as well as finishing an air gunner’s course, he was assigned to number 7 Squadron. It is remarkable that he took part in no less than 53 missions over Germany, Italy and France. He earned his Pathfinder Badge by flying beyond enemy lines to pin-point and mark targets for the RAF bombers. He was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

He married his wife Joan in 1940 (she died in 2006) but he remained in the RAF until 1972. George Inverarity with his handlebar moustache looked every inch a RAF officer, and his daughter Sue described him as ‘a true and utter gentleman’. He was familiar figure at Hove because he was secretary to the Hove Club for seventeen years. He died in 7 January 2007 at the age of 87 in Worthing Hospital.

Lieutenant Bernard Jordan

He was born and brought up in Hove, and after leaving school he attended Brighton Polytechnic training to become an electrician. During the Second World War he spent six years in the Royal Navy, leaving with the rank of Lieutenant. Actually he should not have joined up when he did because he was only aged 17, but he pretended he was eighteen. He served aboard a destroyer, tasked with difficult job of hunting German U-boats that were decimating Allied shipping – these U-boats often moved in what was described as wolf packs. He said, ‘I was once on a mission to recover one of those Enigma machines from a U-boat, which we’d forced to the surface by dropping depth charges, and crippling it.’ It was not the first time that an Enigma machine had been seized – that honour lies with the men aboard HMS Bulldog in May 1941 – but it all helped with the war effort and the machine was sent to Bletchley Park in order to intercept encrypted enemy communications.

Bernard Jordan also took part in the Arctic convoys. On 6 June 1944 he was aboard HMS Endeavour using his electrical engineering skills to ensure the safe landing of tanks to British troops invading France – he thus witnessed the horrors of D-Day at first hand. There were twenty tanks inside the ship, and although two or three of them were damaged at once, the other seventeen made it safely to the shore.

After the war, Bernard Jordan became a teacher. In 1967 he was elected to Hove Council, and in 1976 he became chairman of the Housing Committee. By the 1990s he had served as Leader of the Council for two four-year stints. He was Mayor of Hove from 1995 to 1996, and his wife Rene (Irene) was Mayoress. It was an odd situation because he was a Tory Mayor of a town with a Labour majority, whereas the previous year there had been a Labour Mayor of Hove with a majority of Conservatives on the Council. In 1999 Bernard Jordan retired from Brighton & Hove Council. On 23 September 2000 there was general astonishment when, aged 76, and having been a Tory councillor for 32 years, he announced he was joining the Labour Party.

In 2014 Bernard Jordan unwittingly became a national hero. At the time he was living in a care home called The Pines in Furze Hill, Hove, and his wife was there too. The 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings was approaching, and he badly wanted to be in France for the occasion. But somehow he had not got an official ticket, and so he decided to take himself off to Portsmouth to witness the celebrations there. He told Rene where he was going, but never informed anyone else, and just walked out by himself, aged 89, with his war medals hidden under his coat. In Portsmouth, he decided to purchase a one-way ticket for the ferry, and went aboard. A retired teacher, who was shepherding a small group of veterans, noticed Jordan looking somewhat lost, with his medals askew, and so she took him under her wing. Meanwhile, back at The Pines, the worried staff had informed police of a missing person.

When the retired teacher’s party were safely in their lodgings, she phoned The Pines to explain what had happened. Jordan had a memorable time in Normandy, and came home to great excitement. The Press had a field day, with the Argus printing Great Escape as a headline. On 17 July 2014 he was made an honorary Alderman and our hero was told he was ‘the nearest thing to a living legend our city has’. When Jordan celebrated his 90th birthday, he received no less than 3,000 cards. Perhaps it was a last hurrah for an old soldier because he died on 20 December 2014, and his wife followed him one week later – the devoted couple were given a joint funeral at the church of St Michael and All Angels, Brighton. In their will, the couple left £600,000 to the RNLI, who were also set to benefit from the sale of his war medals, which were auctioned on 17 March 2015. The medals were as follows:

1939-1945 Star
Atlantic Star with French and German clasp
Italy Star
Defence Medal

In normal circumstances the medals would only be worth between £200 and £300, but because of the extensive publicity, they were expected to fetch much more. There was a forlorn hope that a wealthy benefactor might step forward to save the medals to be displayed in the city. In the event, Andrew Butler, a military collector, was willing to pay £1,650 because he was determined to own them, despite a bidding battle. It was stated that the medals would go to Normandy where they would be displayed in Butler’s shop.

Kenneth H. Luff RN

He was the son of George Luff who was a baker by trade, and his premises were at 12A Boundary Road Hove. It is fascinating to note that before George Luff took over, number 12A was occupied by Aldrington Bakery, as well as undertaker W. P. Barnes. George Luff was the baker at 12A from around 1925 and he was still there in 1937.

His son Kenneth was a youth of slight build, and indeed his family did not think he would pass the medical examination when call-up papers arrived because his chest measurement was only 32-in. But he ended up in the Royal Navy just the same, and served as a cook aboard HMS Egret.

This vessel was a modern ship, having only been launched in 1938, but unfortunately she fell victim to modern technology. HMS Egret therefore carries the dubious record of being the first Allied ship to be sunk by a guided missile. The tragedy occurred on 27 August 1943. HMS Egret was near Spain when she was sunk, just 40 nautical miles west of Vigo, after a squadron of German Dornier aircraft arrived overhead. One of the Dorniers launched a Hs-293A guided bomb. It must have been a direct hit because it killed 194 crew members, leaving only 35 survivors.

Pilot Officer Harold Edwin Penketh (1920-1940)

He was born at Hove on 2 May 1920, and was educated at the Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School where his name is to be found on the Roll of Honour. The two world wars took a grave toll of Old Boys. It is usually the case with war memorials that there are many more names recorded for the Great War than for the Second World War. But the difference is not so marked at the Grammar School because although there are 132 names for the first, there are no less than 108 names for the second, and out of that number there were 36 men who had served with the RAF or RAFVR, and one who flew with the Fleet Air Arm.

When Penketh left school, he joined an insurance firm in Brighton with the somewhat cumbersome title of the Ocean Accident & Guarantee Accident. He was in the RAF Volunteer Reserve and still a ‘rookie’ pilot with only thirteen hours of flying experience when he was involved in his fatal accident.

It was on 22 November 1940 that he took off in the company of other aircraft on a routine training exercise. He was flying Spitfire X4593 ‘Kerala’. Part of the exercise involved a ‘battle climb’ - that is, a swift ascent to around 28,000-ft. Suddenly, Penketh’s aircraft dropped out of formation, and started to dive towards the ground; when it had fallen to around 2,000 feet, Penketh was able for a brief moment to pull it straight, but unfortunately the engine had stopped and the Spitfire continued to plunge earthwards, burying its nose some 30-ft into the ground – the site being arable land east of what is now known as Holme Fen National Nature Reserve. The young man’s body was retrieved and at his parent’s request, he was cremated at Brighton with his ashes being scattered in the churchyard of St Peter’s, West Blatchington. It was surmised that there must have been a failure in the oxygen system or else a pilot error, but whatever the cause the pilot did not / could not, press the ejection lever.

The Spitfire was left in situ with the crater gradually filling with water. However, that is not the end of the story. Cranfield University undertook a geophysical survey and was able to pinpoint the precise site where the Spitfire lay buried. The dig to uncover the Spitfire was featured in BBC’s television programme Countryfile. The Rolls Royce Merlin engine, the propeller, engine block, starter motor and cockpit control were all recovered, having been preserved by the mud. Also discovered was the pilot’s leather helmet and the seat cushion, still smelling strongly of aviation fuel.

What was not expected was to find a bone of the twenty-year old airman too – it was described either as a bone or as skeletal remains in different articles. It had already been decided that the dig should be done to honour the pilot rather then the machine, and so the remains were treated with the utmost respect. Some elderly cousins of the pilot who lived in the north of England were contacted and their wishes followed. Two poignant relics were also sent to the cousins – one was Penketh’s initialled cigarette case, and the other was his watch.

The cremation service was attended by members of the joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre who organised it, plus those involved in the excavation. On 19 November 2015 the ashes were taken to St Peter’s Church to be scattered in the churchyard after a special service conducted by a RAF chaplain, and the Revd Daniel Smith, who had served with the US Air Force in Cambridgeshire for four years. There is a permanent reminder in the form of a plaque to Pilot Officer Penketh ‘a fine young man’ that was unveiled in September 2016 near the site where the Spitfire was found.

There is an extraordinary parallel in Pilot Officer Penketh’s tragedy to Sergeant Dennis Noble’s death, and they also share the same years of birth and death, 1920 and 1940. But in Sergeant Noble’s case, although people thought his body had been removed at the time, he was still in his aircraft when it was excavated in recent times. (For further details please see under Plaques).

Dick Perceval (1909-1997

Although he was born in Farnham, he retired to Hove in 1970 and lived at Rochester Gardens. It was certainly a different environment to his travels abroad. For example, he enjoyed having a splendid time in the 1920s when living in Berlin. His grasp of the German language was to become useful to him later on, but it also gave him a certain empathy with the German people. This must have played a part in his falling in love at the age of 22 with a volatile German woman, Sorina Eiche, while working out east for an arts magazine. She was hardly an innocent young fräulein because she had already been married and had three sons to boot. In 1936 he married the divorced Sorina in Singapore. Unfortunately his parents disapproved of the nuptials, and indeed they so disliked the notion of him being married to a German woman, that they cut him out of their lives.

When the Second World War broke out, Perceval thought it was his duty to volunteer for his home country, although there was the horrible dilemma of his step-sons being of military age, and it was a nightmare of his that he might be responsible for killing them. Meanwhile, his wife had taken herself off to live in safety in Switzerland. Back home in England, he passed the usual medical tests and was asked to join up the very next day. The night before donning uniform, he attended a party where there were many German people present. Perceval was assigned to the Royal Artillery, and was sent to Enfield Lock to join an anti-aircraft unit. However, he was only there for six months before being asked to attend an unusual interview. The upshot was that he was sent to Bletchley Park where he was assigned to Hut 3 to join the team endeavouring to unravel the Enigma code. It did seem odd to him that as a man with German connections, he was handed a role in such a sensitive place. The work was fascinating but exhausting too because the shifts were hard and kept on being changed, which lead to sleep deprivation. This was no laughing matter either, because it ended up with him being admitted to hospital in 1944 to be treated for a psychiatric sleep disorder. Perhaps it comes as no surprise that by the time victory in Europe was announced, there was little excited reaction to the news among his fellow workers at Bletchley Park.

For Percival, there was also the troubling prospect of a re-union with his wife. Would it work out after such a long time? At first, the couple lived in Hamburg, where he had a job in intelligence. But in 1950 they moved to England, and he worked for the BBC. It seems that Sorina died soon afterwards, and his second wife was called Sheila. He died in Rochester Gardens.

Percival kept a record of his life in journals, which for some unaccountable reason were consigned to a rubbish bin in North Gardens, Brighton, in 1998. Becky Edmunds, a choreographer, was walking down the street with her friend Charlie who noticed a cardboard box with the journals. They whisked the journals out and ran off, with the bin truck approaching. If they had passed by a few minutes later, the journals would have been lost altogether. Since then, Becky has felt like she represented him, especially since Percival thought of himself as an ordinary man. She even managed to find his sister, who was very fond of him.

Sergeant John Phillips

He was born in Worcestershire, and lived in Hertforshire before moving to Hove in the 1930s. He found romance when he joined the Bishop Hannington Tennis Club where he met his future wife Kathleen, and they married in the 1940s – they went on to have four children.

During the Second World War he was serving as a sergeant in the RAF when he was sent to the Far East to fight the Japanese. Unfortunately, his ship was sunk off Java, and although some men managed to escape to Australia, others including Phillips, were taken prisoner by the Japanese. (It is astonishing to note that Phillips’ precious Log Book was sent back to him some twenty years later from Australia). Meanwhile, Phillips arrived in Japan, and ended up at Ikuno where there was a mine, after having been moved from camp to camp. It is amazing that he came out of the war without bearing any grudge against the Japanese people as so many other veterans did. Instead, he found that ordinary Japanese people were kind to them – it was the guards who were brutal. Some of Phillips’ friends were killed by the guards, and beatings were a regular occurrence. In 2006, at the age 89, Phillips returned to Japan in the company of other veterans. He visited his former camp, and the mine, and visited graves.

After the war, Phillips trained to be a teacher, and taught at primary schools in the Brighton and Hove area. He had a great interest in amateur dramatics, and enjoyed taking part in productions of the Bedford Players at Brighton. In quite a different field, he liked nothing better than a game of cricket, and played for Brighton & Hove’s second team – he only gave up the sport when his throwing arm refused to function properly. Phillips lived in Nevill Avenue and he died at the age of 97.

Captain Sharp in his Army uniform,

portrait taken by local photographer

Charles of Hove

Captain Frederick Cyril Sharp

There are no heroics here, just a simple tale of a Hove family during wartime conditions. Frederick Cyril Sharp was born in 1906 and was not called up immediately at the outbreak of war.

It was not because he was unfit because he had been a sporty youth who loved to go on mountain climbing holidays in Austria, Switzerland and the Pyrenees, besides playing badminton and tennis. It was rather the case that he was aged 33, a married man with two young children, who ran his own business in London. He was the third generation in the family wine merchant’s business of John Fenton & Son in Fenchurch Street, to which he would travel by train there and back every week day.

The Sharps lived in a flat at 81 The Drive (the house now demolished) which was most convenient for Hove Station. He would walk to the station resplendent in the full ‘city gent’ outfit complete with watch chain and bowler hat. Legend has it that the firm once supplied a case of wine to Winston Churchill.

This portrait, also taken by Charles of Hove, is of Jean Sharp and her

children. At her collar she is wearing a gold Royal Sussex Regiment brooch

When Sharp was called up, he served with the Royal Sussex Regiment, and was sent to France. He was not there long before he suffered a rupture. He used to joke that he tripped over a tent pole in the middle of the night, but another story relates he fell in a fox-hole. At any rate, the injury meant a return to England aboard a rather bumpy plane, followed by treatment in the hospital at the top of Elm Grove, Brighton, to which his family duly trekked. After that he was given the unglamorous task of serving in England at a prisoner-of-war camp for Italians.

While Sharp served in the Army, his wife Jean and the children, moved to live in Haywards Heath at the house of Jean’s father Alec Whitcher (one-time director and chairman of Brighton and Hove Albion). Jean was obliged to travel to London two or three times a week, and endeavour to carry on the family business as best she could; it did not help that one cellar was bombed. It is probable that Jean contracted her illness while travelling in crowded wartime trains. Be that as it may, but in 1950 she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She recovered eventually but was left with only one lung and an impaired constitution; she died at the early age of 42 in 1958. In a way it could be seen as collateral damage from the war.

A close-up of the brooch shown in the above family photograph. These regimental brooches were popular during the war and were often called ‘sweetheart brooches’

Captain Robert Taylor (1916–2002)

Although the activities of SOE agents in France are relatively well known, those operating in different theatres of war have escaped popular attention. One of these is the Italian Section. Brighton-born Taylor started off with service in the Royal Engineers from 1941 to 1943, becoming something of an expert in the design of bridges for military use, and he even helped with the design of the original Bailey Bridge. But then he felt called to take on a more active role and volunteered for the SOE. He was thought to be just the man to assist with partisan sabotage attempts in southern Europe. Following further training, Taylor was posted to SOE’s HQ near Bari in Italy in 1944. The winter conditions were very difficult with days of trekking through ice and snow – Taylor was fortunate in having his frozen foot properly treated by partisans who had served with the Alpini, the formidable Italian mountain troops.

Taylor’s superior was impressed and wrote that Taylor was ‘an outstanding worker, cheerful and competent, and inspires considerable confidence with all those with whom he comes in contact.’ Taylor continued to serve in various capacities in Italy until 1946. He was Mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Italian Partisan Medal. In 1948 Taylor returned to the Brighton area. The following year he married and the couple lived in Carden Avenue with their twin boys Rod and John. Later on they had a daughter named Diane, and by 1956 the family were living at 46 York Road, Hove, with Taylor making a daily train journey to work in London. In 1958 they moved away from Sussex. It is pleasant to record that Taylor did not forget his former comrade-in-arms – the Partisans in Italy, and he often returned for special events and re-unions, while the Alpini made him an honorary colonel.

Captain Errol Concannon Lloyd Turner DSO

He was born on 22 December 1900, and by 1917 he was a midshipman. But it is for his services during the Second World War that he is remembered today. By this time he was a seasoned mariner, and commanded at least two destroyers – HMS Active 1939-1941, and HMS Boadicea in 1941. In January 1944 Turner took part in Operation Shingle, which was the name of the allied amphibious landings at Anzio, and he was aboard HMS Glengyle (Landing Ship Infantry). The ships played their part well, landing some 36,000 soldiers besides all sorts of vehicles numbering 3,200. The same could not be said of those in command of the Army. Much more opposition to the beach landing had been expected, but there was only the occasional visit from the Luftwaffe. Instead of capitalizing on their element of surprise, the advantage was squandered by not pressing on to Rome immediately. Captain Turner was awarded the DSO for his part in Operation Shingle.

The next campaign that Turner took part in was Operation Brassard, the name for the invasion of Elba. The island was wrestled from German occupation and Turner was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d’Honneur. He left the Senior Service on 22 December 1945 with the rank of commander (rtd).

He lived in a house called Sunnybank in Hove Park Road.

Flying Officer William J. Tytherleigh DFC

This young man was part of 617 Squadron, and was only aged 21 when he took part in the famous Dambuster Raid on 16/17 May 1943. He was killed in action, buried in Germany, and awarded a posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross. His parents lived at 24 Hova Villas, and his name appears on the Shiverers War Memorial inside the lychgate at St Andrew’s Old Church, Hove.

In June 2000 it transpired that his name had been appropriated in such a convincing forgery that Richard Westwood-Brookes, document specialist at Dominic Winter Book Auctions, Swindon, thought it was the genuine article. The forger had been meticulous in his endeavour by ensuring he used a typewriter, paper, and ink of the correct period. The letter purported to be from Wing Commander Guy Gibson to the Tytherleigh family outlining the circumstances of their son’s death. The letter was printed in the Daily Telegraph, causing much excitement plus advanced bids for up to £6,000.

Fortunately, the letter was read by 77-year old Edith Widdowson of Halifax, Tytherleigh’s sister, who immediately pointed out that the address at the top of the letter – 4 Portslade Villas – did not exist, and that the family lived in Hova Villas. Then the experts noticed a spelling error. The letter stated that the captain of their son’s aircraft was Squadron Leader Maudesley when the correct spelling was Maudsley. Since the squadron leader was Gibson’s best friend, Gibson was unlikely to have made a mistake with his surname.

Captain Lionel Upton

He enjoyed a very long career in the Royal Navy, having been at sea since the age of fifteen, and not retiring until he was 60 in 1945. He thus served in both world wars, and was awarded a medal for bravery in the First World War, and had an impeccable Naval record.

The Second World War saw him in command of RMS Rangitane and he became very attached to her. She set sail from Auckland, New Zealand, in November 1940, and was so laden with vital food for Britain that it took three whole days to load it all on board; she was also carrying many passengers. The route was not new to Captain Upton, who in wartime conditions, had made five previous journeys from New Zealand without incident. However, this time it was to be different. It was as the Rangitane sailed through the South Pacific that she suffered an attack from two disguised German ships. The Rangitane caught fire, and sank, becoming one of the largest passenger ships to be lost in the war. Fortunately, most of the people were rescued, with the gallant captain overseeing the evacuation, and being one of the last to leave the stricken ship; as was to be expected from such a man, his behaviour was impeccable.

Captain Upton found himself aboard the Komet where he met Captain Eyssen. It is unusual to record that the two captains hit it off immediately, and looked upon themselves as ‘brothers of the sea’ rather than mortal enemies. Captain Eyssen continued with his humane attitude and even went so far as to deviate off course by a 1,000 miles in order to drop the survivors off at the nearest British island, where they were released instead of being held as prisoners of war. Needless to say, not all German sea captains were cut from the same cloth. The erstwhile passengers only had to wait for two days before being rescued. All the same, many of them found it rather worrying that the German vessels seemed to know exactly whereabouts the Rangitane was to be found – could there have been secret intelligence from New Zealand?

Of course there had to be an official inquiry into the loss of the ship, and Captain Upton duly gave evidence in 1941. He was treated with respect, and released later that year. He returned to his home in Carlisle Road, and did a daily commute to undertake the inspection of equipment aboard HMS President, moored in the Thames.

It is interesting to note the reason for the ship’s unusual name. It was because the Ragitane and her sister ships, Ragitiki and Ragitata were built specifically to sail on the New Zealand run, and consequently were named after the Rangitata River (a Maori word) in New Zealand’s South Island. They were built at Clydebank in the late 1920s by the famous firm of John Brown and Company. The ships were innovative vessels, being powered by twin Sulzer diesel engines.

The Ragitane had a regrettably short life, being launched on 27 May 1929 and sunk on 27 November 1940 by German ships Komet and Orion. The British ship had only left Auckland three days previously, carrying a complement of 111 passengers and 201 crew. As a result of the attack, seven passengers and eight crew members were killed.

Harry Watson

In March 2013 the Argus reported that at last, Harry Watson, aged 89 of St Aubyns Mansions, would receive the new medal – the Arctic Star – to add to his other war medals. This was the result of a long-fought campaign for official recognition of the part played by the Arctic Convoys that took vital supplies to Russia during the Second World War as part of Operation Dervish – an experience often described as the ‘worst journey in the world’. The Arctic veterans felt they had been neglected, or worse still, forgotten about, for too many years – now their service was being recognised.

Harry Watson had personal experience of the convoys, having joined the Royal Navy at the age seventeen. He served as a radio operator aboard HMS Pursuer, an aircraft carrier – not only did the men have to cope with freezing conditions and rough seas, they also had to be aware of being stalked by German U-boats. Mr Watson maintained that the real heroes were the pilots, and whenever they were sent out on a mission, they never all returned safely to the mother ship. In addition, it was no easy task trying to land on a deck in heaving seas – should they over-shoot the runaway, the pilot would not last long in Arctic waters. It is stated that 3,000 men perished during the Arctic convoys.

Wing Commander Edgar Watts

His only son always thought it somewhat strange that although his father had such a long and distinguished career as an engineer in the RAF, he also loved the sea, being a strong swimmer, as well as a keen boatman – he taught his son to swim and made him a canoe when he was a boy. It was in order to be near the sea that they moved to Sussex in the first place. The keen engineer also loved roses, and in his garden at Derek Avenue he was proud to display no less than 81 different varieties. Watts was just a lowly apprentice when he joined the RAF in 1925. He flew as an air gunner in Iraq six years later. He became a pilot officer in 1940 and was a squadron-leader by 1944. By the time he retired from the RAF in 1964, he had been awarded the MBE and six medals. His chief claim to fame is that he was involved in the invention of the jet engine, having worked closely with Sir Frank Whittle.

Watts married Gwendelyne in 1938 and the couple celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1988, but unhappily she died the same year. Watts then plunged into matrimony again at the age of 96 and married Brenda at Hove Town Hall. Watts died on 3 November 2007 at the age of 98.

Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Corton de Wiart (1880-1963)

copyright © National Portrait Gallery, London
Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart (1880-1963)
by Sir William Orpen, oil on canvas, 1919, NPG 4651

His sojourn in Hove was of a short duration but he is such an extraordinary character that it is worth mentioning his later exploit in this section. It was in around 1917 that he took up residence at Hove Manor when he already held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel – his regiment, the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, being stationed at Preston Barracks. His years of service were impressive – starting off with the Boer War he served from 1899 to 1923, and from 1939 to 1947. He ended his career covered in injuries and scars, as well as a whole swathe of decorations. In fact he was known as the soldier who could not be killed. He wore a black eye-patch over an empty eye socket, he had injuries to his hip, ankle, leg and stomach, and when the surgeon refused to amputate two mutilated fingers, he tore them off himself. His decorations and awards included the KBE, CB, CMG, and DSO, but the most distinguished was of course his Victoria Cross. However, so modest was he, that when writing his memoirs he neglected to mention it.

In the Second World War the castle of Vincigliata was Musslini’s answer to Colditz. In other words, it was an old fortress that was home to British high-ranking military prisoners of war, and when de Wiart was there the roll-call was four generals, six brigadiers, three colonels, and one Air Vice-Marshall. The Italian commandant told de Wiart that his war was over, well, he was aged 63, but the Italian underestimated his man. Naturally, there were escape attempts. Two of them failed, but then de Wiart pointed out that the chapel floor might be a good place to start a tunnel, especially since it was on the ground floor of the keep. Even so, it was estimated that it would require digging through some 35-ft of clay and rock. The break-through came on 29 March 1943, and de Wiart and General Sir Deck O’Connor took off together, posing as Austrian hikers. Astonishingly, they managed to cover some 150 miles towards the Swiss border in eight days, sleeping in barns, and scrambling up and down ravines, before being re-captured. Others went to Milan before being caught, and only two men got clean away. One later later shot himself, while Brigadier Hargest was killed in Normandy in August 1944 by a German shell.

Colonel Lionel Wigram (1907-1943)

It is said that his father resided in Brunswick Terrace, Hove, for many years, and that if Lionel Wigram had lived long enough ‘he would have become one of the outstanding members of British Jewry’. As it is, although he was killed in action when he was only 36, his name is highly regarded today, and not just in England. A rather telling accolade was that he was described as Britain’s greatest amateur soldier, having joined the Territorial Army in 1936. But this gave him the advantage of being able to think outside the box, while he also had the knowledge from a successful career as a lawyer and businessman. He had good organising skills and after Dunkirk was given the task of seeing to the evacuation of children from the south coast towns. It was a fortunate posting because it brought him into contact with General Paget who had managed to acquire a German military training manual. It made the two of them realize that square bashing was no preparation for modern warfare. Wigram succeeded in persuading General Paget to allow him to set up the very first British Army School at Chelwood Gate, which proved so successful that another one at Barnard Castle in Cumberland soon followed.

By 1944 Wigram was in Italy, where he soon found himself in sympathy with Italian patriots who wanted to fight the Germans. On 2 February 1944 Wigram lead a force of Partisans against a German observation point on a mountainside at Pizzoforato in the Abruzzi district. It was a total disaster that Wigram was killed in action early on, and his unfortunate comrades were obliged to take refuge in a nearby chapel. When they surrendered, the Germans took them outside and shot them all. Wigram is greatly respected in that part of Italy to this day, and indeed when a special museum was set up to remember the Partisans who were killed on the same day, they named it the Colonel Wigram Museum. In 1988, a charity, the Lionel Wigram Memorial Trust, was set up.

Albert ‘Bertie’ Henry Woolcock

In the list of the fallen at the former Brighton, Hove, & Sussex Grammar School’s War Memorial a simple inscription reads Woolcock, A. H. Flying Officer RAF missing believed killed 1940.

Bertie Woolcock was a man who loved his sport, and his prowess was not confined to football because he was also a good cricketer. Bertie must have gone on to Cambridge University because he played football for their team, as well as being in their cricket team. He played as an amateur for Arsenal, as well as for Brighton & Hove Albion. Bertie was a goalkeeper, and he also played for Corinthian FC and Casuals FC, and when the two merged to become the Corinthian-Casuals in 1939, he played in their first match. He put in over 40 appearances with these clubs, with whom it was an honour to be on the field because you certainly did not receive any pay. Bertie became an England Amateur International, and enjoyed tours to Australia and New Zealand. Back home in Sussex he liked to play cricket for the Mid-Sussex XI.

Bertie must have had some good intellectual skills and although he was in the RAF, he was definitely not any old officer because he was a member of the secret GHQ Liaison Regiment, not surprisingly known as the Phantoms. Whatever his mission had been, in May 1940 Bertie found himself stranded in the Dunkirk area, and encircled by German troops. He joined a hotchpotch of people anxious to return to England, including military and RAF personnel, Belgian soldiers, German Prisoners of War, some school-girls, and a party of nuns from Bruges who all boarded SS Abukir. This vessel was British-built, and was launched in 1920 as the Island Queen. In 1934 she became the Kyle Queen, while in 1935, having been registered in Egypt, she acquired the name Abukir. Seeing that Bertie’s surname was Woolcock, it is somewhat ironic that Captain Rowland Morris-Woolfenden was in charge of the Abukir.

Abukir survived bombing from the Luftwaffe but on 27 May 1940 she fell victim to a torpedo despatched by E-boat S-34 – the first allied vessel to be sunk by an E-boat. The gallant captain was well aware of the submarine and had been zig-zagging to try and avoid torpedoes. The ship soon sunk but there were survivors swimming in the sea, whereupon E-34 switched on its search-light and machine-gunned them. In the confusion, it was difficult to work out the exact number of survivors, and it has been variously stated to be between 26 and 33, including two nuns and the captain, with around 480 people killed. (Information about Bertie kindly supplied by L. Walker).

Sources

Argus (19/1/07 / 14/11/07 / 22/1/11 / 23/9/11 / 3/11/12 / 7/6/14 / 9/6/14 / 28/4/17 / 7/5/20)
Bell, T. The Rangitane Riddle
Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries
Felton, M. Castle of the Eagles: Escape from Mussolini’s Colditz (2017)
McCue, P. Brighton’s Secret Agents (2016)
Mail on Sunday (8/6/14)
Parker, T. Signalman Jones
Royal Pavilion & Museums Brighton & Hove
Sugarman, M. Lieutenant Marcus Bloom: A Jewish Hero of the SOE (2004) Jewish Historical Society volume 39

page layout by D.Sharp

08 September 2020

Hove Heroes in the Second World War