Air Training Corps take part in Cross Country Run A.T.C. in Hard Test Forty-two members of the Bromley Squadron of the Air Training Corps took part in a cross-country run at Hayes [Bromley] on Sunday morning. It was organised by Flying Officer W.M. Ogden, who is in charge of the sports side. The course was a four-mile one, starting from the top of Station Hill by the fountain, then going across the Common to Croydon Road. along to the Fox at Keston and Leafy Grove then down the hill to…
Tag: WW2
Mr David Waite in Singapore
Missing in Singapore David Stanley Waite was the son of Harold & Margaret Waite of 22 Woodlands Way, West Wickham. He married Margaret Greenhalgh in Bromley in 1934. After studying at the London University School of Journalism, he worked for several years in Fleet Street, and was for some years on the staff at the Kentish Times. In 1935 David left England for Japan where he joined the Straits Times as a sub-editor. He was then only 25 years old. He wife Margaret, joined him in Singapore and they had…
Night’s Heavy Blitz – April 1941
Night’s Heavy Blitz – April 1941 This report describes the aftermath of a heavy night of bombing on the town of Bromley in Kent on 16th April 1941. Due to government censorship of newspapers at the time, no exact location is given, other than a South-East residential location, but we now know this location to be Bromley, St Peter’s and St Pauls’ as the parish church which was destroyed, and the furniture depository being Dunn’s of Bromley which was located on Market Square. Heavy Bombs and Incendiaries in a residential…
Prisoners of Singapore (WW2)
Singapore Prisoners of War During World War II, following the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, the Japanese military held some 50,000 Allied Soldiers, predominantly British and Australian in a Prisoner of War camp in the Changi area. During the first few months there was little news, then came the reports of the missing. Finally, after months came reports of men being held as prisoners of war. Personally I found it very upsetting. The first reports came sometimes over a radio broadcast or in the form of a postcard. In…
Arthur James Smith
Presumed Killed Lieutenant A.J. Smith In June 1940, Mrs Smith, 58 Freeland Road, Bromley, received news that her husband, Lieutenant A.J. Smith, The Buffs, was missing, believed killed. He was serving in France in May of that year, and when last seen was wounded. A communication has now been received by Mrs Smith stating that her husband is presumed to have been killed in action in May 1940. Lieutenant Smith, the son of Mr. W. Smith, 28 north Road, Bromley, served in the last warm and was wounded. In 9123…
Stephen J. Masters
Missing Lieutenant S.J. Masters, Chislehurst Mr and Mrs C. Masters, of Ridgemount, Leesons, Chislehurst, have been informed by the War Office that their son, Lieutenant Stephen J. Masters, The Suffolk Regiment, was serving in Malaya up to the date when Singapore capitulated, and is posted as missing until some definite information is received. It is hoped that he may be a prisoner of war. Lieutenant Masters was educated at Eltham College, where he was a good all-round sportsman. On leaving school he joined the Royal Exchange Assurance. He enlisted in…
Bert Whitehead
Prisoner of War Private Bert Whitehead Private Bert Whitehead, son of Mr and Mrs J. Whitehead, 13 Holbrook Way, Bromley, is a prisoner of war in Germany at Stalag XXB 34. He is 23 years of age, and has had three birthdays away from home. His parents hear from him regularly, and he appears to be well and cheerful. Born in Bromley, Private Whitehead was educated at Bromley Common (Holy Trinity) School, when Mr E.C. De’Ath (now a member of the Town Council) was head master, and afterwards at Raglan…
Mrs Fraser-Harris joins Munition Making at 62
62 year old lady proves she’s just as capable as her younger counterparts Munition Making at 62 Lady Workers’ 10 Hours a Day At a local factory engaged on Government work, a well educated and widely travelled lady of 62 has, for the last five months, been working from eight in the morning until a quarter to seven at night on a drilling machine. She is Mrs Eleanor Fraser-Harris, who has left her charming home in Maresfield, Sussex, in order that she may live near near work. In an interview…
Driver A.E. Stagg
Prisoner of War at Stalag, Germany Driver A. E. Stagg Mr and Mrs Stagg, of 23 Pope Road, Bromley, have received news that their son, Driver Albert Edward Stagg, aged 22, of the R.A.S.C. is a prisoner of war at Stalag VIIIB, in Germany, where many other of our local lads are confined. Driver Stagg is an old boy of Raglan Road school and before the war he was employed in the outfitting department of the South Suburban Co-Operative at Chatterton Road, Bromley and later at Sevenoaks. He was called…
Girls Being Called for Service
Bromley’s W.R.N.S. Cadets Young girls who are approaching the age when they will be called for the Service, and whose preference is given to the W.R.N.S., have formed themselves into the Girls’ Naval Training Corps., with headquarters at Bromley. Their uniform is a white blouse and dark skirt and a “Chic” sailor’s hat, and on parade they are a smart little group. The corps gives them the rudiments of the training required to fit them out as Wrens, under the supervision of Commander C.L.A. Woollard, R.N. Picture shows a smart…