George Reginald Pierce George Reginald Pierce was Second Engineer on the merchant vessel SS Oriole, a steamer ship. On Friday 29th January 1915, the vessel set sail from its home port of London, en route to Le Havre in France, but it never arrived. It was last seen off the coast of Dungeness on 30th January, and a few days later two of its lifebuoys washed up on the Sussex coast. It’s not definitively known what happened, but it is thought that the Oriole was sunk by a German submarine…
Tag: Chislehurst
Charles Edward Kennard
Charles Edward Kennard Lance Corporal Charles Edward Kennard, was the only son of Richard and Eleanor Kennard of 34 Whitehorse Hill, Chislehurst. He had joined the Army on his eighteenth birthday in April, 1918. He served with the 51st Battalion in the Bedfordshire Regiment during World War I. He had served with the Army of Occupation in Germany and had been home on leave. Returning to Ripon Camp on 12th September, he was taken ill a week or more later. He passed away before his family could arrive. He died on…
Jack Townley Dunmore
Jack Townley Dunmore Flight Sergeant Jack Townley Dunmore served with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. He was the son of Frederick Townley Dunmore and Edith Dunmore, and husband of Gladys Muriel Dunmore, of Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey. Died 17 May 1941, aged 24 years old. He is commemorated at the Annunciation churchyard in Chislehurst, Kent. Source: CWGC entry – Service Number: 741448 Photo credit: Simone Harris, 28th November 2022
Gilbert Frank Coffin
Gilbert Frank Coffin Gilbert Coffin was a 1st Air Mechanic with the Royal Air Force, and served during World War 1. He was the fourth son of William Coffin of Chislehurst. His brother (the 3rd son) was killed in France on 4th October, 1917. His two other brothers were also serving during the war. Prior to the battle, he served in the City Police Force. He enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915, and was soon on active service around the Belgian coast. He spent nearly 2 years…
James Urquhart
James Urquhart Corporal James Urquhart, the husband of Hettie Urquhart of Chislehurst, served with the Royal Air Force during World War two. He died on the 22nd August 1942, aged 42. He is buried at The Annunciation Church in Chislehurst Source: CWGC entry – Service Number: 357294 Photo credit: Simone Harris, 28th November 2022
Frank Leonard Rollison
Frank Leonard Rollison Frank Leonard Rollison of Albany Road, Chislehurst was the son of Mrs RE Rollison and the youngest of five sons. He attended the Wesleyan School. He was a keen golfer and a green-keeper of Chislehurst Golf Club, as well as a member of Chislehurst Old Boy’s Football Club and the Chislehurst Artisans’ Golf Club. He had volunteered before the outbreak of war in 1939. He served with the Royal Air Force and worked on the balloon barrage until he was invalided out of the Service a year…
Albert Victor Waldock
Arthur Victor Waldock Private Arthur Victor Waldock served with the 2nd London Regiment during World War 1. He had only been married to his wife, Miss Violet Knight, for 19 months before he was seriously wounded in action on 16th August 1917. He returned to England and was treated at King George’s Hospital in London, but died on the 5th September. He was buried in the Annunciation Churchyard on Saturday 8th September, 1917 Source: Bromley & District Times, 28th September 1917 (page 5) – photo Photo credit: Simone Harris, 28th…
Thomas Holloway
Sergeant Thomas Holloway Chislehurst Sergeant’s Letter Sergeant Thomas Holloway, R.A.F., of 11 Church row, Chislehurst, who has been a prisoner of war in Germany since May 1940, has written home to his mother in Chislehurst giving of how he and his new found friends spent Christmas Day in a German prison camp. In his letter he said that they had a grand time on Christmas Eve decorating their hut and setting up a fine Christmas tree adorned with fairy lights, tinsel, and the usual decorations. About 250 communicants attended a…
Captain Quentin B. Hurst: Killed in Action
Captain Quentin Hurst, the Rifle Brigade, previously reported as missing, is now known to have been killed in action on April 7, 1941. The only son of Judge and Lady Hurst, he was born in Manchester (which his father represented in Parliament for 16 years) in 1912 and educated at Marlborough. He follows in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather, Sir Alfred Hopkinson, by winning a scholarship at Lincoln College, Oxford. In 1932 he gained the Stanhope Historical Essay Prizes; in 1933 a first in history; in 1934 a second…
Flying Officer Eric Charles Whitehead
Flying Officer Eric Charles Whitehead was the son of William and Selina Whitehead of Bromley, Kent, and the husband of Cynthia Eva Beatrice Whitehead, of Chislehurst, Kent. He died on the 17th July 1941 and is commemorated at Escoublac-la-Baule war cemetery in France. Information has just been received by his relatives in Bromley from the Air Ministry that Flying-Officer Eric Charles Whitehead has been reported as missing after being out on operations with his squadron a few days ago. here is a possibility, however, that news of him may yet…