Armed Forces Casualties

 

          Many different units were stationed in or around Filey throughout the war, and most at some point or other lost men through accidents or illness.  Filey was also still a place to holiday or convalesce, and a few casualties also fall into this category.  The first casualty recorded is also the only official civilian casualty – the Home Guard was effectively pseudo-military and not officially recognized by the war graves commission or Armed Services record officers.

 

Private Robert Batley – 349^th Battery, Home Guard

          Details surrounding this man are sparse at best, as the Home Guard has no official archives or records like the Army.  Robert died on the night of Monday 29^th September 1941 in ‘Concrete Pillbox no. 7, Primrose Valley’.  The coroner recorded that he had died of ‘a gunshot wound to the head’; whether this was self-inflicted is not mentioned. 

          The Home Guard were responsible for monitoring the British coast for any threat of invasion during the course of WWII and was made up of local men who were not actively serving.  There were concrete pillboxes and bunkers up and down the coastline which had to be manned nightly by the Home Guard; many of these are still there today as you walk around Filey Bay.

 

Polish Servicemen

          Throughout the Second World War servicemen of many different nations fought alongside Britain, including those of France, Poland and many other Axis occupied countries.  The Polish forces had a small contingent based in Pickering throughout the war, and three N.C.O.’s (non-commissioned officers) were sent to one of the training bases around Filey to deactivate some form of explosive device on Tuesday 5^th June 1944.  All three were killed in this explosion and laid to rest in St. Oswald’s Churchyard, next to the crew of the Wellington bomber that had crashed two years previously.  The three men of the Polish Forces were:

Edmund Berych (Sierz. / Sergeant) – Aged 31

Geslaw Grochowski (Korporal / Corporal) – Aged 41.

Adam Michalik (Sapper) – Aged 23.

 

Stanley Idris Mick Bennett (Private) – Aged 32

          Killed in the same accidental explosion as R.A.F. serviceman William Crudge on 16^th April 1941, Stanley belonged to the 6^th Battalion, Kings Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) and was originally from Harrow, Middlesex.  He was the son of Thomas and Mary Bennett.

          After his death Stanley was laid to rest in St. Oswald’s.

 

Alfred Best (Private)

          One of two suicides to occur in the Filey area during the war, Alfred took his life in No. 5 Concrete Pillbox, Military Post on Filey beach on the night of Sunday 23^rd February 1941.  The coroner recorded that he died of a ‘self inflicted rifle bullet wound to the head’.  Alfred had belonged to the 11^th Battalion, York & Lancaster Regiment who were engaged, along with the Home Guard, in the task of guarding the stretch of coastline around Filey and Flamborough.  He was buried in Crook and Willington Cemetery.

 

David Livingstone Cowling (Corporal) – Aged 28

          David died in tragic circumstances whilst home on leave.  He had served in the Armed Forces since before Dunkirk in 1940 and fought in most of the major campaigns throughout the war.  On the evening of Sunday 28^th April 1946 he and a friend were driving over to nearby Bridlington when they were involved in a serious crash; David’s friend survived with minor wounds but David died at the scene of the accident.  He was buried in a non-military grave in St. Oswald’s churchyard a week later.  David was the son of Thomas and Betsy Cowling of Filey.

 

Frank Hutton (Craftsman)

          The second of two suicides during the war, Frank died after ‘taking his life while the balance of his mind was disturbed’ (Filey coroner’s report).  He was on leave in Filey at the time and staying in a flat at 11, The Crescent when he suffocated from coal gas poisoning.

          This was on the afternoon of 22^nd August 1943, and Frank was a member of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (R.E.M.E.) serving in nearby York.  He was interred in Fulford Cemetery on the outskirts of the city a few days later.

 

 

Albert Alfred Izaby (Private) – Aged 34

          The third man to die in the accidental explosion at R.A.F. Hunmanby Moor on 16^th April 1941, Albert was another member of the 6^th Kings Own Royal Regiment.  He was repatriated to his home village of High Halstow near Gravesend where his parents Mark and Emma Izaby lived.

 

 

William Isaac David Jarvis (Private)

          The only casualty to die whilst recuperating in Filey, William died on Thursday 24^th October 1940 at the Ackworth Hotel on Filey Promenade.  The coroner recorded that the cause of his death was due to a rifle bullet wound to the head, but not a recently self inflicted one.  It is most likely that these wounds were received shortly before or around the time of the Dunkirk evacuations, as these were only three months earlier.

          William was buried in St. Oswald’s churchyard in a military grave showing the regimental crest of his unit, the Royal Berkshire Regiment (he belonged to the 1^st Battalion).

 

Percy George Meadmore (Captain) – Aged 40

          A Captain of the 5^th Battalion, Shropshire Light Infantry, Percy died as a result of a hand grenade explosion on the base at R.A.F. Primrose Valley on Sunday 10^th May 1942.  This was during a hand grenade training demonstration where Percy was showing a group of new recruits how to use grenades in combat.

          Percy was the husband of Daisy and the son of William and Jane Meadmore of Hertfordshire.  He was buried in Kilpeck (St. Mary & David) Cemetery, Hertfordshire.

 

 

14^th Bomb Disposal Company, Royal Engineers

          Two men died whilst attempting to diffuse some explosives at the R.A.F. Hunmanby Moor base on Thursday 2^nd August 1945.  They were:

Francis Julius Cooper (Sapper) – Aged 41.  The husband of Alice and the son of Francis and Mary Cooper of Dudley, Worcestershire.  He was buried in Netherton (St. Andrew’s) Churchyard, Worcestershire.

John Edwards (Lance Sergeant) – Originally from Liverpool, John was buried in Liverpool (Anfield) Cemetery