THE FALLEN OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
PRIVATE CHARLES FREDERICK CANNING
He was the son of Fred and Sophia Canning, of Southcombe, Chipping Norton, where his father was a blacksmith.
He enlisted into the Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars in early 1915 and joined the 1/1st in France on 14th December 1915. As part of the 2nd Cavalry Division they were held in reserve throughout 1916. Between 9th and 11th April 1917 they took part in the First Battle of the Scarpe, a phase of the Battle of Arras. On 20th November they were in support of the tank attack at the Battle of Cambrai, waiting to exploit gaps and sweep round Cambrai. They went on to fight in Bourlon Wood where they experienced close hand vicious fighting before being driven back by concentrated artillery fire. On 30th November the Germans counter attacked the salient the British had seized. Private Charles Canning was wounded by a gun shot wound to his left femur on 2nd December during this attack. He was evacuated from the field to hospital in Etaples, where he died of wounds on 11th December 1917. He was aged 20 and is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery.
PRIVATE CHARLES BERTRAM FOWLER
He was the son of Charles and Louisa Fowler of Gas Cottages, Heythrop and had worked as a farm hand, his younger brother was killed in 1918, (below).
He enlisted into The Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars in early 1915 and joined "D" Squadron of the 1/1st in France on 26th October 1915. On 1st December 1915 he was hospitalized for 5 days with scabies and diphtheria in 7th General Hospital in Etaples. As part of the 2nd Cavalry Division the QOOH were held in reserve throughout 1916. Between 9th and 11th April 1917 they took part in the First Battle of the Scarpe, a phase of the Battle of Arras. On 20th November they were in support of the tank attack at the Battle of Cambrai, waiting to exploit gaps and sweep round Cambrai. They went on to fight in Bourlon Wood and against the German counter attack. In 1918 thy defended against the German Spring Offensive in the Battles Of St St Quentin and the First and Second Battles of the Somme. They then took part in various phases of the Battle of the Hindenburg line and pursued the Germans to the Selle.
Private Charles Fowler was killed in action on 24th October 1918 during the Battle of the Sambre, part of the final advance into Picardy, when "D" Squadron had sent patrols forward from Escarmain to Ruesnes, where they met heavy machine-gun fire. He was aged 22 and is buried in Romieres Communal Extension
GUNNER HAROLD ROBERT FOWLER
He was the son of Charles and Louisa Fowler of Gas Cottages, Heythrop, his older brother was killed in 1918, (above). He was serving as a Gunner in "D" Battery, 282nd Brigade, The Royal Field Artillery when he was accidentally killed on 2nd December 1918. He was aged 21 and is buried in Bougnies Communal Cemetery in Belgium.
CORPORAL WILFRED FRANK GUNTRIPP
He was the son of William and Jane Guntripp of Checkley, Staffordshire and had worked as a farm labourer. He was an estate worker in Heythrop before the war.
He enlisted into the 9th (Service) Battalion, The Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire (Sherwood Foresters) Regiment in Derby on 19th August 1914. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on 16th April 1915. He embarked at Liverpool in July 1915 and landed at Suvla Bay on 7th August 1915. On 10th August he was wounded in action with a gun shot wound to the left arm, causing a compound fracture to his left humerus. He was treated in the 14th Casualty Clearing Station before being invalided home on 4th September 1915, and treated in 2nd Western General Hospital in Manchester.
He returned to his Battalion at the end of 1915, now based at Murdos on the Greek island of Lemnos. It was here he was deprived of his Lance Corporal's stripe on 8th January 1916, for neglect of duty whilst in charge of a tent. On 3rd March he was transferred to the 33rd Battalion, The Machine Gun Company in Sidi Bishr, Alexandria as part of the 11th (Northern) Division. The Division received orders to proceed to France and on 28th June 1916 he embarked on HM Troopship Minnewaska, arriving in Marseilles on 8th July 1916. They took part in The Battle of Flers-Courcelette and The Battle of Thiepval, actions of the Battle of the Somme. Operations continued in the Ancre area into 1917 and Private Guntripp was wounded in action by gun shot wounds to the left leg, on 20th January 1917. He was evacuated to 11th Casualty Clearing Station then to hospital in Le Tourquet. On 31st January he was invalided back to England on HM Hospital Ship Brighton below.
He was treated in Fort Pitt military hospital in Chatham until 20th March 1917. He was posted back to France on 13th September, joining the 61st Battalion, The Machine Gun company (Infantry) on 16th September. He saw action in the Third Battle of Ypres, being promoted to Corporal during the battle. On 21st March 1918 his company was manning positions in front of the old Somme battlefields when they were attacked by overwhelming numbers of the enemy. This was the beginning of the German Spring Offensive. Bolstered by troops freed up from the Eastern Front by the surrender of Russia, this was an attempt by the Germans to win the war before the Americans arrived in numbers. The were forced to fall back, suffering heavy casualties.
Corporal Wilfred Guntripp was reported as missing presumed to have been killed in action during the Battle of St Quentin on 21st March 1918. He was aged 23 and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial for those with no known grave.
PEIVATE GEORGE THOMAS HARRIS
He was the son of Richard and Mary Arm Harris, of South Newington and had worked as a carter on a farm before the war.
He joined the 1st Battalion, Princess Charlotte of Wales Royal Berkshire Regiment in France on 10th July 1915. On 25th September 1915 the Battalion were manning support trenches at Cuinchy on the first day of the Battle of Loos. Gas cylinders were opened at 0550 all along the front line but a change in wind direction sent it back on the British lines. The 2nd Staffs and 1st Kings attacked along La Bassee railway line, but the assault failed, and they were forced back. The Royal Berkshires relieved them and did sterling work recovering the wounded from no man's land. Private Harris was wounded at this time and died in No 6 Field Ambulance based in Fouquieres on 28th September 1915. He was aged 18 and is buried in Fouquieres Churchyard Extension.
PRIVATE ERNEST HENRY LAYCOCK
He was the son of John and Frances Laycock and was born in Peckham in London. In 1909 he married Alice Morey in Peckham and worked as bottler in a distillery. He had enlisted into the London Regiment before joining the 5th Battalion, The Machine Gun Corps. He was wounded in action during the Second Battle of Bapaume and died as a result on 14th September 1918 in the 15th Field Ambulance. He was aged 18and was originally buried in Ytres Churchyard bur re-interred in Serre Road Cemetery No 2. in 1920.
PRIVATE HAYLOCK ETHER OWEN
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He was born in September 1896, the son of Frederick Owen, a farm, labourer and Louisa Owen of Chalford Cottages, Southcombe, Chipping Norton. He had worked as a farm labourer before enlisting.
He enlisted into the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars as a Private in Birmingham in 1916. The Hussars had seen action in the Battle of the Somme in 1916.They returned to the Somme area in March 1917 to clear the small pockets of machine guns left by the retreating Germans. They took part in what would be the Regiment's last mounted charge at Villers-Faucon when, supported by a howitzer battery and two armoured cars, attacked a heavily defended German positions. In March 1918 they were transferred to the 9th Cavalry Brigade, the 9th Cavalry Division. The Germans began to collapse soon after the allies began their final offensive in August, the 8th fighting at St Quentin and Beaurevoir. On 9th August 1918 they were in the French village of Caix. At 1100 they would ordered to follow the infantry up on an attack to retake Rosieres, captured in the Spring German Offensive in March. Private Haylock Owen was killed in action, one of two men killed in the attack, on 9th August 1918. He was aged 21 and is buried in the Rosieres Communal Cemetery.
PRIVATE FREDERICK JOHN TOVEY
He was the son of John and Jane Tovey of Walk Cottages, Heythrop and worked as a farm labourer before enlisting.
He joined the 1st Battalion, The Coldstream Guards underage at 15, in January 1914 and arrived with his Battalion in France on 1st November 1914. They took part in winter operations against German positions in the Ypres area between 1914 and 1915. Private Tovey was killed in action on 25th January 1915. He was aged 16 and is commemorated on Le Touret Memorial for those with no known grave.
PRIVATE ARTHUR WILLIAM WEST
He was the son of William and Ellen West, of Heythrop and had worked as a labourer before the war.
He enlisted into "A" Company the 1/4th Battalion, The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) Territorial Battalion which arrived in France on 14th April 1915, under the orders of the 49th (West Riding) Division. They saw action in various phases of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. On 9th October 1917 the Battalion was engaged in an attack made by II Anzac Corps on the Passchendaele Ridge, as part of the Battle of Poelcapelle, a phase of the Third Ypres. Kept in reserve in the morning they went forward to reinforce elements of the West Yorkshire Regiment at 1100. Passing through men of 47th Brigade they occupied and consolidated captured trenches and held then until relived the following day by 3rd New Zealand Brigade. Private Arthur West was on of 8 men in his company killed in action he was killed in action during the Third Battle of Ypres, on 9th October 1917, cut down by machine gun fire during the advance. He was aged 24 and was initially buried on the battlefield but re-interred in Dochy Farm New British Cemetery in Belgium.
THE FALLEN OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
SUB-LIEUTRNANT DAVID RICHARD LEE BEVAN
He was the son of Captain Robert Hesketh Bevan and Margaret Frances Bevan, of Heythrop. His father had a distinguished naval career serving at the Battle of Jutland in World War One and commanding the Royal New Zealand Navy cruiser Leander in World War Two, see below.
David Bevan was serving aboard HMS Neptune, another Leander class light cruiser, (below).
In December 1939, several months after war was declared, Neptune was patrolling in the South Atlantic in pursuit of German surface raider the Admiral Graf Spee. Neptune, with other patrolling Royal Navy heavy units, was sent to Uruguay in the aftermath of the Battle of the River Plate, but she was still in transit when the Germans scuttled Graf Spee on 17th December. Neptune was the first British ship to spot the Italian Fleet in the Battale of Calabria on 9th July 1940. During the subsequent engagement, she was hit by the Italian light cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi damaging her float plane beyond repair, its wreckage being thrown into the sea. Minutes later her main guns struck the heavy cruise Bolanza three times, inflicting some damage on her.
During 1941, she led Force K, a raiding squadron of cruisers. Their task was to intercept and destroy German and Italian convoys en route to Libya. Force K was sent out on 18th December 1941, to intercept a convoy bound for Tripoli. On the night of 19th/20th December, Neptune, leading the line, struck two mines, part of a newly laid Italian minefield. The first struck the anti-mine screen, causing no damage. The second struck the bow hull. The other cruisers present, Aurora and Penelope also struck mines. While reversing out of the minefield, Neptune struck a third mine, which took off her propellers and left her dead in the water. Aurora was unable to render assistance as she was already down to 10 knots and needed to turn back to Malta. Penelope was also unable to assist. The destroyers Kandahar and Lively were sent into the minefield to attempt a tow. The former struck a mine and began drifting. Neptune then signalled for Lively to keep clear. Neptune hit a fourth mine and quickly capsized, killing 737 crew members. The other 30 initially survived the sinking but they too died. As a result, only one was still alive when their float was recovered later by an Italian torpedo boat.
Sub-Lieutenant died on 19th December 1941. He was aged 2o and is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial for those lost at sea.
SERGEANT NICHOLAS JOHN STOCKFORD
Nicholas John Stockford was born in Steeple Barton in March 1922, to parents George and Elizabeth Stockford, who ran a grocery shop in the village. He attended Chipping Norton County School between 1933 and 1938 and joined the RAF as an engineering apprentice on leaving school aged 16. Between October 1940 and October 1943 he served in South Africa as an engine fitter, returning to England to train for flying duties and was posted to 207 Squadron as a Flight Engineer, with the rank of Sergeant.
On the night of 3rd May 1944 he took off aboard Lancaster EM-F ND556 of 207 Squadron, at 2205. The target was a massive German military camp situated near the village of Mailly-le-Camp that consisted of 20,000 troops and a Panzer Division of tanks. Nineteen squadrons of Lancaster bombers were involved, 346 aeroplanes in total, plus 14 Mosquitos, dropping a total of 1,500 tons of bombs and causing considerable damage to enemy weapons and equipment and virtually wiping out the entire Panzer division. Although the target was accurately marked, communication difficulties led to a delay in the main force attack, during which Luftwaffe fighters intercepted the force and claimed 42 Lancasters (11.6% of the total force). Three hundred personnel were either killed or reported as missing. ND556 was attacked by German Focke-Wulf 190 night fighters, evading one but falling to a second, the dinghy hatch was blown off, the bomb bay was hit and a fire started. The stricken Lancaster crashed at Chaintreaux in Seine-et-Marne, the pilot Flight Sergeant Leslie Lissette RNZAF remained at the controls, allowing the rest of the crew to bale out. He was critically injured and died in a French hospital. He shares a grave in Chaintreaux with the rear gunner Sergeant Ronald Ellis, who lived in Duns Tew.
The crew of Lancaster ND566 Back: Sergeant Ron Emeny (mid-upper gunner), Sergeant Laurie Wesley (bomb aimer), Flight Sergeant Jack Pittwood (navigator) Sergeant Nick Stockford (flight engineer). Front: Sergeant Ron Ellis (tail gunner), Flight Sergeant Leslie Lissette (pilot) and Sergeant Philip King (wireless operator).
Nicholas Stockford returned home via the "Comet Line" escape route over the Pyrenees and into Portugal. On the night of 14th/15th July 1944 he arrived at Whitchurch Airport, near Bristol on a civil airliner from Lisbon. His papers were made out for a John White a civilian escapee from Vittel internment camp in France. He revealed his true identity to the security guard.
On 8th August 1944 he married Joyce Jones, of Heythrop, at Chipping Norton Methodist Church, living at 30, Spring Street, Chipping Norton. He tragically died suddenly from pleurisy at RAF Longtown near Carlisle on 18th September 1944 aged 22.
He is remembered on Chipping Norton's town and church memorial on the Heythrop war memorial. He buried in Heythrop St Nicholas Churchyard.
WARRANT OFFICER RICHARD FREDERICK SUMNER
He was the son of George Ward Sumner and Mabel Sumner and the husband of Viola Margaret Sumner, of Dunthrop. He was serving as a Warrant Officer with the Royal Air Force at RAF Brighton when he died at Chase Farm, Enfield Hospital on 28th August 1945 after complications following an operation. He was aged 32 and is buried in Heythrop St Nicholas Churchyard.
FLIGHT LIEUTENANT JOHN ARTHUR SWORD DFC AFC
was serving as a Flight Lieutenant, Pilot, with 115 Squadron, The Royal Air Force when he was killed in action on 7th May 1942.
He was the son of Arthur Nicholson and Margaret Sword of Chivel Farm, Heythrop. His father was a farmer and also a rancher in Argentina. On 16th December 1941 he married Pauline Bevan, known as Polly, in St Nicholas Church in Heythrop. Polly was the sister of David Bevan who died on HMS Neptune in 1942. They lived at the Dower House in Heythrop.
He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and trained as a pilot and was posted to 115 Squadron, flying the Vickers Wellington MkIII from RAF Mildenhall and then from East Wretham in Norfolk. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, his citation reads:
One night in April, 1942, this officer was captain of an aircraft which took part in an attack on the Matford factory at Poissy. In spite of heavy enemy opposition, he attacked from a low level and scored several hits with his bombs. Afterwards, Flight Lieutenant Sword remained in the area until the attack had been completed by the main force and then made a further 5 runs over the target area and obtained some excellent photographs. This officer, who has carried out a considerable number of operational sorties, has invariably displayed courage and determination of a high order.
On 6th May 1942 he was the pilot of Vickers Wellington Mk III 395` K-OK which took of from RAF Marham at 2141, one of 121 bombers dispatched on a raid to Stuttgart. His aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire and all 6 crew members successfully bailed out. Sadly Flight Lieutenant Sword and Flight Sergeant Harold Batty, the Observer, both fell to their deaths due to insecure parachute webbing. He was aged 23 and is buried in Rheinberg War Cemetery in Germany. He was originally buried at Alzey in Germany but re-interred in 1948.
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