Sotonopedia

13 August 1940
First daylight raid on Southampton. The town centre was crowded with shoppers and other people going about their Saturday afternoon business under a cloudy sky. Eight pubs, Pickfords furniture repository, offices and houses in the lower town were destroyed, there was a direct hit on the bowling green, and 5 people lost their lives:
Air Raid Warden Robert George Edwin Ellerby, aged 38, from Winchester, at Pickfords
James John Veal Harris, aged 72, from Bitterne, at Town Quay
William Percival Morley, aged 51, from Shirley, at Pickfords
Henry Snell, aged 13, of 42 Lower Canal Walk
Ethel Van Cooten, aged 40, from Westridge Road, thrown from Pickford’s office, where she worked, into the High Street

In Air Raid Warden Walter Kingston's Diary, he records that the alert lasted 1540-1715 and that the International Cold Storage Depot on the Docks was destroyed. Other witnesses remembered how the Depot burned for days, as it contained 2000 tons of butter.
Here is the full Air Raid Warden's Report for this raid.

These are the first Southampton air raid casualties, apart from:
Eliza Martha Lush, aged 84, of Newlands Avenue, died 30 July 1940. She died in the Royal South Hants Hospital, half an hour after an operation. She had fallen on her way to an air raid shelter, and broken her thigh and wrist.

23 August 1940
Bombs fell on the Southampton side of the Itchen, near the Floating Bridge. Two casualties both lived in Endle Street.
Edward Walter Newman, of 50 Endle Street

24 August 1940
Ivy Maria Biggs, of 28 Endle Street. Died at Royal South Hants Hospital

25 August 1945
Five members of the same family were killed in a direct hit on their Anderson shelter at 27 West Road, Woolston
Emily Elizabeth Bennett
her daughter Winifred Edith Bennett
Anthony Morant,aged 2, her grandson and the son of
her daughter Freda Evelyn Morant
and son-in law James William Edward Morant

11 September 1940
39 civilians, including two Home Guard, were killed in a raid on the Cunliffe Owen factory near Southampton Airport.
Henry John Foote also died today at Cunliffe Owen: the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the printed Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour held at Westminster Abbey have his death occuring a year later.
There were two other casualties in the raid:
Frederick Coker, aged 76
Albert Edward Simmonds, of Wharncliffe Road, who died in the Royal South Hants Hospital.

12 September 1940
The Southern Daily Echo reported that "group of enemy bombers attacked a south-east town yesterday afternoon and succeeded in damaging a building. A number of casualties were caused, some of them being fatal."

Four more Cunliffe Owen casualties died, at Royal South Hants Hospital

William Edward Burridge
Roy Humphrey Cave-Penney
Walter James Gardiner
Peter Henry Wilde, aged 14

Also died at Royal South Hants Hospital:
Lawrence Henry Wilde, of 14 Bellevue Road

14 September 1940
Echo headline: "AIRCRAFT FACTORIES IN SOUTHAMPTON": Germans' Bombing Claims.
The press had been warned not to let the enemy know they had definitely succeeded in hitting a target, so the Echo did not report the Cunliffe Owen raid in any detail.

Reginald Benjamin Tutton died at the Royal South Hants Hospital. He had been injured "at the Airport" on 11 September, and is listed on the Cunliffe Owen Roll of Honour.

15 September 1940
Southern Daily Echo, 16 September 1940: "Fatal casualties were caused in each of three week-end raids on a South of England town. Victims included two members of the Home Guard, who were on duty outside a Post Office when a bomb exploded in the centre of the road. Another Home Guard was badly injured."
Charles John Kimber 12th Hampshire (Southampton) Bn.Home Guard.
Kenneth Charles George Lee 12th Hampshire (Southampton) Bn.Home Guard.
Six civilians died in a raid over Woolston, Bitterne and Peartree.

In another raid, victims included a woman and a child; the third claimed an aged allotment holder
Emma Louisa Barrett
Barbara Amor Owers
Daniel Saunders
Dorothy Furber a first aid post Nursing Auxiliary.
Elizabeth Furber
William Furber

16 September 1940
Edward Jack Diaper. Special Constable, injured at 32 Wharncliffe Road, 15 September 1945.
Frederick William Pulham of 1, Lower Back of the Walls.
Both men died at the Royal South Hants Hospital.

19 September 1940
Desmond Patrick Blake. Injured at Cunliffe Owen, 11 September 1940, died at the Royal South Hants Hospital.

Home Guards Charles John Kimber and Kenneth Charles George Lee were buried with military honours at South Stoneham Cemetery (Southern Daily Echo 20 September 1940 p 3)

23 September 1940
Mrs J Diaper of 32 Wharncliffe Road, published an Acknowledgement in the Southern Daily Echo returning "her heartfelt thanks to relatives, neighbours and friends, also Floating Bridge Department and War Reserve Police, Woolston Division, for beautiful floral tributes. Please accept this the only intimation." (See 16 September 1940)

24 September 1940
Walter Kingston recorded "Whites Yard, Supermarine (shelter hit), Northam and Woolston hit. St Barnabas Church destroyed. Second wave of bombers hit Woolston and Northam."
The Southern Daily Echo, 25 September, was, as usual, low-key in its reporting. Under a front-page headline "CHURCH HIT IN S.E. TOWN: Bombs Dropped in Three Districts", it printed four sentences. Three described the bombers and the response to them from ground and air, and the fourth said: "A church, amongst other buildings, was hit, and there were casualties, some fatal." On the back page we find "NAZI COMMUNIQUE: Southampton Factory Claimed Hit."

The factory was Supermarine, where there had been a direct hit on an air raid shelter.
20 people were killed "at the Supermarine Works", and three "at White's yard"
See 1939-1940 the war comes to Southampton from the Supermariners website
Also killed at Supermarine was Alfred Johnston, whose death is given as 24 September 1941 on the Commonwealth War Graves Register.

Altogether 41 people were killed, including:

Eva Thompson of Woodford, Copsewood Road, who died at St Barnabas Church.

Ethel Berta Young of "Niton" 5, Bassett Avenue. Mrs Young's husband, Hector Young had been Mayor of Southampton in 1929. In her obituary in the Echo, 27 September 1940, she was described as "a well-known and popular figure" involved in voluntary work for the Royal South Hants Hospital, the Southampton Youth Committee and the British Legion.
Also lost were her neighbours at 6, Bassett Avenue:
Mary Ann Olive and her companion
Catherine Sarah Thresher

Laura Long of 16 Belvidere Terrace, Northam. Her son William, a Southampton Corporation lorry driver, received £38.16s on the administration of her estate in 1947.

26 September 1940
"FIFTY 'PLANES RAID A SOUTHAMPTON AREA: Working Class Homes Demolished…Casualties, some of them fatal, are reported" (Southern Daily Echo, 27 September 1940)
Walter Kingston recorded bombs at "Supermarine, Whites Yard, Peartree Avenue, Gas Works, Marne and Balaclava Roads at Bitterne."
50 people died:
Three members of the Home Guard:
John Hughes
James William Living, listed as a civilian.
Donald Maxwell Looker

and 47 Civilians.

Of these, nine died in the second raid on Supermarine. The Germans claimed "great destruction by direct hits on sheds and and other workshops." Six men, including Home Guard John Hughes were killed at the Railway Arch nearby, and one in Peartree Avenue.

Two men were commended for their gallantry at the Railway Arch. Twenty people were taking shelter in an this old disused brick tunnel on the railway embankment, near Lower Bridge Road, Woolston. A bomb dropped nearby, and the tunnel collapsed. Two Borough workmen, Arthur James Smith and James William Marsh, who were in an Air Raid shelter nearby, immediately ran to the scene of the incident. Smith sent Marsh back for the rest of their ten-man work gang and their shovels. It took about 15 minutes for them to arrive, during which time Smith dug out four people by hand: “he worked until his hands were raw and bleeding and to the extent of absolute exhaustion.” While the raid continued, and with an unexploded bomb nearby, the gang recovered 4 more people (one of whom was, sadly, dead.) S G Stanton, the Borough Engineer, pointed out that “they were not Rescue and Demolition men but members of my Highway Staff and undertook this work quite voluntarily.” (Civil Defence Gallantry Awards Case no 225b)

Apart from John Hughes, these are the men who died at the Railway Arch:
George Edward Copson
Louis Edward Harold Hubbard
Percival William Keene
Charles Palmer, of Portsmouth
Kenneth James Park, aged 17, of Bournemouth

Nine men were killed in the Docks, and six at the Gas Works in Northam.

The working class houses were:
22 Melbourne Street, home of
Frances Martha Emily White, widow, 74.
23 Melbourne Street, home of
Doris May Dunford, 35
and her son Michael Dunford, 4
Doris's parents lived next door, at
24 Melbourne Street
William Pothecary, 58
Elizabeth Anne Pothecary, 57
25 Melbourne Street
Beatrice Victoria Bundy, shopkeeper, 66
43 Melbourne Street, home of
Alice May Parker
and her five children
Reginald James, 9
Barbara Elizabeth, 7
Brian Daniels, 5
Patricia June, 2
Joan, 9 months
also killed here was
Louisa Ethel Frances Hooker, 21.

27 September 1940
Three men who had been at the Gas Works, and one from the Docks, died from injuries received 26 September at Royal South Hants Hospital.
Arthur Manly Hotson, Public Works Labourer, injured at the Gas Works.
Henry William Preston, injured at the Gas Works.
Frederick William John Seaborn, injured at the Gas Works.
Harry Weeks, Coal Porter, injured at the Docks.

28 September 1940
Sydney Albert Richard Waters, died at Royal South Hants Hospital of injuries received 26 September at the Supermarine works.

29 September 1940
Charles John Hockley died at the Borough (now the General) Hospital, of injuries received 26 September at the Gas Works.
Tom David Norris died at the Borough (now the General) Hospital, of injuries received 26 September at the Docks, where he was a stevedore.

30 September 1940
Mrs Young's funeral took place at St Michael's Bassett. A guard of honour from the Women's Section of the British Legion mustered at the Cemetery Gates at 11.15am.

William Fisher was awarded one of the first George Crosses, for rescuing a man from the roof of the International Cold Store on 13 August 1945 (see above for the Air Raid Warden's account of the raid) Mr Fisher's response was "Well, I'm naturally very proud that the King has thought my little job of work worth rewarding … but, after all it was the least I could do. You see, it was only my duty to be ready for anything like that, for I've been an ARP warden for two years." (Southern Daily Echo 1 October 1940)

30 October 1940
Soren Marius Busk died at the Royal South Hants Hospital from injuries received on 15 September 1940. He was one of three Home Guard who were hit outside an unnamed Post Office during that raid: the other two died that night (see above)

1 November 1940
Air Raid Warden Walter Kingston began to record what would become the worst period of the Southampton Blitz
"8.20pm - 10.45pm Planes above, heavy gunfire, bombs dropped Swaythling"

2 November 1940
"7.10pm - 10.05. Planes above, slight gunfire, bombs dropped"

3 November 1940
Walter Ling, aged 84, died at 9 Cedar Road. He was a retired mechanical engineer.

6 November 1940
“Nazi Raiders attack on So’ton: Students and Staff Buried Under Ruins of School: Row of Offices Demolished: Heroic Work by Rescue Squads. Early today rescue squads were still searching the ruins of buildings … which crashed under … a determined attack yesterday afternoon. Many students and members of staff were buried under the ruins of a school which was struck by three bombs.” This was the Art School, in the north block of the Civic Centre. The Principal of the School, Percival Moore, told the Echo: “The afternoon session was in progress when the raid began. I remained in my office, but many of the students and members of staff went to the air raid shelters in the corridors in the basement of the school. One class of senior students elected to go on working until gunfire was heard. Fortunately for them they did not go to the shelter, and so escaped… Immediately the explosions occurred I ran along the corridor leading the the shelters. It was full of blinding dust and choking fumes. Water pipes had burst, and the corridor was ankle deep in water.” (Southern Daily Echo 7 November, 1940)
Mr W. Wood, foreman of the Art Gallery, was talking to one of the masters in a corridor when the air raid began, and he said he believed that discussion saved their lives. Like the school’s principal, and the Mayor, R N Sinclair, (who “injured his right hand slightly”), Mr Wood joined the rescue squads helping to move wreckage off victims. The work went on for many hours, bringing out survivors, but also those killed outright.
A class of fifteen girls from the Central District school had been taking a dressmaking class, together with full-time student Patricia Alison Ann Hine and mature student Olive Marjorie Bonwick, who both died.
Eleven students, girls aged 13 and 14, were killed on the day:
Eileen Margaret Bartlett
Pamela Georgina Blackford
Emily Nelly Boyd
Betty Irene Davies
Hilda Agnes Dick
Norah Christine Edson
Thelma Millicent Fry. Thelma was taken to the Royal South Hants Hospital, but died there the same day.
Brenda Frances Hambidge
Lilian Isabel Routledge
Freda Edwina Sheath
Violet Edith May Webb
Three members of staff were also killed:
Horace Clarence Harvey, ARCA, Vice Principal of the Art School. At his funeral, Mr Moore said he was “essentially the highly skilled craftsman … easy to work with, a complete gentleman, and an entirely loyal colleague… He was a sincere teacher, of wide and profound knowledge.” (Southern Daily Echo, 16 November 1940)
Iris Daisy Mercer, known as Daisy, head of the dress design department and embroidery mistress. She was buried at her home village of Kennington, nr Ashford, Kent, where she had been a member of the WI and the Amateur Dramatic Society. She studied at the Bromley Art School, passing her course with honours, “one of the first five for the whole of England. Miss Mercer was most talented, and did exquisite work.” (Hampshire Advertiser 16 November 1940)
Alice Muriel Mary Griffin, Dressmaking Mistress.

Two further people died at the Civic Centre that day:
Town Sergeant George Edwin Brown, who was patrolling the shelters beneath the school. He was the son of George Brown, a Hampshire cricketer (Hampshire Advertiser 16 November 1940). Representatives from the Art Gallery staff and the Town Sergeants were present at his funeral on Tuesday 12 November, at Hyde Church in Winchester.
One of the bombs wrecked the flat occupied by the superintendent of the building whose wife and daughter were just about to leave the flat to go to the shelter when the explosion occurred. The girl was thrown back into the flat and injured, but her mother Alice Lottie Grace Lanham was killed.

In addition to the casualties at the Civic Centre, bombs dropped on the end of a terrace in Portland Street demolishing the premises of a firm of solicitors, an insurance company, and a firm of incorporated accountants. Several people were trapped in cellars.
Four young women who worked in the offices died:
Nancy Beryl Marshall
Winifred Dunn
Ethel May Earney, Shorthand typist for Structural Engineer Alan E Fletcher, at no 21
Mavis Carey Kemp, at no 22, the offices of Westlake, White & Co Incorporated accountants and Charles William White, Solicitor.
Mr White's daughter Marjorie Sophie White, a part time Air Raid Warden, also died at no 22.

"Three heavy bombs which fell on another area demolished several houses and part of a building used as a garage and furniture store. The bomb fell near, and midway between, a food office and an AFS station. Rescue parties were soon at work. They toiled for more than an hour to release one woman – Mrs May Davies. “I was in the garden when the plane came over … I dashed in to switch off the gas and was just entering my basement kitchen when I heard the swish of the bombs… I thought the end had come when the house seemed to fall on top of me, but luckily my head and shoulders remained above the debris.” Mrs Davies lived at 13 New Road. Next door, at number 15, “a bedridden boy was also a fatal casualty.”
The boy was Cecil Haskett, aged 13. He and his mother,
Gertrude Haskett were living with his grandmother Rachel Haskett and aunt Ethel Mary Haskett
At the same address lived an elderly couple:
Madeline Sutton and [[Hawkins Sutton], an Air Raid Warden
The food office was at 3 New Road. “50 clerks, mostly young women, were working when the bombs fell. ‘We all dived under our desks. The building seemed to rear up, but there was no sign of panic.’”
Joseph William Fletcher , of 12 Canal Walk, a baker, was loading his van in a side street when the bombs fell. He was buried in masonry and his wrecked van.
Llewellyn John Mills died at the Docks.
The mayor cancelled a luncheon that was due to be held in his honour at the Polygon Hotel, feeling that, "in view of the loss of life occasioned by yesterday’s air raid … his decision will be perfectly understood."

7 November 1940
Sheila Kathleen Stockwell died at the Royal South Hants Hospital from injuries received at the Art School on 6 November.

8 November 1940
Esme Clarissa Calwood and Thelma Dorothy Edwards died at the Royal South Hants Hospital. They were both injured at the Art School.

9 November 1940
Charles William White died of injuries received 6 November at 22 Portland Street, when his daughter had died. It had taken 63 hours to bring him out of the ruined building. Father and daughter were buried at South Stoneham Cemetery on Tuesday 12 November, a ceremony attended by members of the legal profession, representatives of Friendly Societies (Mr White had been an authority on Friendly Society Law) and ARP personnel (Miss White had been a warden attached to All Saints’ Post no. 4) (Hampshire Advertiser 16 November 1940)

15 November 1940
“One person was killed and another seriously injured when an Anti-Aircraft shell crashed through the roof and exploded above the ceiling of the Coachmaker’s Arms, Sidford Street.” (Southern Daily Echo 16 November 1940) Leslie Harold John Saunders, the son of licensee Harold Saunders, was killed although his brother Cyril, who was in the same bed, escaped with only a few scratches. Leslie was 17, and working in a local factory as a machinist.

17 November
“Bombs at random on South coast town” (Southern Daily Echo 18 November 1940)
The Sportsdrome, part of the Bannister stadium facilities, where people had been dancing up to a late hour on Saturday night, received a direct hit and was completely demolished. The building was, fortunately, empty. “People were killed, however, in two residential areas, where many houses suffered damage.” A total of 32 people died during this raid.

One residential area was Shirley, especially Alexandra Road and Northlands Gardens, near the Common.
Diston Harry Searle was the leader of a rescue squad called out to Alexandra Road just after 5am on the 17 November. A parachute mine had demolished several houses in which people were trapped. George Reid, the head warden of Bannister section, recommending him for an award 6 April 1941, wrote: “Faced with a scene of almost indescribable destruction Searle quickly surveyed the position and organised his party in a most exemplary manner. Learning that several people trapped were still alive he personally set the example by removing much of the heavy debris realising the case was one of urgency. Working continuously and at high pressure the trapped persons were finally rescued alive.”
Eight houses were completely demolished, and 19 people trapped, of whom ten were found alive.
Mr Searle was awarded the British Empire Medal in July 1941, for his work at Alexandra Road, and at a later incident at Redbridge, 11 March 1941.
Fourteen people died at Alexandra Road:
3 Alexandra Road
Ernest Alfred Lanham
Eliza Annie Lanham
Mr and Mrs Lanham were brother-in-law and sister of the chairman of the council’s ARP committee, Councillor G E H Prince.
Charlotte Caroline Judd, who had accepted an invitation to stay the night, and
Louisa Mary Daniels, who lived nearby, and was in the habit of sleeping at their house. (The Commonwealth War Graves Register gives Louisa's date of death as 17 September 1941)
9 Alexandra Road
Penelope Charlotte Drage
Gladys Maud Smith
Henry Hamilton Houghton Smith
11 Alexandra Road
Emma Baker
13 Alexandra Road
Alfred Lionel Ashby
Mary Jane Ashby
Vincent Ashby
Douglas Anthony Jaggs
Hannah Jaggs
17 Alexandra Road
Penelope Charlotte Drage
Walter Leslie Marsh

The Levenes, at 15 Northlands Gardens, all died:Samuel Levene, his wife Annie, their 17 year old daughter Rita, and 13 year old son, Jack. Jack was just home for the weekend: his school had been evacuated to Bournemouth.
At 14 Northlands Gardens, their neighbour Mary Ann Mitchell was killed.

The other residential area was among the Flower Roads, and on Burgess Road, where 13 people died, among them, at 12 Bluebell Road, Alice Attwood and her daughters Daisy and Dorothy, who were living with her relative William Goddard

18 November 1940
The air raid alert had sounded at 6.35pm on Sunday 17 November, but the “all clear” did not sound until 7.45am the next morning. Walter Kingston recorded “One continuous raid. Bombs dropped in all parts of Southampton and District, including Northam, St Denys, Town, Bitterne Park, Swaythling, Highfield, Bitterne, Thornhill, Sholing, many incendiaries, exceptionally heavy gunfire – our worst yet.”
Some of the casualties from this raid would have been killed on the 17th, but 20 people died on the 18th.
They included
Florence Lucy Rood, who had been injured 17 November at 10 Bluebell Road. She died at the Royal South Hants Hospital.
Alfred Mitchell, injured 17 November at 14 Northlands Gardens: died at Royal South Hants Hospital.
Northumberland Road, Northam
at 148
Albert James Hellyar, a merchant seaman
Ethel May Hellyar
at 150
Amelia Ann King
Bullar Road, Bitterne Park
at 53
William Joseph Read
at 55
Irene Elsie Chapman
Eugenie Beatrice Cordelia Mulready
at 57
Frederick Gregory
Florence Rosina Gregory
Joan Kathleen Gregory
Macnaghten Road, Bitterne Park:
at 42
George Bartlett
Dorothy May Bartlett
at 43
Gordon Hamilton Colborn
Helen (or Ellen) Eliza Francere who is listed as Gordon’s wife on the 1939 register.
at 44
George Heard
Nellie Heard
at 46
Edward John Dalley
Nellie Dalley
at 48
Thomas William Holmes, lodging with a Mrs Henrietta Hobbs.
Sharing this address were the Waters family: Ernest, Mabel and their two year old daughter Mary.
This house had been demolished by an HE bomb, fracturing a gas main, and trapping Mabel and Mary. In order to reach them the rescue party decided to drive a vertical shaft. “Working space was very limited and [deputy leader Robert Samuel] Parker elected to carry out the work himself, and despite the fact he had to work in an inverted position and was nearly overcome with town gas, he succeeded by sheer perseverance and determination, in rescuing the trapped persons. Throughout the operations Parker persistently refused relief and Dr Saunders, who was in attendance, administered oxygen.” (Civilian Gallantry Awards Case 1877) In February 1942, Parker received the BEM for his bravery. He had made no mention of his actions at the time, and the information had only “come to light as a result of general air raid reminiscences over a period.” Dr Saunders, in his witness statement, said “the excellent condition of the patients on rescue was in great part due to Mr Parker’s courage and ingenuity.”

20 November 1940
"Raid on a South Coast Town: One Fatal Casualty" (Southern Daily Echo 21 November 1940) "Residents … are today congratulating themselves on their luck escape in a long raid which ended early this morning."
The single casualty was Hilda Flora Harding, of Malmesbury Road, who died at the Borough Hospital.

Newly-married Amy Pattinson had been injured on the 17 November at Burgess Road, and died at the Borough Hospital.

23 November 1940
“This was a raid. The whole town and suburbs suffered severely. Intense AA fire. many fires, houses, shops etc. gutted. Flares and incendiary bombs lighting up the whole town. German communique reports 250 planes used 250 tons of bombs and 12,000 incendiaries (quite believe that)” Walter Kingston.

61 civilians were killed, and four members of the Home Guard:
James Albert Buxey
Dennis Alfred Francis
Fred Mansell
Thomas Reeves

Four people received the George Medal for their bravery that night: Roy Clifford Day, John Joseph Furlong, Mary Sible Joyce Newman, Frederick Patch, and George Tyrrel Robinson.

Five men received the BEM: Frederick Patch, Ernest Biggs, and Ernest Alfred Rowland Bell, Harold Frank Bailey, and Arthur Robert Cleverley, for rescue work at 103 Bursledon Road. Robert John Haynes lived, but his wife Alice Elizabeth was already dead.

Chief Superintendent Percival Chatfield received the MBE for his actions on this and later nights.

Nine people were commended: George William Hannant, Frances Hartley, Raleigh Frederick Lock, Robert Norman McLees, John Henry Maxted, Edna Paskins, Peter Scott, Alfred William Spanier, Edward John Thompson, and John Crosthwaite White.

Fireman George Tyrrel Robinson was in charge of a pump and crew from Auxiliary Station E, Portswood Road, fighting a fire at the Central Railway Station, assisted by a Winchester pump and crew. A bomb fell close by, killing three of the Winchester Firemen and a soldier.
The Winchester firemen were:
Reginald James LaBassie Best
Edward Arthur William Chalkley
Alexander William Hayden
George Tyrrel Robinson was awarded the George Medal (London Gazette 28 March 1940 p 1779)

Three Southampton firemen also died that night in separate incidents:
Edward Albert Byfield
Norman Foster
Stanley Stidworthy

Nurse Mary Sible Joyce Newman, who worked at the Hollybrook Homes, was visiting her parents at 70 Magnolia Road, Merry Oak, when bombs fell on 17 and 19 Cypress Avenue, opposite, on the corner with Magnolia Road. At no 17, Ernest Hatch was blown out of the front door, and his son Albert was trapped in the building, hanging upside down by his ankles. Nurse Newman tended to Ernest’s injuries, and then, when Albert was discovered by the rescue party “in an extremely excitable condition … in spite of debris falling all around, and escaping gas … went into the hole … and comforted and quietened [him]” (Civilian Gallantry Awards Case 495) When he was at last freed, she treated him for shock with hot water bottles and coffee until an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital. Miss Mary Sible Joyce Newman, assistant nurse, received the George Medal for her bravery.
No-one survived at 19 Cypress Avenue:
Arthur Green
Florence Edna Green
Zena Winifred Green
Betty Green

Air raid wardens George Hannant and Ernest Biggs, of Bitterne Post 10, were dealing with a fire at a garage when a bomb fell close by. They were both injured, Mr Hannant so badly that “knowing his injuries would prove fatal he begged his fellow wardens to carry on with their work and leave him.” (Civilian Gallantry Awards case 491) “He was taken to the Wardens Post and then to the First Aid Post, but died some time later from his injuries” Ernest Biggs was awarded the BEM, and George Hannant received a royal commendation.
Frederick Patch, the senior warden at Post 10, was awarded the BEM for his actions that night: 27 HE bombs had fallen within three-quarters of a mile of the post, as well as incendiary bombs. 34 houses were either demolished or rendered uninhabitable. Mr Patch’s own house at 334 Spring Road had all its windows and doors blown out, and the ceiling fall in.

PC Raleigh Frederick Lock was preparing to go on night duty at his home, 58 Porchester Road, Woolston, when bombs fell nearby, demolishing six houses and a shop, nos 60-72 Portchester Road. He went out to search for his neighbours, finding most of them in shelters, apart from the Etheridges, of no 66. They had not used their shelter that night, as it was waterlogged, instead taking refuge under the stairs. There were seven of them squeezed into the cramped space: William John Etheridge, his wife Maude, their daughters, Maude (20) and Maisie (15), son John (24), his wife Joan (22) and their 8 month old granddaughter, Doreen. Mrs Maude Etheridge told an Echo reporter, 25 November 1940, “we were all crouching under the stairs when the bomb fell. The house seemed to collapse on top of us and the dust nearly choked us. We knew someone would soon come to our rescue, and we started singing to keep up our spirits. It seemed a very long time before we heard someone trying to get us out.” It was PC Lock, who had started digging with his bare hands at the ruins of the stairwell. The Etheridges were digging from the inside, until they managed to make a hole to poke a stick through: they spoke to their rescuer, suggesting a safer spot to dig. The bombs were still falling as the family were brought out one by one and taken to nearby shelters. William Etheridge was the only member of the family injured, with scratches to his head. By morning, the house had completely collapsed. The family had only moved in a week before, having been bombed out of their previous home. The 1939 register shows them living at 22 Pear Tree Road, an area devastated by the bombing of Supermarine in late September. PC Lock received a commendation from the King (London Gazette 7 March 1941 p 1348)

24 November 1940
At 23 Hill Lane: John Alexander Smith
Gertrude Maud Rosalie Rider
At 60 Hartington Road:
Alma Mary Gates
Clara Lilian Cissie Gates
Kathleen May Gates
Margaret Clair Gates
At the Borough Hospital, home address 9 Percy Road:
Keith Norman Hussey, aged 14.
At the Royal South Hants Hospital, injured 23 November at the Civic Centre:
Thomas Albert Churchill

25 November 1940
Kenneth Hamilton Wynne Roberts died at the Children's Hospital of injuries received 24 November at GEC.

29 November 1940
PC Frederick Ernest Tupper died at the Borough Hospital of Injuries received 23 November at the Civic Centre, where the Police Station had been badly damaged.

30 November 1940
The first of two dreadful nights of bombing. “A very intensive raid on Southampton, mostly centred on Docks and Town Districts. Very heavy damage and casualties. The whole town appeared to be on fire.” (Walter Kingston)
36 people died, and Southampton’s main shopping street was flattened.

“The police station received a direct hit, a bomb crashing into the parade room, where normally many police officers would have been. As it happened it was unoccupied, but a sergeant standing in the passage outside was killed outright.” This was Stanley Shuff, of Berkshire Police Force. The emergency services received mutual assistance by way of reinforcements from neighbouring towns.
Auxiliary Fire Service Messenger Percy Alexander Bertram Boyes, aged 17 ½, guided a New Forest fire crew to Marsh Lane. “Boyes showed great courage and devotion to duty whilst carrying out instructions under heavy bombardment …[he] at all times remained at his post and did not seek shelter.” (Civilian Gallantry Awards case 739) “At present Messenger Boyes is off duty suffering from nervous prostration, but hopes to report for duty very shortly.” Percy Boyes was awarded the BEM.

Four firemen died at the New Road fire station
Edward Richard Brocklehurst
Eric Arthur Archibald Murtagh
William Oldbury
Percy Edward Webb

FIREMEN Brocklehurst, Murtagh, Oldbury, Webb. – In memory of those men of AFS Station C killed by enemy action whilst on duty 30/11/40. – From old comrades of late Station C. (Southern Daily Echo 29 November 1941)

Christine O’Hara and her fiance Jim Berryman
Treasured memories of my darling daughter, Chriss, also her fiance Jim Berryman, killed by enemy action November 30 1940. – from her sorrowing Mother and Pops, 24 Deacon Crescent, Bitterne. “In mind a constant thought, in heart a silent sorrow.” RIP. (Southern Daily Echo 29 November 1941)

30 November 1941
Big Police Church Parade: tribute to Courage and Sacrifice in Raids… About 1,500 people attended an impressive service in the Guildhall. Five hundred of them were regular or War Service members of the Force, special constables or police auxiliaries. (Southern Daily Echo 1 December 1941)

1 December 1941
The Gordon Family, who died at 219 Manor Farm Road, Bitterne Park:
George Archibald Gordon, his wife Constrance Gertrude, and their sons Reginald Arthur, aged 16, and Alan, aged 14
Treasured memories of our dear sister Gertie and brother-in law Archie, also their two dear sons, Reggie and Alan, killed by enemy action December 1 1940. – from their loving sisters and brothers. “So dearly loved, so sadly missed.”

The Culleys, at 24 Peterborough Road:
George Edward Culley, his wife Alice Emily and their son Georgie, aged 4.
Happy memories of my dear cousin Alice, also her devoted husband and their little treasured Georgie, died though enemy action December 1 1940. – Ciss. “Oft in silence I remember them.”

2 December 1941
Not just blitz victims.

Lost at sea on SS Victor Ross:
Bertie James Dundee
Treasured memories of Bertie, who gave his life at sea December 2 1940. – Mum, dad and all. “In memory’s garden we meet every day.”

Harry Ockelford
In proud and loving memory of my dear brother, Harry, killed by enemy action December 2, 1940. – Sister Kitty, brother-in law Andy and baby Tony.
Harry was remembered by his parents, aunt and uncle, brother and sister.

William Phippard
In loving memory of my dear son, William Phippard, killed by enemy action December 2 1940. – From his Mother, sisters and brothers. “Not a single day goes over, that I do not think of you.”

3 December 1941
A family who died at St Hillers, Romsey Road, Shirley:
Gertrude Louise Arfman and her 2 year old son David Ernest Arfman
Florence Ada Beare and her three sons Colin, aged 6, Roger, aged 8 and Ronald, aged 2
Florence Emily Weeks
Eva Mary Weeks
In loving memory of my dear wife, Florrie, also her three daughters Florrie, Gert, Eva, who died by enemy action December 1 1940. from her loving husband George. “In God’s Keeping”

In the High Street, families and neighbours were sheltering in cellars and medieval vaults below their shops:
At 94 William Charles May, his wife Emily and their daughter Sheila Violey Hayes were drowned when their cellar was flooded.
At 92, three men from nearby lodging houses died:
George Offer, William Powell, and Harry Stratton

Trooper Fred Goodenough was home on 48 hours furlough, and visiting family at 13 Norfolk Road, Shirley. He died 3 December 1940. His brother-in-law, Alfred John Lee had already died on the 30 November. They were buried in a double funeral at Eastleigh Cemetery (Southern Daily Echo 18 December 1940). Trooper Goodenough is only one of many soldiers who were killed during the Southampton Blitz, but who are buried elsewhere. They are rarely named in reports.

Mrs Elizabeth Mould and her sons Edward William and Eric were sheltering under the basement stairs at 56 Lyon Street, near the Royal South Hants Hospital, when the house received a direct hit, trapping them. Edward managed to clear some of the debris around his mother so she could move her arms, and freed his brother. Their shouts for help were heard by neighbours, who alerted PC Godwin Edward George Stocker, who, with the help of Henry Crighton Finnegan, a neighbour, managed to extricate Eric “who is of slight build.” Recognising they would need further help, PC Stocker hailed a passing cab, driven by Leslie Hepher, and asked him to go to St Mary’s Police Station for help. Mr Hepher and his friend Cecil Richards came back with two more officers, and with the help of a pickaxe, the rescuers removed part of the scullery wall. Mr Richards lowered himself into the basement, helped Edward to free his mother and then to escape to safety. PC Stocker, Henry Finnegan, Leslie Hepher and Cecil Richards all received the King’s Commendation(London Gazette 25 April 1941 p 2342-3)

1 December 1940
“Southampton is now a very sorry sight” (Walter Kingston)
80 people were killed on this second night of intense bombing.

There was a direct hit on a shelter in Coventry Road, where sixteen people died
From no. 15: Helen E Stephens (55) identified only by her address and surname (misspelt)
From no. 17: Annie May Hopkins (46)
From no. 21: Margaret Olive Bullock (15), and Grace Harvey (81)
From no. 22: Sidney Robert Cross (51), Mary Louisa Cross(53), and their daughters Marion (17), and Kathleen Mary (18)
From no. 24: Susan Isobel Le Brocq (61)
From no. 31: Christiana Gertrude Fisher (43), her son David Elliott (10), and Phillip Samuel Sparkes (23)
From no. 33: Thomas John Griffiths (51) of Epsom, Grace Maria Steele (65), and Phyllis Monica Steele (31)

Another lodger at 33, Thomas Edward Livingstone (42) died in Foundry Lane.
The rescue squad "succeeded in rescuing alive, three women, a man, a child, a dog and a kitten. Later another women was extricated alive - making six survivors." (Southern Daily Echo 17 January 1941)

Florence Beatrix Bezer died at 35 Spring Crescent. The next day ARP Warden Percival William Charles Toms led a rescue party discovered there was a man still alive buried under the debris. “With utter disregard to his own safety [he] persisted in doing the most dangerous work himself. This needed practically superhuman effort to take the weight of a great amount of debris which was pinning the victim. This Leader Toms did entirely on his own with the result that the man was recued alive after 30 hours.” (Civilian Gallantry Awards, case no 1301.) Leader Toms was awarded the BEM in July 1941 for rescue work 2 December 1940 and 19 March 1941.

There had been a direct hit on Hoglands Shelter no 5, when the following people had been killed:
Ernest Abrey
Mabel Abrey
Edward Connelly
Nancy Glanville also known as Sarah Jane Fisk.
May Beatrice Hack
Fanny Eliza Hunt
James Lahey
Mary Cecilia Lahey
Henry Claude Meaton
Elizabeth Martha Meaton
Alfred John Penney
Rose Penney
William Spender
George Stickland

The Gordon Family, who died at 219 Manor Farm Road, Bitterne Park:
George Archibald Gordon, his wife Constrance Gertrude, and their sons Reginald Arthur, aged 16, and Alan, aged 14
Treasured memories of our dear sister Gertie and brother-in law Archie, also their two dear sons, Reggie and Alan, killed by enemy action December 1 1940. – from their loving sisters and brothers. “So dearly loved, so sadly missed.”

The Culleys, at 24 Peterborough Road:
George Edward Culley, his wife Alice Emily and their son Georgie, aged 4.
Happy memories of my dear cousin Alice, also her devoted husband and their little treasured Georgie, died though enemy action December 1 1940. – Ciss. “Oft in silence I remember them.”

A family died at St Hillers, Romsey Road, Shirley:
Gertrude Louise Arfman and her 2 year old son David Ernest Arfman
Florence Ada Beare and her three sons Colin, aged 6, Roger, aged 8 and Ronald, aged 2
Florence Emily Weeks
Eva Mary Weeks
//In loving memory of my dear wife, Florrie, also her three daughters Florrie, Gert, Eva, who died by enemy action December 1 1940. from her loving husband George. “In God’s Keeping” // (Southern Daily Echo 3 December 1941)

2 December 1940
Demetrios Xidhia died at the Borough Hospital from injuries received 1 December 1940 at Hoglands Park.

Also died at the Borough Hospital, 2 December
Ethel Jane Saunders who had been injured 30 November at 10 Waterhouse Lane.
William Searle, injured 30 November at 33 Grove Street.
William Humly, of 41 James Street

3 December 1940
Trixie Crowhurst died at the Borough Hospital from injuries received 1 December at 49 Suffolk Avenue.

John Lahey died at the Borough Hospital from injuries received at Hoglands Shelter No. 5 on 1 December. His wife Cissie and son James had died that night.

4 December 1940
GANE – In November, by enemy action, Mummy, Daddy, and Sisters Dora and Sally – Always loved and remembered by Sheila. (Southern Daily Echo 4 December 1940)
Sheila’s family had died at 57 Regents Park Road on 1 December:
Joseph Tom Gane
Ethel Kitty Gane
Dora Gladys May Gane
Sarah Lorna Lilian Gane
In 1939, Sheila was a shorthand typist at Imperial Airways, Hythe. She was the middle sister, aged 24.

5 December 1940
King George VI visited Southampton. “Though shorn of pomp and pageantry by the grimness of war, his visit was yet noble: the intimate meeting of a King with his people.” (Southern Daily Echo 6 December 1940). The royal party drew up to a Civic Centre with shattered windows and pitted stonework. “Assembled in the forecourt were little groups of men and women in the uniforms of the various civil defence services.”
Among them was Frances Hartley, who had been driving an ambulance on 23 November, when a police officer stopped her and asked her to take two soldiers to the hospital. They had been found lying on the pavement in Cumberland Place. While they were being loaded with the help of a Dutch sailor, a bomb landed nearby and the ambulance was blown into Watts Park, still upright. Mrs Hartley threw herself onto the driver’s seat, with her head in her hands. As things started to settle, the policeman helped her out to lie on the grass to recover herself. Although she then had to take shelter under the ambulance once or twic, this “small and frail woman” went on to drive the soldiers to the Hospital. Unfortunately, the men were already dead.
In his report of Mrs Hartley’s bravery, the unnamed policeman identified the two men as Privates Morris and Lawrence, of 1/6 Battalion East Surrey Regiment:
Maurice Herman is buried at Willesden Jewish Cemetery.
George Frederick Lawrence is buried at Brompton Cemetery.
Frances Hartley received a Kings Commendation. She had been in the ambulance service since the beginning of the war. “Her husband, who follows the sea, is away. She had not seen him since last Christmas.”

28 December 1940
“Lone Raider over Southampton: one man killed, others injured” (Southern Daily Echo 30 December 1940.) Low clouds gave cover for a single Heinkel to approach Southampton and drop six bombs on Thornycrofts works in Woolston, and over the Docks.
William Henry Charles Teague, known as Henry, was “trapped beneath a structure, which collapsed as he was sheltering under it. He was working in the Docks as a “dredger hopperman.”

5 January 1941
Air Raid Warden Walter Kingston reported "all quiet."
Police Constable Arthur Edwin Branscombe died at home. His death notice in the Southern Daily Echo, 7 January 1941, says he died "peacefully", and the report of his funeral, 10 January 1941, says he died of a heart attack. His name only appears on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website as a casualty, and not on local rolls of honour.

19 January 1941
"Southampton and Eastleigh bombs and incendiaries." (Walter Kingston)

21 January 1941
Edwin Harold Barfoot, of Butts Road, Sholing, died at the Borough Hospital of injuries received on 19 January 1941.

1 March 1941
11.50am – 12.43pm: “Lone plane over followed by 3 Spitfires, gunfire and machine gun fire.
7.43pm – 10.30pm: “ Planes over, heavy gunfire. 5 incendiary fires in outlying districts. Bombs dropped Portswood (bus station) and Newtown district” (Walter Kingston)
“Blast damaged a bus station and seriously injured a man who was filling a bus tank with petrol. Most of the buses had windows smashed, but were “on the road” in the morning. (Southern Daily Echo 3 March 1941) Herbert Atkins, a Hants and Dorset Fitter, received the BEM for his actions that night.
Cecil William Cooper, aged 56, of “The Poplars”, 219 Priory Road, Portwood. “A large high explosive crashed into the front garden of a house, which was demolished. Mr C Cooper was killed and three other members of his family were injured.” Mr Cooper’s body was found the following day.
Betty Margaret Cox, aged 20, of 115 Laundry Road, died at Warren Crescent, just outside the Shirley Warren Social and Working Men’s Club. There were “many people” in the club, including Charlie Bessant and his wife: no one was hurt, but the building was badly damaged. Climbing out of the rubble, he helped free Mrs Charles Cooper from the rubble of her house, and headed for his own Anderson shelter in Sycamore Road, only to find it had been demolished.
“COX, BETTY MARGARET, beloved eldest daughter of George and Margaret Cox, of 115 Laundry Road, Southampton (late of Grosvenor Café), by enemy action in March 1941. Funeral Thursday, 2.30, at Hollybrook Cemetery.” (Southern Daily Echo, 5 March 1941)

11 March 1941
“Buildings damaged or destroyed included a church, three schools, flats over a cinema, a club and a vicarage… A brilliant moon shining out of a clear sky enabled the raiders, who came in an almost non-stop procession for several hours, to operate without using flares. The conditions also favoured anti-aircraft gunners, who put up a heavy barrage.” (Southern Daily Echo 12 March 1941)
“Many of the recently-formed fire fighting parties had their baptism of fire.”
Two public houses were destroyed, both in East Street: the "Corfe Castle", where the landlord, Fred Powdrill, his wife Amy, Agnes Lilian Kelly and her son Terence; and the "Kennington Arms", where Caroline Harding was drowned when a burst water main flooded the cellar. Six other people who were in the cellar were rescued: the landlord Archibald William Andrews, his wife and two children, Mr Harding and a Dutch sailor. “It had been the practice of these persons to sleep in the cellar during “alert” periods.” Trapped by wreckage, and threatened by the rising water, the children managed to escape through the coal shute and get the attention of Police Constable Sidney Victor White. By the time PC White and members of the Home Guard managed to gain access to the cellar, the water was five feet deep, and the ceiling threatened to collapse. PC White waded in and passed everyone, except Mrs Harding, to safety in the space of twenty minutes. The Andrews went to live with his brother at the Ship Hotel in Redbridge, planning to “be in business again shortly.” (Southern Daily Echo 22 March 1941.)
James Kelly (no relation) of 15 Carlton Place, died at Woolworth’s in East Street.
The vicar of St Augustine’s, Northam Road and his family were fortunately away for the night when their vicarage “in one of the working-class areas” received a direct hit. The nearby church was damaged by blast, but that didn’t stop the early morning communion from taking place on Wednesday morning. Members of the congregation and the assistant priest just cleared away the debris from the side chapel altar.
Frederock George Baker died nearby, at 4 Kent Street, Northam.
Daniel McCarthy died at 24 Cable Street, Northam.
In the residential suburb of Shirley, retired missionary Rev. John Henderson Soga, his wife Isabella, and their son William Anderson. Rev John Henderson Soga was the son of Tiyo Soga, the first black South African to be ordained in the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland. He is remembered for his writings, including Xhosa hymns and prayers, translations of books on health and travel, and works based on Xhosa oral traditions and testimony. (See his entry in the Dictionary of African Christian Biography, although this has his date of death as 18 March 1941.)
“SOGA.- In March, by enemy action, the Rev. John Henderson Soga, for 30 years of Miller Mission, Elliotdale, Transkie, South Africa, aged 81. Also his wife, Isabella (“M”) aged 63, and their younger son, William Anderson, aged 33 years.” (Southern Daily Echo 21, 22 and 24 March 1941.) William worked for the Ministry of Aircraft Production.
In nearby Bourne Avenue, Doris Edith Clatworthy was killed.
In Treeside Avenue, two men died:
Captain Reginald Russell Lovelock, aged 52, master of the Anglo-American Oil Company’s “Southgate”: he is also recorded as a civilian casualty
Fred Reginald Bowers, aged 32, a firewatcher.
Two other firewatchers were killed that night:
Frank Davidson, of 25 Oxford Avenue, who died at Godfrey and Co, 87 Above Bar.
Robert Lavington, of 83 Cannon Street, who died at Prudential Buildings, Above Bar.
Francis George Bosier and his wife Rose died at Box Cottage, Redbridge Hill, although they normally lived at 1 York Buildings, East Street. They were staying with Rose’s sister Alma Hetty Flux.
Another couple away from home were George William Palmer and his wife Sarah, of 3 Henstead Road, who died at 3 Lordswood Road.
The youngest casualty that night was three-year-old David Francis Snudden of 9 Archery Road, Woolston. He is buried in Magdalen Hill Cemetery, Winchester.

14 March 1941
“When two houses were demolished in a suburb, Ellen Kate Dawes and an elderly woman, Mrs Emma Darnill were killed. Mr Dawes and his daughter Mary, who were also on the house, had narrow escapes… Miss Mary Dawes … told a reporter: ‘Father and I were in the front room downstairs. Mum and a friend, Mrs Darnill, were in bed upstairs. About midnight, when we were about to go to bed, I heard a whistling noise and realised it was a bomb. Father and I tried to get out of the room to go under the stairs, but before we could reach the door the bomb hit the house. The whole place seemed to collapse on us, and we were covered with plaster and debris. We were standing by an inside wall of the room, and that must have saved us. We shouted amid the choking dust, and not long afterwards wardens helped us out. Poor Mum and Mrs Darnill had gone to bed not long before, and if the bomb had fallen a few minutes later Father and I would have been in our beds, too.” (Southern Daily Echo 15 March 1941) The Commonwealth War Graves Register gives the date of death for Mrs Dawes and Mrs Darnill as 11 March 1941.
“Two people were killed when a bomb fell in a garden between two shelters on the outskirts of the town,” in Kathleen Road, Sholing. “They were Eva Elizabeth Harmer, whose husband George Bertie Harmer was killed on naval service before Christmas, and Mr Cecil Robinson, a neighbour, who, with his mother and sister, had gone to keep Mrs Harmer company in her shelter. The Mother and sister were injured. Inside the house a few yards away were Mrs Harmer’s 13-years-old son [Roy] and his 83 years old grandfather [Thomas Roll]. Neither was hurt, though the house was damaged.”

15 March 1941
“A bomb which went off today demolished two houses and buried an 18-years-old youth, Gordon Peacock in the ruins. Rescue workers started digging immediately, but when they got to him they found he was dead.” (Southern Daily Echo, 15 March 1941.) Gordon and his father, Alfred B Peacock had been in the house, 33 Shayer Road, Shirley, “getting a few things together,” unaware of the unexploded bomb in the front room. Mr Peacock went into the back garden, and Gordon started to wheel a bicycle through the house when the bomb went off. Mrs Alice Peacock and her daughter Muriel, standing outside, had to be taken to hospital. Gordon was a member of the Home Guard.

17 March 1941
Maurice Ferguson, of Highbury, Kathleen Road, was injured 14 March, and later died at the Borough Hospital.

19 March 1941
“SOUTH COAST TOWN RAID: casualties at Boarding House: lucky escapes for number of people” (Southern Daily Echo 20 March 1941.) Albert Wakeham, of the ARP Rescue Service, died at 365 Portswood Road, a boarding house. “The owner of the boarding house is away from the town, and her sister, who is managing the house for her, was also away last night, only boarders being in the house.” There were about a dozen people in the house when it was hit, and several people were injured, but Albert was the only fatality. He appears on the 1939 register lodging at 44 Portland Terrace. His civilian occupation was “french polisher.”
John McGovern, leader of No 5 Rescue and Demolition Party, was off duty when 365 and 373 Portswood Road were destroyed, but went straight to the incident from his home in Langhorn Road. Without waiting for the rescue party, he began tunneling into the debris in search of a young woman known to be in the building. After the party arrived, and between them, ten feet into the wreckage, they found her pinned beneath a heavy iron fire surround, so McGovern and the leader of the rescue party, Percival William Charles Toms, crawled underneath to hold the surround up to remove her. Had there been any further collapse of the debris McGovern would have been trapped and trapped before help could have reached him." (Civil Defence Gallantry Awards case 1300) McGovern and Toms were awarded the BEM.
The young woman was Kate Dalton, who sadly died of her injuries. She was working at 373 Portswood Road as a maid for retired solicitor Henry Douglas Ridley and his sister. Miss Ridley was rescued from the passage, and neighbours climbed over the wreckage at the back of the house to find Mr Ridley “only slightly hurt.” Kate had been in a front room.

11 April 1941
“People killed on Good Friday.” (Southern Daily Echo 12 April 1941) “Every bomb dropped did damage, and buildings which suffered included a hospital [Royal South Hants] and a church… While hundreds of people in the raided areas owe their escapes … to the fact that they sayed in their shelters, the majority of one big family were uninjured because they stayed indoors. . . where their shelter stood there is today a large crater.” Frederick Webb, of 202 Priory Road, heard the bombs falling and made his wife, daughters and grandchild get under the kitchen table. There was no room for him, so just sat in an armchair. All seven survived, even Frederick, but his son-in-law Francis Sidney White was firewatching in the garden.
Messenger Brian Reginald Vaughan (15), with the help of Norman Clifford Brewer (16), systematically and coolly rescued a woman and child buried under a house in Priory Road, shoring up the debris and, finding the woman’s head caught in the back of a chair, calling for a saw to cut away the rungs. He then released the child by cutting away the legs of the table.
Brian Vaughan received the BEM for his actions, and Norman Clifford Brewer received the King’s Commendation. Norman was killed in action on the 5 October 1944, aged 18, and is buried in Arnhem.
A parachute mine fell in the back garden of a terrace house in Derby Road: 120 houses in Derby Road and Northumberland Road were either wrecked or badly damaged. Two people received the BEM for their actions at this incident, and five were commended.
Cynthia Hutchings died at 240 Northumberland Road, along with her father’s ward John Pritchard, a welder’s assistant “always refused to go to shelter during raids.” The rest of the family had gone to their next-door-neighbour’s shelter.
ARP warden Edward Ernest Service was Commended for showing great courage and initiative in tunneling under dangerous debris, in an attempt to rescue “Miss Hutchings and her step-brother.”
Rose Florence Warren had just two weeks earlier moved into 244 Northumberland Road having just been bombed out.
Winifred Muriel Caesar, a children’s nurse and ARP ambulance driver, was on duty at Mount Pleasant First Aid Post when parachute mines were dropped nearby. She immediately took her ambulance to the scene in Northumberland Road, helping to recover four or five patients trapped under the debris by digging with her bare hands. The raid continued, and on returning to the Post, she was sent to Priory Road for another casualty.
Albert William Bull (16), messenger, “a strong stiff-built lad” was going back and forth between the Northumberland Road/Derby Road incident and the first aid post, when he heard groans from a buried Anderson Shelter. He pulled the litter away with his bare hands and found a man, woman and two children inside. The woman and children were taken to the first aid post, with the help od Frederick Roach (15) , another messenger, and Bull brought the man (Mr Richards of 258 Northumberland Road) out using a fireman’s lift.
He also helped Maud Helen Tinsley, another ambulance driver, to extricate an elderly couple climbing over the rubble to reach them.
When these young men and women were recommended for awards following this incident, it was noted of all of them that this was not the only occasion when they had done “exceptionally good service”, as they had been on duty during the air raids of 1940. Albert Bull and Frederick Roach had been at the First Aid Post when it had flooded on the 1 December 1940. They were Commended for their actions. Miss Caesar and Miss Tinsley both received the BEM.
ARP wardens Roy Woodford, and Rudolph Sidney Albert Allen were also the on the scene, made more dangerous by broken gas pipes. ARP Roy Woodford crawled under the wreckage of 244 Derby Road to rescue Mr and Mrs Caplin and two others (Maud Tinsley was involved here as well). Rudolph Allen was a member of the St John’s Ambulance, instructed and supervised the wardens working with him in first aid. Roy Woodford and Rudolph Allen were Commended.
Archibald Frederick Broomfield, “a part-time ambulance driver, was among those killed. He had been on duty at the first-aid depot to which he was attached, but received special permission to return home early in view of a visit of some relatives.” His wife and two children were rescued from the ruins of their home in Bishop’s Road.
Also at 11 Bishops’ Road lived 85 year old Charles Cozens His death notice (Southern daily Echo 14 April 1941) says he was “late of Middle Road, Sholing”
and Home Guard William Richard Andrews, who died later that day at Royal South Hants Hospital. William’s brother Donald was home on 48 hours leave and was killed “returning to the house from the shelter in the back garden.”
Thomas Heaviside Buckle and his daughter Mary Elizabeth died at 17 Bishop’s Road.
Another Home Guard, Albert Victor Valentine Stephens, known as Vic, died at 17 Norwich Road, Bitterne Park
ARP warden Christopher Joe Wheeler received the BEM for his efforts at this incident, when “a parachute mine exploded and wrought great havoc in Norwich Road.”
Uriah Horace Eades died at 71 Bitterne Road, and Frederick James Mundy at the Corporation Wharf, where he was a sewerage engine driver.

12 April 1941
Hilda Blake died at the Borough Hospital from injuries received 11 April at 9 Norwich Road.

10 May 1941
In the early hours of the morning, bombs fell in Alfred Street, near the Royal South Hants Hospital, and ten houses were wrecked. “Windows in the hospital were broken, but there was little other damage. No patients suffered injury and it was not necessary to remove them.” (Southern Daily Echo 10 May 1941) “In the road in which casualties occurred may people had remarkable escapes… Mr George Wing, who has been bombed before, was in bed two doors away from a house totally demolished… ‘We all got out as quickly as possible and helped to rescue a woman who was trapped under a fallen chimney in the house next door.’ “ Divisional Air Raid Warden Henry Richard Leggett was awarded an MBE for “his outstanding courage, coolness and leadership,” as he led the rescue efforts to free the woman trapped under the chimney, crawling through in the collapsing building, disregarding his own personal safety. It took one and a half hours to get the unnamed woman out.
Ten people died:
at no 16: John Alexander Pain
17: Eva Judd
20: Vera Sophie Goodfellow, known to her father Walter as “Tops” (Death notice, 13 May)
21:Thomas Barfoot
Mary Ann Barfoot
The Barfoots’ children Lilian and Charlie placed a notice in the Echo immediately (12 May) The funeral would be on Wednesday 14 May, and leave from Lilian’s home, 23 Lobelia Road, where she lived with her husband Albert Edward and son Norman.
23: Evelyn Lily Deacon
Florence Elizabeth Deacon
25: Jane Biddlecombe
Blanche Lily Hiron
John Hiron
The Hiron’s daughter Ada Price placed a notice 15 May in memory of her parents. Their landlady, Jane Biddlecombe, did not even receive her full name on the Commonwealth War Graves Register.

22 June 1941
Leonard Ronald Natt of the Police Auxiliary Messenger Service should have been off duty, but reported to the Civic Centre Police Station and began carrying messages and helping with the telephones. A report came in that a light was showing from a tower at the Central Railway Station, drawing the attention of the bombers dropping their parachute mines, but the police officer sent to put it out could not climb through the small window which was the only way to reach it. Sixteen year old Leonard volunteered to help. The platform and offices had been severely damaged and part of the Station was on fire. As bombs continued to fall, Leonard reached the lift shaft, climbed a ladder and passed through a skylight onto a flat roof. He then got hold of a long stick, squeezed his body through a small window at the side of the shaft and smashed the electric lamp which had been showing the light. He received the BEM for his bravery.
Frank Francis Whitlock of Calmore, was injured at Southampton Central Station, dying later the same day ay Royal South Hants Hospital. He was a railway Porter
Florence Mary Collett and her husband, Arthur were the landlord and landlady of the Railway Tavern, 12 Blechynden Terrace. “They were buried in the basement of the house and it was not until many hours afterwards that the ARP workers succeeded in getting them out. They were the only people in the house at the time.” (Southern Daily Echo 23 June 1941).
Alice Beatrice Haines was sheltering under the stairs in a friend’s house in Winchester Road while her husband was fire-watching nearby. “I saw my wife about five minutes before,” her husband Harry told an Echo reporter. “I went into the house and said to her ‘It’s getting quieter. I shall be seeing you soon.’ … I then went and stood near the shop of my daughter, for whom I was firewatching, and heard a big explosion, the force of which blew my hat off and stunned and deafened me. When I returned to the house where my wife was spending the night, I saw that it had collapsed about her, and at once feared the worst.” Their daughter, Violet Beatrice Haines, was a dispensing chemist, and her shop was at 19 Burgess Road.
George Pointer was the leader of Rescue Party No 8, called out at 3.45 to an incident at the corner of Cannon Street and St James Road, where a parachute mine had turned a house into a heap of debris. About fifty people had gathered and were trying to reach the casualties, but because the debris was very unstable, so Mr Pointer cleared the site of “all civilians and soldiers who were further endangering the lives of the trapped persons.” (Civilian Gallantry Awards, case no 1741). Cries for help could be heard from people trapped in the basement where they had been sheltering, and Mr Pointer shone his torch deep into the rubble until he discovered their approximate position. He then began tunnelling toward them. It took 3 ½ hours to reach them, and although other members of his team helped, “he took upon himself the very dangerous job of working under the debris for long periods and refused relief.” He received the BEM for his actions.
Dr Marketa Diamant Desser was Resident Medical Officer at the Children’s Hospital, called out to this incident in Cannon Street. She crawled through a small hole to administer morphia. When Mobile Unit No 4 arrived, “she handed over to the Doctor in Charge and returned back to the Children’s Hospital. During this time bombs were still falling.” (Civilian Gallantry Awards, case no 1811) Dr Desser was a Czechoslovakian “refugee from Nazi aggression” who had come to England via Vienna in 1931. She became in British Citizen in March 1948.
The Doctor in Charge of Mobile Unit No 4 was Dr Kathleen Evelyn Slaney. The unit left the Isolation Hospital at 3.50am, with Dr Slaney driving ahead of an ambulance carrying three nurses, a driver and two others. They had to stop on Church Street, Shirley while parachute mines fell. In Cannon Street they found that two women (Mrs Walters and Mrs Lawler) were trapped in the basement they were using as a shelter, under debris and thick beams, which had to be sawn through. Dr Slaney crawled through the shifting rubble to administer morphia and stimulants. Three hours later, the women were freed and sent to hospital. Dr Slaney was a general practioner married to a fellow doctor, William Bullock, volunteering part time for the Civil Defence First Aid Post Service. She seems to have used both her married and maiden names. She received a King's Commendation for her actions, 21 November 1941.
In Luccombe Road, Beatrice Sims was found by neighbour W L Pulman sitting on a pile of debris near a badly-damaged shelter “in a very distressed state … She pointed to the shelter and said ‘my husband and baby are down there’ … [She had only] a day or two before returned from a nursing home with her newly born baby” Both husband, Douglas Albert Sims and baby Gloria Anita were dead. Beatrice had been badly injured, and died herself the next day.
Albert Edward Roberts, the landlord of the Highfield Hotel in Highfield Lane, died the same day at the Royal South Hants Hospital.
The Echo mentions incidents in nearby villages, showing how Southampton residents were taking refuge in neighbouring districts.
At Hill Farm, Durley, two couples from Southampton were killed:
Maurice Albert Vare and his wife Rita Rosetta, of 163 Dimond Road, Bitterne
and Rita’s brother Norman Henry Bartholomew and his wife Mona Alice Joan, of 36 Wellbeck Avenue. Maurice and Norman are listed on the 1939 register at 163 Dimond Road: Maurice was a storekeeper at Vickers, and Norman an aircraft fitter. Norman was not yet married, and Rita was registered as a “Voluntary Helper” at Corfe Mullen.
Their host Charles Henry Rutter and his baby daughter Gillian also died.
There are only three other casualties on the Droxford Roll of Honour.
At Fernyhurst, Rownhams, 4 evacuees from Gosport were killed, remembered a year later in the Portsmouth papers by family and Rownhams schoolmates:
Eileen Dorothy Mary Horn
Ada Lilian Burley
Amy Irene Burley
Colleen Margaret Aileen Moore
Eileen is listed on the Southampton Civilian Roll of Honour, and her cousins Ada and Amy, and friend Colleen on the Romsey and Stockbridge Roll.
At Chilworth:
James George Dowden, of 5 Walnut Avenue, Swaythling, died “near the blacksmith’s forge, Chilworth.”
At Post Office, Ower, two Southampton couples:
Agnes Rebecca Fletcher, and her husband William Charles Fletcher, of 17 Cambridge Street, Shirley,
and
Victor Budd, and his wife Rose , of 108 Bellemoor Road, Shirley
had taken shelter with
Reginald Herbert Shone, his wife
Lily Shone (the postmistress), and their seven-year old daughter Wanda Joan Shone
along with the Shone’s neighbour Georgina Mouland, aged 83, who had once been postmistress herself.

23 June 1941
Beatrice Lily Sims died of injuries received the previous day in Luccombe Road.
Hubert William Field had been in Highfield Lane on the night of the 22nd. He died of his injuries at the Royal South Hants Hospital.

24 June 1941
Maurice Sidney Hull died at the Royal South Hants Hospital. He had lost both legs when a parachute mine landed across them on the night of 22 June. The mine did not explode. 68 year old Albert Henry Hemming, firewatching nearby, ran to Mr Hull’s aid, getting him indoors into the light, and applying pressure and tourniquets to stem the blood. Head warden Frank Cross stated “I served in the Royal Army Medical Corps for 15 years and I saw no better work during the whole of the last war when I was with a Field Ambulance.” Mr Hemming had been a member of the St John Ambulance Brigade when he had lived in Birmingham and had obviously lost none of his skills. He was Commended in the London Gazette, 26 September 1941.

28 June 1941
Mary Jane Cox. aged 79, died at the Borough Hospital from injuries received 21 June at 38 Cedar Road. The house was empty in 1939, with a note “evacuated”: Mary Jane was registered with her daughter Elsie M Herrington and family, in Poole.

8 July 1941
“Men, women and children were killed during this raid, which was short, but intense… Buildings either damaged or destroyed included two churches, one of which was gutted, several schools, two banks, public houses and dwelling houses.” (Southern Daily Echo 8 May 1941)
In the back garden of 12 Pewsey Place, backing onto Warwick Road, two bombs fell close together. One scored a direct hit on a reinforced concrete shelter, where Walter Des Reaux Le Page and his wife Florence, from 11 Warwick Road, were killed, together with their daughter Betty Kathleen Cass and her four-week-old daughter Josephine Anne Cass. The Echo reported that “a woman friend, who came to Southampton a few days ago for the christening of the baby, was also killed.”
For some reason, Walter and Florence Le Page were not included on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission civilian roll of honour. A death notice appeared in the Southern Daily Echo, Thursday 10 July 1941 for “Walter des Reaux and Florence Louise Le Page, of Ropias, Warwick Road, Southamton, also Betty Kathleen Cass and Baby Josephine. Funeral at Highfield Church 11 am Friday.”
Also in the shelter were Gertrude Maria George and her son Harold Leonard, of 19 Pewsey Place, and an “Army Sergeant” visiting the Le Pages, who may be identified with Gunner Charles William Ainsworth, who is buried in South Stoneham Cemetery.
Mabel Dorah Frecknall, her two year old daughter Jean Elizabeth, and four year old son Terence Bryan Frecknall died at 11 Victory Crescent.
Theodore Godden Hoskins, his wife Fanny Ella Olive, and their 15 year old son John William Hoskins, died at 58 Waterloo Road]]], together with Fanny’s invalid brother Warwick Albert Blakeway
PC Henry William Gordon Wells was sent from Shirley Police Station to an incident where a HE bomb had fallen in the gardens behind Nelson Road, Shirley, trapping people in their shelters. He freed a woman buried under wreckage blown into a shelter, put out a fire on the roof of a public house, and released a male casualty from a damaged house, all while bombs were still falling and before the official rescue squad arrived. Donald Shaw, at 2 Nelson Road, was the male casualty, made a statement (Civilian Gallantry Awards case no. 1747) that “I was unable to see who was responsible for the work but I remember that one man used cheering expressions which helped me to bear the pain.” PC Wells was Commended for his bravery.
John Hibberd, the landlord of the Sawyer’s Arms, Nelson Road, was killed there. His wife was taken to the Borough Hospital, where she died 14 July.
Two men, neighbours, died of injuries received in Firgrove Road in the Borough Hospital:
19 year old Dennis Minett
and firewatcher Bertie William John Shepherd
At 10 Trinity Road, three generations of a family, and their lodger, were in the basement when the house was hit. 91 year old Henrietta Jackman, and her grandson, Arthur Walter Braxton lost their lives: Arthur’s mother Henrietta Braxton was “extricated alive” but did not survive. Nor did George Lambourne.
Round the corner, a bomb fell on 15 East Park Terrace, killing brothers Eric John and Louis Theodore Piekaar aged 9 and 14. Their mother, Rose, was posted missing but had survived.
Another direct hit, on an Anderson shelter in Campbell Road, Northam, killed Alfred Edwin Dear and his wife Catherine, of 10 Union Road, their next door neighbour George Good
Brothers Claude and William Charles Preston, were caught in their Campbell Street house when three bombs fell close together nearby. Their recently widowed sister, Ethel, who had already taken shelter next door, was unhurt.
St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, Woolston, built only two years before, was gutted, leaving “the outside shell and the blackened rafters.” The curate had dashed into the burning building and “saved the Blessed Sacrament intact and many of the sacred vessels.”
Further up Portsmouth Road, at 146, died Mary Long and her husband Robert Henry
Round the corner, at Pasadena, Archery Grove Frederick Patrick O’Donnell and his wife Florence May lost their lives
Baby Roger David Hartnell died at 3 Cornwall Road, Midanbury.

9 July 1941
John Biffin died at the Royal South Hants Hospital of injuries received in St Andrew’s road the previous night

14 July 1941
Violet Blanche Hibberd died at the Borough Hospital, six days after her husband John.

20 and 21 September 1941
“Bombs which fell on a South Coast town on Saturday night ended a ten-weeks respite from air raids” (Southern Daily Echo 22 September 1941)
There were no fatalities, although Mrs Elizabeth Maud Summers, aged 66, died from a heart attack in her daughter’s air raid shelter at 48 Henry Road. Just two people were admitted to hospital. They were Mrs Vera Florence Stephens, whose parents lived at 15 Heatherdene Road, and who slipped down the steps of an air raid shelter and broke her arm; and Miss Joan Burt of 7 Nile Road, who was struck on the head by a piece of debris.
The bombs fell on Highfield, described vaguely as a “residential suburb which suffered in a previous raid.” “Demolition squads have been working for weeks pulling down the remains of damaged houses, and the bombs on Saturday night helped on their work.”
Special Constable Ennis Hugh Gudgeon and his wife Ada were in bed at 28 Omdurman Road, in a back downstairs room, when the alert sounded. “Next I heard a whizzing noise. My wife shouted ‘Cover your head!’ But before I could do anything the room seemed to collapse on us. The whole of the fireplace was blown into the room, masonry and plaster falling onto the bed… It was a marvel that neither my wife nor I was injured.”
Making their way to the garden shelter, they found their neighbour, Mrs Mavis G Forbes, already there. She had been alone at no. 26, which was wrecked. Mr and Mrs Finlay Munro Curror had moved away from no. 24 “only a few hours before the raid.”
Cecil Ebborn, of 18 Nile Road, had evacuated his wife and children. He slept in his garden Anderson shelter during the week, and visited them at the weekend. A bomb destroyed the shelter where he normally slept.
Frederick Stocker had only just been able to open his boot repair shop at 33 Highfield Lane, after a previous raid, only to be bombed out again. He nevertheless was still at the property in 1946.
And Harry Bush was watching “the searchlight and gunfire display” from his back door at 9 Chaplin Street, when he heard a whistling noise. “I felt as if a hammer had hit me on the back of the neck, and I was thrown to the ground. I got up, dazed but unscratched, and found the devil of a big crater at the bottom of the garden. the old place has been knocked about again, but you can tell my pals – and Hitler – that I’m not quitting!” The Echo calls him a “tough old fellow”: he was 67 years old.

Air Raid Warden William Thomas Bennett was killed at 2 Spring Cottage, Hardley, Hythe, when a stick of bombs was dropped “on a country village.”

19 October 1941
Home Guard Lieutenant Andrew George Henry Bull was killed in an accident during an anti-invasion exercise on the Isle of Wight. He was riding pillion behind Motor Cyclist Messenger Beauchamp Valentine Killeen when their machine crashed into a Bren gun carrier. They died soon afterwards at the Military Hospital, Albany Barracks, Parkhurst. The ambulance that took them there was “on a journey to pick up imaginary casualties.” Andrew is remembered on the Southampton Crematorium Memorial as there was no crematorium on the Isle of Wight until 1959.

5 March 1942
“All quiet” in Southampton
“TWO DOCKS ACCIDENTS: Men believed drowned. No further light has been thrown today on two suspected cases of drowning in Southampton Docks a few days ago… Norman Morrison … ordinary seaman … missed his footing in the black-out and fell into the water. On Friday morning it was reported to the Docks police that William Galton, aged 42, James Street, Southampton, was missing from fire-watching duty at the Docks. It is feared he may have fallen into the water. A dry-dock was subsequently pumped out, but no trace of the man was found.” (Southern Daily Echo 9 March 1942.)
William Galton’s body was found by a Cowes fisherman near Dean’s elbow buoy on 2 May 1942, and the inquest was held on May 5. Fellow fire-watchers said he had reported for duty at the fire-watchers’ post at nos 22 and 23 sheds at about 5pm on March 5, where he remained until about 7pm, when he said he would go to the next post, at No. 35 berth, and would take his supper to eat there. William was last seen alive leaving that post at about 8.30pm.
His body was identified by “papers and articles” and the post-mortem showed that he had drowned.
William Lewis Frank Galton’s death while on duty as a fire-watcher placed him on the roll of honour, even though he did not die as a direct result of enemy action.

18 April 1942
Air Raid Warden and Firewatcher John Thomas Buck died at the Borough Hospital as the result of injuries received on 16 February at Manor Farm Road. His death certificate gives his cause of death as “meningitis, accelerated by a fall, accident.” The inquest took place 22 April 1942.

There had been a raid in the early hours of the morning, and the Echo reported that "nearly a dozen people were killed" in a large house on the northern side of the town (References to a Miss Beattie, warden of a girls hostel, place this in Winn Road, where a YWCA hostel stood). The Medical Officer's report says there were six fatalities during this raid. However, apart from Mr Buck, there were no civilian casualties on the Commonwealth War Graves register for this date in Southampton.

24 May 1942
James Henry Sivier a baker’s assistant aged 17, accidently drowned off Grange Road during night time training. He was a private in the 13th Hampshire Battalion Home Guard, and they had been trying to swim across one of the lakes near Netley Abbey, in uniform but without rifles, and using logs to support them. James let go of his log, “and started to swim alone. He got into difficulties and disappeared. His comrades tried to rescue him, but were unsuccessful and his body was recovered by means of dragging operations.” (Southern Daily Echo 25 May 1942.)

Sunday 21 June and Monday 22 June 1942
“During the shortest night of the year neighbouring towns [Southampton and Eastleigh] in a southern area had their longest and sharpest raid for many months.” (Southern Daily Echo Monday 22 June 1942) “Both towns were lit up by flares … Showers of incendiaries were dropped while the flares were falling, but most of the fires they started were put out by Civil Defence workers, ably assisted by street fire guards.”
13 year old Pamela Bunn, was trapped when a reinforced concrete shelter collapsed when a large bomb fell at the bottom of their garden in Saxholm Way. Pinned down by debris and an iron bunk she chatted and sang “The White Cliffs of Dover” and “The Band Played On” while the rescue workers pulled the shelter to pieces and lifted the blocks away. Shocked, but unhurt, Pamela was taken to a neighbour’s house, and the rescue squad continued their work. Sadly, although her Aunt was brought out alive, her mother Violet Constance Bunn did not survive. Pamela’s father, James Bunn, received head injuries.
Major R Ross-White of 37 Burlington Road, was taking shelter under an earth bank when a bomb fell. One of his daughters told the Echo reporter that her father would not use a shelter as he had been buried “as a result of a shell burst” in the last war. He suffered an injury to his hip.
These are the other casualties that night:
At 8 Richmond Gardens, Portswood
Walter Charles Frederick Webb, His wife Dora Gertrude, and their two-year-old daughter Janet
At 9 Richmond Gardens, Portswood
Ernest Sydney Frank Wright, his wife Doris May, and their four-year old daughter Stella Elizabeth
The Wrights and the Webbs were in the same shelter, which had an almost direct hit.
At 11 Richmond Gardens, Portswood
When Peggy Montgomery left her parents Thomas Mongomery, and his wife Harriet at the back of the house to go to the front door a bomb brought the house to the ground. Peggy went to hospital suffering from shock and other injuries, but her parents and her sister Dorothy Mary did not survive.
Nearby, at 8 Donnington Grove
Home Guard [[[https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/3112444/victor-oliver/|Victor Oliver and his wife Winifred Betty “who were married only a short time ago” (Southern Daily Echo 22 June 1942)
At 5 University Road
Air Raid Warden Robert Stanley Sedgman who lived at 22 Hilldown Road. A bomb fell close to the spot where he was patrolling. The following day, the Echo reported that he had been a director of Herbert Ferryman Ltd, wholesale chemists for seven years. He left a wife and three young daughters. Mr Sedgmen had been an enthusiastic first aider and Air Raid warde, and had just joined one of the new Home Guard anti-aircraft units.
Acrross the river in Bitterne Park and Midanbury:
At Bitterne Brewery:
William James Sly , the landlord of 34 years. His mother had held the licence before him.
At 42 High View Way
Sarah Ann Welsh
At 44 High View Way, Midanbury
Evelyn Edna Welsh, her husband https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/3112604/john-henry-charlton-welsh/|John Henry Charlton]]]
At 235 Vale Drive, Midanbury
Mary Notton, her husnad Walter William and their four year old son Michael
At 236A Vale Drive
Grace Evelyn May Page
At 238 Vale Drive
Gwendoline Vera Hatcher
At 7 River View Road
Ralph Fenton Bulled, of 91 Manor Farm Road
Injured at 9 River View Road
Eight year old Anthony John Blake who died the same day in the Royal South Hants Hospital
At 15 Bullar Road
Home Guard Arthur Henry Paine
At 89 Chesil Avenue
Eight-year old Fay Lily Martin
At 130 Dean Road
Ada Adelaide Wiltshire
At 128 Dean Road
Alfred Richard Wells
At 134 Dean Road
Edith Standen and her husband Frederick Charles
ARP post, 3 Merry Oak
Air Raid Warden Edward Archibald Frank Newman Mr Newman had taken cover in a slit trench he had dug himself outside the post, but was hit in the back by an incendiary, which killed him. He was a full-time warden from the beginning of the war, highly thought of by his colleagues and superiors. (Southern Daily Echo 23 June 1942, p 5)
His daughter, Mary Newman, had been awarded the George Medal 22 February 1941 (see 23 November 1940 above)

Injured at 15 Temple Gardens, Woolston
William Gordon Rollett, who died the same day at the Royal South Hants Hospital.

Injured at 23 Ashby Road, Maybush
Millicent Jane Marshall, who died at the Borough Hospital

Thursday 25 June 1942
Arthur Ernest Johnson died at the Borough Hospital from injuries received 21 June at 6 Donnington Grove.

Monday 29 June 1942
May Georgina Evelyn Humphrey died in the Royal South Hants Hospital from injuries received 21 June at 40 High View Way.

Wednesday 1 July 1942
Doris Gwendoline Martin died in the Royal South Hants Hospital of injuries received 21 June at 89 Chesil Avenue. Her eight year old daughter Fay had been killed in the raid.

24 August 1942
"Planes over. Some gunfire. 3 enemy planes sighted. 1 bomb dropped at Sholing." Walter Kingston
Mabel Winifred Marten, of the Women’s Voluntary Service, died at 33 Deacon Road.

19 October 1942
Robert George Diffey, a National Fire Service messenger, died in the Royal South Hants Hospital from injuries received earlier that day in Totton. He was 17 years old.

23 January 1943
Flora Lay died at St John's Nursing Home, Rownhams, from injuries received 11 April 1941 at 206 Priory Road, St Denys.

25 February 1943
George Isaac Abrahams, aged 79. George was a firewatcher at Insurance Offices in Cumberland Place when he surprised 17 year-old Cyril Charles Lakeland attempting a burglary. Cyril hit him over the head with a bayonet he had taken “to open the drawer if it was locked.” (Liverpool Daily Post 5 March 1943) George died in hospital of his injuries. Cyril was charged with his murder, and the case was held at the Old Bailey 1-2 April 1943. As Cyril was under 18 at the time of the offense, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

21 July 1943
Harry George Richard Albray died at River View, Oliver Road, Swaythling, of injuries received 11 September 1940. He is listed on the Cunliffe Owen Roll of Honour.

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