4, Winster Drive, Thurmaston.

 

 

4, Winster Drive, Thurmaston.

 

 

St. Elwyn Manor Road, Thurmaston.

 

 

3, Brook Street, Thurmaston.

 

 

3, Brook Street, Thurmaston.

 

Raymond Thomas Armstrong, the youngest son of Tom Armstrong and his wife Lilian Armstrong, née Horton, joined the army in February, 1942. As Private, 5891895, Armstrong, he was killed in action in North Africa on the 29th November 1942, whilst serving with the 5th Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment. He was 19 years' old.

At the time of his death Private Armstrong's wife, Winifred, was living at 71, Cannon Street, Leicester. It is believed that she later lived at Thurmaston. Mr. and Mrs. Tom Armstrong lived at 61, Victoria Road North, Leicester.

Raymond Thomas Armstrong is buried in Massicault War Cemetery, Tunisia, Grave IV. A. 13.

 

John Campion Asher, of Kirnwood, Manor Road, Thurmaston, served in the Royal Air Force during the war. As Corporal, 1190374, J. C. Asher, he served at RAF Biggin Hill as part of the fighter station's ground crew. He later served on the Rock of Gibraltar, and finally at Maison Blanche, Algiers, Algeria, where he was serving in July 1945, prior to his return to the U.K.

The photograph at left is believed to have been taken during November 1945, probably after John Campion Asher's demobilisation at Blackpool, Lancashire, England.

To see a larger picture of this man click on his name below

John Campion Asher

 

 

Arthur James Auckland was a serving soldier from at least 1941 until at least 1943. He and his wife, Eva, lived at 98, Main Street, Thurmaston. It is believed that Arthur James Auckland was from Nottinghamshire.

 

 

22, Sandiacre Drive, Thurmaston.

 

 

8, Barkby Thorpe Road, Thurmaston.

 

 

484, Melton Road, Thurmaston.

 

 

See Kettlewell, Elsie May

 

 

Ronald Frederick Baldwin was born in about 1921, the son of Frederick William Baldwin. Before the war he had worked as a plumber. However, in 1942 he was serving as seaman PMX 79772 in the Royal Navy. During the war he married a young woman who was serving in the ATS, Elsie May Kettlewell (q.v.). Ronald Frederick Baldwin was still serving with His Majesty's Forces in 1945, at which date his home address was 35, Hillcroft Close, Thurmaston.

 

 

252, Main Street, Thurmaston.

 

 

Humberstone Lane, Thurmaston.

 

 

54, Hillcroft Close, Thurmaston.

 

 

In June 1942 Corporal Alfred Barratt, of 11, Manor Road, Thurmaston, who was serving with the Royal Army Service Corps, was captured at Tobruk, North Africa. He was taken to an Italian prisoner of war camp, but later moved to a prison camp in Germany. He lived with his wife at 11, Manor road, Thurmaston.

 

 

Douglas Bates served in the Royal Artillery. He was a brother of Ernest Roy Bates (q.v.). Douglas Bates died on the 21st June 1988, aged 71 years. His wife, Flossie Eva Bates, died on the 9th December 1991, aged 75 years. The couple are interred in Thurmaston Cemetery.

 

 

11, Winster Drive, Thurmaston.

 

 

Ernest Roy Bates was born on the 11th March 1920. Roy Bates, as he was known, was a serving soldier between 1942-1945. He served overseas in North Africa, acting as a driver of ammunition trucks. He and his wife, Phyllis, lived at 13, Brook Street, Thurmaston, and later at number 11 in the same street. They also resided in Havelock Cottages, 13, Garden Street; and 9, Unicorn street, Thurmaston. After the war Roy Bates worked at Baines and Whitmore, food wholesalers of Charles street, Leicester. Roy Bates' brothers, Douglas, Ellis and Neville (q.v.) served in the armed forces during the war.

Roy and Phyllis Bates had six children. Roy Bates became a widower on the 4th December 1998, upon the death of Phyllis. Roy Bates passed away in 1999, some six months after his wife.

 

 

Ellis Bates served in the Royal Engineers. He was a brother of Ernest Roy Bates (q.v.).

 

 

Neville Bates served as a plant operator with the Royal Air Force's 5002 Squadron Airfield Construction unit. He was a brother to Ernest Roy Bates (q.v.).

 

 

108, Main Street, Thurmaston.

 

 

Driver, T/199189, Sydney Beaumont Driver, Royal Army Service Corps. He died on the 6th October 1942, age 29 years.

 

 

306, Humberstone Lane, Thurmaston.

 

 

24, Berkeley Street, Thurmaston.

 

 

91, Humberstone Lane, Thurmaston.

 

 

79, Checkland Road, Thurmaston.

 

 

John Vincent Berrington was born on the 30th August 1923. From 1942 to 1946 he served with Royal Air Force Coastal Command as a Wireless Operator/Air Gunner. For some time he served with 111 Operational Training Unit (OTU), which was equipped with Consolidated Liberator aircraft that were fitted with Leigh Lights for night-time anti-submarine operations. However, most of his service was spent with 120 Squadron, which also operated Liberators from Ireland and Iceland.

Jack Berrington, as he is known, formerly lived on Charnwood Avenue and Dovedale Avenue, Thurmaston, and is a local resident to this day. His wife, Grace Lillian Noble, daughter of Percy Noble (see WWI index), was born in Thurmaston. The couple were married in 1944.

The photograph at left shows Jack Berrington wearing the R.A.F. Air Signallers badge that was introduced in 1943.

 

 

Trooper, 7951433, Walter Arthur Bexon, 51st (The Leeds Rifles), Royal Tank Regiment, Royal Armoured Corps. He died on the 28th May 1943, age 21 years.

 

 

Charles Douglas Birks was born in about 1914, the son of Charles Birks. He married Florence Kathleen Wallis, sister of Bert E. Wallis (q.v.). The Wallis family lived in Forest Avenue, Thurmaston. Charles Douglas Birks was an engineer patternmaker by trade. During the war he served with the Leicestershire Regiment.

 

 

19, Roundway Road, Thurmaston.

 

 

Private, 4863554, Arthur Bishop, served with the Leicestershire Regiment. He died on 10/05/1943. He was the son of Ernest and Nellie Bishop of Methuen Avenue, Thurmaston and husband of Irene Bishop. He is buried in Thurmaston Cemetery.

 

 

161, Humberstone Lane, Thurmaston.

 

 

Able Seaman Albert Blount, R.N., was trained at the shore station HMS Royal Arthur (Skegness), after volunteering for service on the 6/11/1939. This was followed by training at HMS Pembroke, Chatham.

On the 1/3/1940, he transferred to the minelaying ship HMS Princess Victoria, which was based at Immingham. The Princess Victoria was sunk on the 17/051940, off the entrance to the River Humber, after she struck a mine, with the loss of four officers and thirty-three men, including her Captain.

Albert Blount survived the loss of his ship and returned to Chatham, but was recalled to man a boat that was sent to evacuate troops from the beaches of Dunkirk. On the 11/6/1940 he began serving at the mine-laying base HMS Trelawney, Kyle of Loch Alsh, Scotland, where he served until 7/3/1941, when he returned to Chatham. He later transferred to HMS Osprey, near Dunoon. After receiving training in ASDIC submarine detection, he joined the battleship HMS Anson and was with her until 10/7/1943, during which time he travelled in her to Murmansk in the Soviet Union. From December 1943 until his discharge from the Navy in November 1945 Albert Blount served in the Mediterranean aboard a minesweeper.

Albert Blount died on the 26/05/1966, aged 47. He is buried in Thurmaston Cemetery.

 

 

13, Alexandra Street, Thurmaston.

 

 

22, Hardy's Avenue, Thurmaston.

 

 

68, Churchill Road, Thurmaston.

 

 

Joseph William Bradford was a serving soldier in 1941 and 1942. He and his wife, Bertha, lived at 2, Alexandra Street, Thurmaston. He was still serving in His Majesty's Forces at the end of the war.

 

 

36, Highway Road, Thurmaston.

 

In January 1942 Bernard and May Bramley of 46, Vicarage Lane, Belgrave, Leicester, received news that their son George Bernard Bramley was missing on war service. They were later to discover that their son, a leading steward in the Royal Navy, had been killed in action aboard the Flower class corvette HMS Salvia, on the 24th December 1941.

HMS Salvia was part of the escort of convoy TA-5, sailing from Tobruk to Alexandria, when she was hit by one of four torpedoes fired by U-559. HMS Salvia broke in two and sank rapidly with the loss of all of her officers and crew.

George Bernard Bramley, who had joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in September, 1940, had been apprenticed with commercial artists Ward and Cramphorn. He had attended Leicester's Gateway School and had studied art at the Leicester College of Art and Technology. Sometime after his death his parents moved to Thurmaston.

Steward, P/LX 24784, George Bernard Bramley, is commemorated on the Portsmouth War Memorial, Panel 58, Column 1.

 

William Richard Breward, a butcher by trade, lived at 6, Church Hill, Thurmaston, with his wife Jessie. In 1941 he was serving in the army.

 

 

413, Syston Road, Thurmaston.

 

 

18, Methuen Avenue, Thurmaston.

 

 

4, Canal Street, Thurmaston. Brother of Eric Brown.

 

 

Manor Road, Thurmaston. Brother of Allen Bernard Brown.

 

 

Kenneth Brown was a member of His Majesty's Forces in 1943. He and his wife, Florrie, lived at 138, Humberstone Lane, Thurmaston.

 

 

Sergeant, 629871, Leslie William Henry Brown, Royal Air Force died on the 25th March 1944, age 24 years.

 

 

71, Checkland Road, Thurmaston.

 

 

7th House Manor Road, Thurmaston.

 

 

78, Oakland Avenue, Thurmaston.

 

 

78, Oakland Avenue, Thurmaston.

 

 

30, Hill Rise, Thurmaston.