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Herbert Toft , World War One , WW1 Information on the graves located at St. Marks Church Worsley Manchester UK Herbert Toft The National Archives files for Herbert Toft can be accessed at this link - National Archives HERBERT TOFT Lt. 7th East Lancs. Regiment 16906; 3rd Royal Warwicks Regiment and later 821 Sq. RAF d. 12 October 1918 aged 22 Much of what is known about Herbert Toft comes from three newspaper reports about him published before and after his death. MONTON OFFICER ACCIDENTALLY KILLED The death has taken place at Lincoln, as the result of a flying accident, of Lieut. Herbert Toft, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, attached to the Royal Air Force, and second son of Mr. and Mrs. William Toft, 16 Pine Grove, Monton. Lieut. Toft, who was a flying instructor, was in the air as pilot with a pupil on Saturday, when something went wrong with the plane, and the machine nose-dived to earth. He was killed instantly, although his companion escaped almost uninjured. The sad end has created deep regret among a large circle of friends. Lieut. Toft was only 22 years of age, having joined the army in November 1914, before he had reached the military age. He enlisted in the East Lancashire Regiment as a private, and in May of the following year crossed to France. He was given his commission abroad in November 1916, being gazetted to the Royal Warwicks. He took part in much of the fighting last year, and on May 4th was wounded at Bullecourt, his services on that day being recognised by mention in Sir Douglas Haig's despatches. On recovering in this country from the wounds he became attached to the Royal Air Force, and in June last year was given his wings. His progress in the new branch of warfare he had entered upon gained for him the appointment of instructor, which, as stated, has ended in his untimely death. He was educated at the Monton Day School, under Mr. Tyson, and before the war was an engineering apprentice at Messrs. Nasmyth, Wilson and Co., Patricroft. He was a playing member of Monton Lacrosse Club, and a patrol leader in the 2nd Worsley troop of Boy Scouts. The funeral took place on Wednesday afternoon at Worsley Church, a service having previously been held at the Baptist Church, Parrin lane. Several of his fellow officers from Lincoln were present, and a firing party from Heaton Park attended and paid the last military salute. The Boy Scouts were also represented. Lieut. Toft's elder brother, Lieut. Walter Toft is in the Manchester regiment. He enlisted as a private in the Royal Scots in 1914. [Local newspaper] A second article speaks with pride of the commissions given to the two local brothers. MONTON BROTHER OFFICERS Two Monton brothers who enlisted in the Army as privates have recently been granted commissions. They are Walter and Herbert Toft, sons of Mr. and Mrs. W. Toft, 16 Pine Grove, Monton. Both enlisted in November 1914. Walter joined the Royal Scots, and after six month's training in Edinburgh, he went with his regiment to the Dardanelles. He landed in Gallipoli in June 1915, and then took part in several stiff engagements with the Turks. After the evacuation of Gallipoli he went to Egypt and returned to England in August 1916, and after passing through the Cadet School at Newmarket, was gazetted second-lieutenant in the Manchester Territorial Reserve Battalion, and is now with that regiment somewhere in France. Herbert enlisted in the East Lancashire Regiment early in November 1914, and after six months' training on Salisbury Plain, went out to France. Like his brother, he has seen much fighting in different parts of the line. He had not been in France very long before he was raised to the rank of sergeant, though at the time only 19 years of age. He received his commission in November 1916, and was gazetted second-lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and is now in France. Both are members of the Monton Lacrosse Club, and were keen on the Boy Scout movement in their boyhood. [Local newspaper] In the 1901 census, Herbert (aged 3) was living at 90 Parrin Lane, Monton, with his family. His father was William (37), a Tobacconist and Fancy Goods Importer. His wife was Annie (40) and they had two other sons, Walter (6) and William Jnr. (3). By 1911, the family had moved to 16 Pine Grove, Monton. His father was now 48 and his mother 54. The eldest son, Walter, was 16 and at school, and Herbert was 14, an office boy in a Shipping House. William and Annie married in the last quarter of 1893, her maiden name being Dowler. In his will, Herbert was of 16 Pine Grove, Monton. He officially died at Scampton, Lincs., on 12 October 1918 - a 1st Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force. He left his effects of just over £167 to his father William, a commercial traveller. Probate was granted on 6 November. On 13 April 1918, he had been transferred to the newly formed (on 1 April 1918) Royal Air Force, 821st Squadron, 23rd Wing. He may have been born on 22 May 1896 in the Barton District. Although his family had been non-conformist, he was buried in St.Mark's Churchyard. The funeral service had been held at Winton Baptist Church, on Parrin Lane, at 2.30pm. The official church entry reads: Burial: 16 Oct 1918 St Mark, Worsley, Lancashire, England Herbert Toft - Age: 22 years Abode: Northern General Hospital, Lincoln Grave: 22 N.P. Notes: Under Burial Laws Amendment Act Buried by: S.J. Wilson To summarise the information above, Herbert first joined the 7th East Lancashire Regiment with the number 16906. After training, he was posted to France with his regiment, landing there on 18th July 1915. He quickly rose to the rank of acting Sergeant before being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant to the 3rd Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 11 November 1916. On 13 April 1918, he was transferred to the newly formed Royal Air Force, but sadly died on 12 October 1918 as a result of a flying accident whilst flying with a pupil. Researched and written by Paul R Speakman Back

The Ellesmere Crypt at St. Marks Church, Worsley, Manchester. The Egerton Family. Francis Egerton, Earl of Ellesmere The Ellesmere Family Crypt Click on image to expand Home

Worsley August 1945 Below is an aerial photograph of Worsley taken by the RAF in August 1945. Courtesy of Historic England Red Dot - St Mark's Church Orange Dot - The Bridgewater Canal Green Dots - Roe Green CC /Worsley CC Cyan Dot - The Ellesmere Memorial, Leigh Road Magenta Dot - Worsley New Hall Blue Dot - Grounds of Worsley New Hall (Now RHS) Purple Dot - Site of the McCrea's House (Destroyed 1940 blitz) - Link Yellow Dot - V1 Crash Site Xmas Eve 1944 - Link Home

Manchester Evening News February 1971 Manchester Evening News 1971 The below article is from the Manchester Evening News on 27th Feburary 1971. Home

Information on St Mark's Church, Worsley, Manchester, UK, Church of England, Author Paul Speakman St Mark's Church Worsley The Burne Jones Window The West Window Peter Rasbotham Window The Pugin Glass Pugin and Barry The Sebastopol Lace The Reredos The Memorial Tomb The Pulpit and Lectern The Nave The Ellesmere Chalice The Church Bells Kneelers The Visit of Queen Victoria Richard Knill Freeman Plan of the Church The Truth The Baptismal Window The St. Hilda Window The Angel Scrolls Powell glass The Ellesmere Clock The White Frontal Salvator Mundi The Choir Stalls The Baptismal Font The Choir The Organ A F Egerton Angels War Memorial James Attwood The Rectory Church Play 1983 Home

Information on the graves located at St. Marks Church Worsley Manchester. James Kee, World War Two James Kee JAMES KEE Fg.Off. RAF d. 28 October 1941 aged 24 42713 Robert Kee was Vicar of St.John's, Mosley Common, from 1936 to 1962, and he officiated at several events at St.Mark's during the war years. JAMES KEE was his only son and was born to Janet on 21 July 1917 in Belfast, Co. Antrim, Ireland. After school, he went to Cambridge University where he was admitted as Pensioner at Trinity College on 1 October. There he gained his B.A. Hons. in 1939. Robert (born 1885) died in 1962 and his wife Janet died in 1968. Both are buried in the graveyard at St. Mark's, together with their son, James, in whose memory a special Commonwealth Graves headstone stands before the family monument. On 18 September 1939, he received his commission into the RAF (General Duties Branch) and joined 101 Squadron on a short service commission as a pilot. On 20 April 1941, he was promoted to Flying Officer. 101 sqn., (originally disbanded in 1919), was reformed in 1938 at RAF Bircham Newton (Norfolk) as a bomber squadron, flying the Bristol Blenheim. In 1941, the squadron was equipped with the Vickers Wellington, and the following year with the Avro Lancaste219 Squadron was reformed at RAF Catterick in October 1939 and soon became a night fighter unit when it became fully operational. By October 1940, it relocated to RAF Redhill (Surrey), and from there to RAF Tangmere, and converted to the Bristol Beaufighter. By this time James Kee had been redeployed to the squadron and the Beaufighter, which was used initially as a night fighter and in a ground attack role. It had a crew of two - pilot, and a navigator/radio operator.On 28 October 1941, James Kee and T. G. F. Dixon took off in their Beaufighter, possibly from Tangmere, on a dusk patrol. Soon after take-off, the plane crashed about four miles west of Merston (Sussex) in the evening. Both F/O J. Kee and Sgt. T.G.F. Dixon were killed. Researched and written by Paul R Speakman Back

Information on the graves located at St. Marks Church Worsley Manchester. Keith Files, World War Two Keith Barnet Files Baptism: 5 Oct 1913, St Marks, Worsley, Lancs. Keith Barnet Files - [Child] of James Files & Ethel Born: 5 Sep 1913 Abode: Astley House Boothstown Occupation: Colliery Manager KEITH BARNET FILES Sgt. RAF d. 11 January 1941 aged 27 523740 In the course of World War 2, over 200 airmen lost their lives as a result of air accidents over the North Yorks. Moors. Their names are included on a Roll of Honour posted on the yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk website which carries a great deal of information about these incidents. KEITH BARNET FILES is one of those named. He was born on 5 September 1913 to James and Ethel Files (née Fogg) of Astley House, Boothstown, and baptised at St.Mark's one month later, on 5 October, by John H. Mason, the curate. In the baptism register, his father, James, was a colliery manager in the area. On 11 January 1941, a Lockheed Hudson, serial number N7298, took off from RAF Leuchars, but sadly did not return. The crew on board this flight was P/O Basil Lincoln Fox (aged 26 - pilot); Sgt. Keith Barnet Files (aged 27 - pilot/navigator); W/O/Air Gunner Sgt. William Robert Martin (aged 25); and P/O John McDonald Scott Wylie (aged 21 - Air Gunner). Keith Barnet Files is buried in the churchyard together with both his parents. Although his name and grave appear on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission 's website, he is therefore not to be found with the traditional war memorial stone above the grave. His mother died on 25 April 1933, aged 51, and his father in 1965, ages 86. On the 72nd anniversary of the fatal crash, in 2013, a memorial stone and plaque was dedicated to the lost airmen, close to the scene of the crash. It reads: In Remembrance When returning from a North Sea night time patrol, Hudson aircraft N7298 of 224 Sqn., Command, RAF Leuchars, crashed half a mile north of this point in the early hours of 11 January 1941. There was no fire and the crew of four, although injured, survived the crash. Tragically, they had died of exposure before discovery two days later. Pilot: P/O B. L. Fox - New South Wales, Australia aged 26 Navigator/Pilot: Sgt. K. B. Files - UK aged 27 WirelessOp/AG: W. R. Martin - UK aged 25 Airgunner: P/O J. Macdonald Scott Wylie - UK aged 21 They died in the cause of freedom The story surrounding this flight has been recorded in great detail by the yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk website and its manager, and the details below are taken from that website. The photo of Keith Barnet Files above was supplied to the website by his cousin Mr. Keith Files. The winter of 1940-41 was a very severe winter in the North of England with deep snow in the hills for many weeks. On this flight Hudson N7298 took off from Leuchars, Scotland at 01.17hrs on 11th January 1941 and flew in a south-easterly direction out into the North Sea to undertake a night time operational flight. The precise details of the flight are not fully known, as the RAF's crash card for the incident refers to the operation as being a "special task" and what this task was has not yet been learnt. One suggestion is that the crew had flown some fifty miles out into the North Sea from Leuchars looking for vessels trying to cut through minefields. What exactly happened then is not recorded, but the aircraft probably flew too far south. The crash investigation initially thought that during the flight the wireless equipment and direction finding equipment might have failed. The crew probably were unsure of their position and possibly flew a rough westerly course to make landfall in odrer to try and work out where they were, but then they should have headed along the coast. Instead of this, the aircraft drifted over land and struck high ground. The aircraft struck the top of the area of high ground on Warren Moor, above Kildale, in the early hours of the morning, but did not catch fire. The exact time for the crash is not known. This webpage and other accounts of the incident suggested that Warren Moor was covered in snow at the time of the accident but in 2013 a witness to the incident stated at the memorial service that there was in fact no snow present at the time but that the night was a stormy one and that the crew were flying in poor visibility. All four of the crew survived the crash and, although injured, they managed to scramble clear of the plane but probably later returned to it after the danger of fire had passed, to shelter from the weather. Sadly, all four men had died before they could be rescued. They had all died probably through a combination of their injuries and of exposure before being found at 16.30hrs on 12th January 1941. Their bodies were found under a wing of the Hudson huddled together. Local recollection recounts that the owners of nearby "Park Farm" thought that they heard voices on that night but as the weather was so bad they did not venture out to investigate. The crew must surely have all been seriously injured. Had they been able to explore their surroundings, they would have found the Kildale to Baysdale track (a few yards away) or farms just down from the moor top. I have been contacted by a local man, Mr Bell, whose father was farm manager at Baysdale Abbey during the War and he recalls his father telling him of seeing something odd on the moor the next morning which was noticed whilst he was tending to sheep in the valley bottom. Upon exploring, it became clear that it was an aircraft on the moor. He recalls his father being one of the first to the crash site and that a good clean up job was done by the RAF in the weeks after the accident. This story probably relates to the Hudson accident. The operations logbook lists all the flights made by other 224 Squadron aircraft and crews in the search for the missing Hudson, with six Hudsons undertaking flights - four in the late morning and two in the afternoon, with only one of these later aircraft carrying out a search as far south as was needed. This aircraft searched the coast around Scarborough and Flamborough Head and upon landing the crew reported that the weather was too bad to go inland on their search so returned to base. The death of Sgt. Keith Barnet Files is also recorded in the Roll of Honour in the scouts records, in which it is stated that he belonged to the 1st Manchester Grammar School Group and that he died whilst on active service. On 3 June 1927, he was one of a small number of boys from Manchester Grammar School who boarded the 'Mooltan' (P&O) in London for Gibraltar, with two school masters. Then, on 17 June, he arrived back in London with the school party on the 'Maloja' (P&O) which had originated from Sydney. His name also appears as a member of the Royal Aero Club. This record shows that Keith was living at "The Hurst" on Leigh Road and that he was an engineer. He received his certificate on 24 August 1937 at the Northern School of Aviation at Barton, flying a Hillson Praga (manufactured by F. Hills and Sons). Researched and written by Paul R Speakman Back

Information on the graves located at St. Marks Church Worsley Manchester. Leonard Hardman, World War Two Leonard Hardman LEONARD HARDMAN Sapper RE d.13/5/1945 aged 28 1649041 LEONARD HARDMAN was the son of Richard and Ethel (née Tennant) Hardman and was born in the third quarter of 1916 in Barton district. He was also the husband of Bertha (née Merritt) Hardman, of Boothstown, Manchester. They were married in the first quarter of 1940, in Barton registration district. His home address was in Farnworth, but he died at Southmead Hospital, Westbury. The role of the Royal Engineers was to maintain railways, roads, water supply and bridges. From 1940, they also disposed of bombs. Researched and written by Paul R Speakman Back

Information on the graves located at St. Marks Church Worsley Manchester. Norman Jenkins, World War Two Norman George Jenkins NORMAN GEORGE JENKINS Sub-Lt. RNR d.4/12/1939 aged 24 NORMAN JENKINS was a Sub-Lieutenant in the RNR, on the auxiliary patrol yacht, Zaza. He was the son of Arthur Henry and Elizabeth Jenkins of Folkestone. In the burial records, his address was 81 Chart Road, Folkestone. His parents may well have been Arthur Henry Jenkins and Lizzie (née Lane) who were married at St.Dionis, Parsons Green, Fulham, in 1909. His father originated from the Folkestone area and by 1911 his parents were living at 80 Chart Road, Folkestone. Norman was born in early 1915, and his birth was registered in Elham District, Kent. It is not known how Norman Jenkins died or even why he came to be buried at St.Mark's. Researched and written by Paul R Speakman Back

Harry Sheldon , World War One , WW1 Information on the graves located at St. Marks Church Worsley Manchester UK Harry Sheldon HARRY SHELDON Corporal Army Service Corps, 1st Army Anti-Aircraft Workshops d. 17 October 1918 age 30 M2/019643 Harry Sheldon was born on the 11th February 1888 and was baptised at St. Stephen's, Hulme, on the 4 March 1888, the son of John James Sheldon (a shipwright) and his wife, Lucy (née Kelly). They were living at 6 Park View, Hulme. By the time he was 13, in 1901, the family had moved to 9 Catherine Street, Winton. Harry had 4 brothers and 2 sisters. By 1911, he and the family were living at 3 Catherine Street, Winton. He was a blacksmith. He married Gertrude Lomax in the fourth quarter of 1918. A TRAGIC HOMECOMING The Winton soldier who died last week within a week of his wedding was Corpl. Harry Sheldon, and not Pte. J. Sheldon, as reported in our last issue. Deceased, who enlisted in the M. T. Section of the A. S. C. in November 1914, had been in France for 3 years and 9 months, and on October 6th came to his home, 3 Catherine Street, Winton. He was married on October 12th, and died on the 17th from pneumonia. The funeral took place on Tuesday of last week in the churchyard at Worsley, in which village he was born and lived for many years, attending the Church Schools as a boy. Deceased was 30 years of age, and before enlisting worked for the Manchester Ship Canal Company at Mode Wheel. His brother, Pte. J. Sheldon, also enlisted in the early days of the war, and has been invalided and discharged. The family are well-known in Worsley and the Eccles district, and deep sympathy is felt for them and for Sheldon's young widow, whose father died on the day her husband was buried. [Local newspaper] Harry Sheldon was buried in the churchyard on 22 October 1918. His grave number is A 335. His abode at the time of his death was Alfred Street Military Hospital, Harpurhey. The officiating minister was Frank Summers, Curate at St. James's, Hr. Broughton. The cause of death is not known but may have been because of illness or war related wounds in the UK. Researched and written by Paul R Speakman Back

Information on the graves located at St. Marks Church Worsley Manchester. Geoffrey Topham, World War Two Geoffrey Topham GEOFFREY TOPHAM Cpl RAF d.3/12/1941 aged 20 72127 GEOFFREY TOPHAM was the son of Harold Corless Topham and Winifred (née Hyde), of Chorlton- cum-Hardy, Manchester. His birth was registered in Barton district in early 1921. The circumstances of his death are difficult to verify, but it is possible that he may have been flying a Beaufighter I - T4703 - of No.1 OADU (Overseas Aircraft Delivery Unit). This aircraft had been reported as a loss for this day, having collided with Beaufighter T4715 on take-off at RAF Portreath, 27 OTU. However, his death was registered at Newcastle under Lyme and this makes the above scenario unlikely. Researched and written by Paul R Speakman Back