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Manchester's Best Kept WW2 Secret, Perhaps?

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posted on 2024-06-05, 18:17 authored by Their Finest Hour Project Team

I am the owner of the Greater Manchester Blitz Victims website www.greatermanchesterblitzvictims.co.uk and I stumbled across 12 deaths whose cause of death had been lost in the midst of time and, of course, the efficiency of the war-time censor. The full story is attached in a local history document that I wrote in 2020.

History

Item list and details

Local history document.

Person the story/items relate to

In alphabetical order, the twelve men killed in this incident are listed below: 1. Lance Sergeant Benjamin Harry BROUGHTON - aged: 28 - Son of Benjamin H. and Margaret Broughton, of Whitby, Yorkshire - Buried in the Whitby (Larpool) Cemetery. 2. Sapper Eric John Berkley CLAYTON - aged: 23 - Son of Robert Millard Clayton and Alice Maria Clayton, of Hall Green, Birmingham - Prior to enlisting he was employed as a Dairyman's Clerk - Commemorated on the Brookwood Memorial, Surrey. 3. Sapper Leslie DANES - aged: 21 - Son of James William and Matilda Elizabeth Danes; husband of Ivy Maude Danes (née Berry) of Hainault, Ilford, Essex, whom he married in late 1939 - Buried in the Barking (Rippleside) Cemetery, Essex. 4. Sapper William Reginald DEAKIN - aged: 23 - Son of Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Deakin, of South Yardley, Birmingham - Prior to enlisting he was employed as a Parcel's Porter with the LMS Railway - Buried in the Manchester (Southern) Cemetery. 5. Warrant Officer George Wilfred HIMBURY - aged: 31 - Son of Samuel and Holly Himbury, husband of Kathleen Lucy Himbury (née Clayton) of Copnor, Hampshire - Buried in the Western Super Mare Cemetery. 6. Sapper James Bird HODGSON - aged: 20 - Son of James and Edith Mabel Hodgson, of Perry Bar, Birmingham - Prior to enlisting he was employed as a Dispatch Clerk in non-ferrous metals - Buried in the Birmingham (Witton) Cemetery. 7. Sapper Charles Caine HOLMAN - aged: 28 - Son of Samuel and Margaret Holman, of West Hampstead, London - Buried in the Communal Civilian Grave in the Manchester (Southern) Cemetery - His brother Samuel Walter Holman also died on active service in Italy in 1944.. 8. Lance Corporal William Hugh MILLER - aged: 22 - Son of William and Elizabeth Miller, of Glasgow - Buried in the Renfrew (Arkleston) Cemetery, Scotland. 9. Sapper Isiah (Sonny) MOSS - aged: 21 - Son of Isaiah and Minnie Moss, of Lye, Stourbridge - Son of Isiah & Minnie Moss (née Keen) - Buried in the Stourbridge (Lye & Wollescote) Cemetery, Worcestershire. 10. Sapper Henry William Abram ROBERTS - aged: 21 - Son of Robert and Alice Ethel Roberts, of Wenhaston, Suffolk - Prior to enlisting he was employed as a Farm Labourer - Commemorated on the Brookwood Memorial, Surrey. 11. Sapper Jack Edward SHELDRAKE - aged: 20 - Son of David & Martha Ann Sheldrake - Commemorated on the Brookwood Memorial, Surrey. 12. Lance Corporal Denis Henry Wilfred THAYER - aged: 22 - Son of Wilfred Frank & Lily B. Thayer, of Rodney Stoke, Somerset - Buried in the Rodney Stoke (St. Leonard) Churchyard, Somerset.

Person who shared the story/items

George Cogswell

Type of submission

Shared online via the Their Finest Hour project website.

Record ID

93487