Gordon Wade was born in Plymouth on 22 July 1919 to Harry and Florida Wade (nee Ashton). He joined the Royal Air Force as an engineering apprentice in 1935 training at RAF Halton. It was during his time at RAF Bicester that Gordon met his future wife Mary Joan Abraham (Bush) who was at that […]
Ronald Frank Harris was the son of Frank and Kate Harris (nee Shorter), and was born at North Weston, Thame on 4th September 1913. He was educated at Shabbington School, and on leaving was employed in Thame, as a counter-hand, by Mr G Bailey, grocer of Buttermarket. On 3rd August 1940 he married Mabel Gladys Newitt at St […]
Francis Wood was born on 14th December 1921, the youngest of three sons born to Henry S and Anna Wood, of Aston Mullins Farm in Ford, Buckinghamshire. He attended Lord Williams’s School in Thame from 1931 to 1939. Frank joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in September 1939 and trained as a pilot. In 1941 he was serving […]
Joseph Arthur Castle was the third eldest of five children born to Arthur John and Constance Emily Castle (nee Filleul). He was born in Thame on 13th December 1923, and baptised at St Mary’s church on 25th January 1924. The family lived at 104 High Street where his father was a printer and proprietor of the Thame Gazette […]
Richard Tuckey Hewer was born in Chilton Foliat, Berkshire (now Wiltshire) on 4th September 1887. He was one of three children born to John Tucker Hewer, a farmer, and Elizabeth Joan (née Tuckey) living at Manor Farm, Appleton, Abingdon, Berkshire. Richard attended Abingdon School 1898 to 1904 and after leaving school he joined a firm of auctioneers with whom […]
William Ewen Hicks was born into a farming family in Cuxham, Oxon in early 1898. He was the oldest of the six children of Edwin Hicks and Margaret Spence Hunter Hicks (née Ewen). By 1911 the family had moved to Clare Hill, Pyrton, near Watlington, Oxfordshire where William attended school. In September 1914 William enlisted with the City of […]
Graham Chard Loader was born in Thame in 1891, the son of John Loader and Martha Helen (née Chard) and baptised at St Mary’s church on 26th October 1891. His father was a corn merchant at 18 Cornmarket, Thame. The family moved to Newport, Isle of Wight, where Graham went to the County School, before taking […]
Richard Line was born in Hampstead on 1st December 1896 to parents Richard and Ruth Line (nee House) of Hampstead, London. In 1901 he was living at Hampstead with his family; including his brother Ralph, who is also recorded on Thame war memorial. By 1911, Ruth had been left a widow with nine children, the […]
Francis Hopkins was born in Chinnor, Oxfordshire on 23rd December 1895 to John and Mary Ann Hopkins (nee Loader) and baptised at St Andrew’s church there on 22nd January 1896. Frank was living with his widowed mother in Moorend Lane, Thame in 1901 and 1911. When he died, age 20, his mother was living in […]
Charles Stanley Kiddy was born in Risbridge, Suffolk in 1918, the eldest son of Charles and Ethel Kiddy (nee Crissall). When the family moved to Thame, they lived in Thame Lodge, Thame Park, where his father was a gamekeeper. Charles went to Thame Church of England School, then under the headmastership of Mr F Mitchell. He was […]