Budleigh Past and Present

Continued from 12 February 1942:  A Death on North Barrule:  Leading Aircraftman William Edwin Carter (1919-42) Royal Air Force, No.5 Air Observation School https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/12/ww2-75-12-february-1942-death-on-north.html   Above: Lt Cyril Hamilton Palairet I recently learnt that the Palairet Memorial Trophy is the major knock-out play competition of the year for over 40 Devon clubs. Surely, I thought, Devon golfers would imagine that  the Trophy had been offered by members of his family as a tribute to the young naval officer in the above photo. He died when his ship HMAS Perth went down in the Java Sea in 1942 during WW2.   East Devon Golf Club. Members of the Palairet family would surely have played here His parents and his aunt were Budleigh residents – you can find their graves in St Peter’s Burial Ground – and our East Devon Golf Club is one of the best in the country.   And then I reflected, rather negatively I’m afraid, that the cha

Continued from 1 February 1942: The Admirals’ Grief Part ii: SECOND LIEUTENANT JOHN BARHAM LEAHY (1920-42) https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/09/ww75-admirals-son-second-lieutenant.html       Budleigh Salterton War Memorial at the junction of Coastguard Road and Salting Hill Local people would have been distressed on hearing that Bill Carter had been killed in an air accident. The 22-year-old was the son of Harry and Bessie Carter and would have been regularly seen by customers at the family-run ironmonger’s shop at 50 High Street in Budleigh Salterton.   In the early stages of WW2, Bill had joined the Army, with Service Number 657954.  He later volunteered to join the RAF. At the time of his death he was classed as an Under Training (U/T) Observer, attached to No.5 Air Observers School (AOS). A No.5 AOS had been set up in Winnipeg, Canada, as a component of the extensive and ambitious Commonwealth Air Training Plan (CATP) during WW2, and Bill may have

Continued from 17 January 1942 - A casualty of the Arctic Convoys: PETTY OFFICER SIDNEY GERALD HAYWARD (1919-42)  https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/10/ww2-7511-casualty-of-arctic-convoys.html       Budleigh Salterton War Memorial at the junction of Coastguard Road and Salting Hill Deryk’s name is included on the Budleigh Salterton War Memorial, and according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission his parents were from the town. However the only connection with Budleigh that I have found is that his great-aunt Miss Ethel Laidman lived at 4 The Lawn.   An advertisement for Twiss Engineering which in 1919 consolidated with J.B. Saunders & Co and Laing Wharton Ltd as engineers, manufacturers and contractors of electricity transmission lines   Image credit: www.gracesguide.co.uk A family link with Devon was established when Deryk’s great-grandfather, John Brewer Saunders, born in Monmouth in 1833, settled in Newton Abbot. In 1857 he had founded a compan