WW2 100 – 26 August 1941 – Buried in Winchester: Aircraftman 1st Class Horace Bucknell (1905-41) Royal Air Force

Continued from 3 July 1941

‘Always in our thoughts Gone but not forgotten’: Private Clifton Ernest Woolacott (1921-41) 

https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/12/ww2-75-3-july-1941-always-in-our.html

 

Budleigh Salterton War Memorial

It’s no surprise to find Horace Bucknell’s name on Budleigh Salterton War memorial. St Peter’s Burial Ground on Moor Lane has nine Bucknell family graves, including that of Horace’s parents, William  Thomas, and Annie Jane Bucknell, née Sage. 

Aircraftman 1st Class Horace Bucknell (1905-41) Royal Air Force

They appear to have lived at 25 Jocelyn Road in Budleigh, and died in 1944 and 1946 respectively. Thomas William's father was Ephraim Bucknell, who is recorded in the Budleigh Salterton 1891 Census as a coal merchant, living at Granary Cottages. Horace's parents had seven children in all: Ephraim, Horace, Edith (to whom the postcard below is addressed), Dorothy, William, Irene and Grace. 

 

The Granary, Budleigh Salterton by John Abbott White

Granary Cottages would presumably have been near this building on Granary Lane, as drawn by the noted Devon-born artist John White Abbott (1763-1851). The original artwork is part of Fairlynch Museum’s art collection.   

Ephraim Bucknell died in 1903, aged 49, but his widow Ellen lived almost twice as long, dying at the grand age of 90 in 1941. Her address is recorded as 6 Clinton Terrace, which is where a Robert Bucknell, haulage contactor, is listed as living in the 1939 Kelly’s Directory.

I was so pleased when I received - out of the blue and appropriately enough on 11 November 2022 - an email from Horace's granddaughter Carole telling me about her grandfather and his time in the RAF. There is a record indicating that he enlisted as a civilian, joining as an unskilled Aircrafthand at some point between September 1919 and June 1925. He then progressed to become an Aircraftman 1^st Class by the time of his death.

We know that his Service Number was 354090, but have no indication of his attachment to a Squadron, and I knew nothing of the circumstances of his death until I received Carole's email. Horace is listed on the authoritative RAF Commands database as being one of the 6.23% of WW2 airmen where the cause of death is not known. According to the database 99,680 WW2 deaths involved aviation, 15,123 were non-aviation deaths, and 7,631 are still unaccounted for.

 

Horace Bucknell's grave  Image credit: FindaGrave.com

What we do know is that Horace’s body lies in a military grave in Magdalen Hill Cemetery, Winchester, in Hampshire, which is where his wife Lily came from. 

Carole explained that Horace met her maternal grandmother, Lily née Hughes, some time in the early 1920s. 'I know he had already met her by that time as she got him into trouble a few times as he was late back after leave while serving with the RAF.

The wedding of Horace Bucknell and his wife Lily. Horace's elder brother Ephraim is standing behind him

'She was born and bred in the Ladbroke Grove/Notting Hill area of London. They married on 26 October 1929 at Christ Church, Notting Hill.  They were living in Bonchurch Road which was at the bottom of Portobello Market.  I clearly remember that basement flat and its outside toilet!'

Horace was recalled to the RAF at the beginning of the war, remaining in London. He was a motorbike messenger working for Sir Arthur Street, Permanent Under Secretary of State for Air at the Air Ministry. It was as part of this job that he was badly injured when he was knocked off his motorbike by a bus, and was taken to Winchester to convalesce.

Carole explained that the reason Horace went to Winchester was because his elder brother Ephraim’s family were living there.  'My mother and grandmother were already staying with them so my mother could recover from scarlet fever away from the city. Sadly he never recovered from his injuries and that’s where he died and is buried.'

 

 

By chance I came across a photo of this postcard while browsing online. Postmarked from Winchester, and dated 31 August 1927, it is written to ‘Dear Edie’ and is addressed to a Miss E. Bucknell, at West Haye, West Hill, Budleigh Salterton. Was there a connection to Horace, I wondered. Carole provided the answer: 'Edie was his sister, Edith Nance Bucknell (1905-1985). I vaguely remember meeting her as a child but I don’t know anything about her.'  She wonders whether the signatory is  ‘Uncle John’, William Thomas Bucknell's brother.

I am most grateful to Carole for providing information about her grandfather, and for some of the photographs, including the one below:

 

 

The next post is for Boy 1^st Class Peter Anstey  (1924-41), who died on 10 December 1941 in the Java Sea, while serving on HMS Repulse

 

You can read about him at

https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2020/09/ww2-75-boy-aged-17-peter-robert-anstey.html

 

 

 

 

 

These ‘orphans’ are listed on Budleigh Salterton War Memorial, but have not been identified. Their first names, date of death and service numbers are not known. They are recorded on the Devon Heritage website as ‘Not yet confirmed’.  

If you know anything which would help to identify them,

please contact Michael Downes on 01395 446407.

 

F.E. Newcombe

F.J. Watts