Just picked up a fruit knife and fork by Elkington & co dated 1936 Made for the Petwood Hotel - The Officers mess of The Dam Busters WW2 , So used by 617 Squadron or even Guy Gibson VC, Leonard Cheshire VC and their Officers What do you think ?
They [https://www.petwood.co.uk/about/history] might be interested in buying them off you, have to say they probably went through a lot of hands between 1936 to 1943 and beyond TD
I wonder how the items managed to leave the Hotel?.....probably someone needed an extra set.....or they were disposed by the Hotel. Certainly worth asking them!
I am sure they went through a lot of hands between 1936 to 1943 and beyond but its thanks to Elkington & co having a date letter on them and the name of the hotel that they can be traced back to the Dam Busters. Sorry i missed out SET in the first post - its a Fruit knife and fork Set of 6 i have . Some picks not very exciting but nice link to the past ,
My only concern about my theory is would they of used RAF crested cutlery or because Petwood was requisitioned by the RAF during WWII would they just used the hotels cutlery
Sounds frivolous but isn't there anyone you could ask......surviving Dambuster perhaps? Would be a nice little story for you both anyway.
or ask the hotel as they seem to have researched quite a bit about it - theres a link in post 3 to their contact details TD
I have been to the Petwood Hotel many times for RAF reunions. At the turn of the 20th century,it was build for a member of the Marples family as Petwood House and served as a military convalescent hospital in 1914 but it was not until 1933 that it was converted into an hotel. Regarding cutlery,the hotel was requisitioned by the Air Ministry in 1942 and reading the history it records that the hotel was bought back by its original owners.From this all hotel effects may have been included in the compulsory purchase so there is the possibility that use of the inscribed cutlery continued during RAF era. Regarding the cutlery used now,I have never seen any evidence of inscribed cutlery in use at the Petwood,the only item inscribed an hotel guest might see is the hotel room Petwood Hotel pen. From what I see, the inscribed cutlery probably is from the prewar era and was probably in use during its time as a RAF Officers Mess.Postwar the hotel went through many changes of ownership and this type of "souvenir" may have been attractive to guests or the cutlery might be from a disposal when new hotel cutlery was introduced. Official brief history resume as below...
Looking at the reference that Guy Gibson may have used the inscribed cutlery,i would say no insofar as Gibson was screened off air operations after the dam raid. He had a number of appointments with senior officials of the AM and in aviation circles and was sent to North America "to show the flag"by WSC. There was also an invitation to enter politics by standing as the MP for Macclesfield which he declined.However he took up this non ops flying role after he handed the control of the squadron to George Holden on 3 August 1943 at Scampton. Gibson continued to be screened off ops despite his opposition until he he forced his way back on ops a year later with No 627 Squadron out of Woodhall Spa.(627 Squadron used temporary accommodation as an officers mess which was situated in the woods behind the present Thorpe museum.) From this it would appear that Gibson never used Petwood as an officers mess but Cheshire would have done so after taking over the squadron in November 1943 while it was at Coningsby then posted to Woodhall Spa,
Don't know whether Gibson mentions the Petwood Hotel in his book 'Enemy Coast Ahead'. Let's not get too far off track, even though it would be a nice story. There are links between the cutlery and the Hotel and 617 Squadron anyway, even if tenuous. As it's a set of cutlery, the implication is it's a result of a disposal rather than someone nicking them as a souvenir......?
