Youngest known WW2 British casualty identified Reggie Earnshaw 14 years of age

I have been contacted by the Revd David Durie in Edinburgh, who took the service at Reggie's grave last year. He informs me that.

"Our church was so taken by the story that we have decided to install a stained glass window this year our 70th Anniversary"

The inscription is to read:

"To the glory of God and in loving memory of Reginald Earnshaw who died aged 14 the youngest known service casualty of the second world war. Sacred to the memory of over 500 boys of the Merchant Navy aged 16 and under who died in the service of their country during world war two."

I am awaiting further details of the service and unveiling as I hope to travel to Edinburgh for it.

 

I have been contacted by the Revd David Durie in Edinburgh, who took the service at Reggie's grave last year. He informs me that.

"Our church was so taken by the story that we have decided to install a stained glass window this year our 70th Anniversary"

The inscription is to read:

"To the glory of God and in loving memory of Reginald Earnshaw who died aged 14 the youngest known service casualty of the second world war. Sacred to the memory of over 500 boys of the Merchant Navy aged 16 and under who died in the service of their country during world war two."

I am awaiting further details of the service and unveiling as I hope to travel to Edinburgh for it.




Billy , excellent news no child of 14 should have to die in war....... well done that congregation.

 

Would the lad have to give a false age? A School Leaving Certificate would be issued in his 14th year.

In 1941 it was legal for a child to leave school on the 14th birthday, and normal in the case of someone attending an elementary school. Reggie appears to have left school on or about his 14th birthday, so there is nothing irregular there.

It would not surprise me if the Merchant Navy recruited from the 14th birthday, like many employers, and I wonder whether Reggie did actually lie about his age. The fact that he was buried in an unmarked grave with a death certificate doubtful about his age suggests to me that his family was not involved in his burial, which may indicate that his reason for joining up may have been a family rift - the familiar "running away to sea".

He has been described as a "cabin boy" - a servant/messenger for officers or passengers - and yet he apparently died in the engine room. Has his actual role on the ship been determined, or only an assumption been made?

 

In 1941 it was legal for a child to leave school on the 14th birthday, and normal in the case of someone attending an elementary school. Reggie appears to have left school on or about his 14th birthday, so there is nothing irregular there.

It would not surprise me if the Merchant Navy recruited from the 14th birthday, like many employers, and I wonder whether Reggie did actually lie about his age. The fact that he was buried in an unmarked grave with a death certificate doubtful about his age suggests to me that his family was not involved in his burial, which may indicate that his reason for joining up may have been a family rift - the familiar "running away to sea".

He has been described as a "cabin boy" - a servant/messenger for officers or passengers - and yet he apparently died in the engine room. Has his actual role on the ship been determined, or only an assumption been made?

It would seem you are not familiar with the research we did for over four years to put together the full facts regarding Reggie and his death on the North Devon. He lay in an unmarked grave because the CWGC had not been informed by the RGSS of the day that his body had been landed ashore. It was only by chance that a DEMS gunner Alf Tubb from this ship remembered his body being taken ashore, that started the ball rolling.

http://www.mercantilemarine.org/showthread.php?4259-SS-North-Devon-for-Roger-amp-Ray-Buck&highlight=reginald+earnshaw

Reggie never ran away to sea, he went with his Mothers blessing, because this is what he said wanted to do. We also have evidence to show his Mother paid for his funeral and was attended by the family, so your quote in regard he ran away to sea is well off the mark.

Your quote "and yet he apparently died in the engine room" is also wrong. Reggie was found dead in the Engineers alleyway after the ship main steam pipe had burst. He signed on the North Devon as Cabin Boy and was probably going about his daily duties when killed.

 

Thanks for the clarification. The details you have provided were not included in previous posts on this thread. I deliberately used the word "apparently" in referring to the place where Reggie's body was found because it was derived from the Daily Mail report, and I am aware how notoriously unreliable the press is regarding detail - "why let the truth get in the way of a good story?"

I note that you not dispute the evidence that Reggie left school perfectly legally at the normal age, nor do you appear to dispute the likelihood that he joined the MN at the same age - so much for the red herring about falsifying his age.

I naturally accept your account of the family's involvement in the funeral - also not previously described on this thread, but what remains unclear in such circumstances is the reason for a most unusual death certificate citing only an estimated age. Strange things do happen, especially in wartime, and this must be one of them.

 

We do know Reggie left school at the legal age of 14, what we do not know is why his date of birth was recorded in the ships Crew Agreements as being exactly one year older as it was legal to join the Merchant Navy at 14.

Regarding the approximate age on the death cert, I can only speculate. His death was recorded four days after his death in Cleethorpes and as his family lived in Edinburgh, I don't believe any contact would have been made with his family beforehand to verify his age. The coroner was dealing with a death caused by severe scalding and as you could imagine would not have been so easy to identify, thus the approx. age was cited.