Corporal ELIZABETH ANN THOMAS

Discussion in 'The Women of WW2' started by Debn, Apr 9, 2012.

  1. Debn

    Debn Junior Member

    Corporal ELIZABETH ANN THOMAS

    W/98527, Auxiliary Territorial Service
    attd. 1 (M) A.A. Regt., Royal Artillery
    who died age 38
    on 29 June 1944
    Daughter of Walter David and Sarah Adline Bowen, of Hayes; wife of Charles Thomas, of Winterbourne, Gloucestershire.
    Remembered with honour
    HAYES AND HARLINGTON (CHERRY LANE) CEMETERY
    Corporal ELIZABETH ANN THOMAS

    W/98527, Auxiliary Territorial Service
    attd. 1 (M) A.A. Regt., Royal Artillery
    who died age 38
    on 29 June 1944
    Daughter of Walter David and Sarah Adline Bowen, of Hayes; wife of Charles Thomas, of Winterbourne, Gloucestershire.
    Remembered with honour
    HAYES AND HARLINGTON (CHERRY LANE) CEMETERY
    Hi This is my grandmother I am trying to work out how she died can anyone help me??
    Thanks Debn
     
  2. Tonym

    Tonym WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Corporal ELIZABETH ANN THOMAS

    W/98527, Auxiliary Territorial Service
    attd. 1 (M) A.A. Regt., Royal Artillery
    who died age 38
    on 29 June 1944
    Daughter of Walter David and Sarah Adline Bowen, of Hayes; wife of Charles Thomas, of Winterbourne, Gloucestershire.
    Remembered with honour
    HAYES AND HARLINGTON (CHERRY LANE) CEMETERY
    Hi This is my grandmother I am trying to work out how she died can anyone help me??
    Thanks Debn

    I have transferred this from my thread ATS Casualties so any replies to Debn

    Tonym
     
  3. Red Goblin

    Red Goblin Senior Member

    Hi & welcome Debn,

    I'm sorry nobody seems to have yet greeted you with the usual raft of questions & suggestions as I was rather hoping to use the answers they generated to weed out some of my waffling. That not being the case, so as not to keep you waiting any longer than need be, I'll just go ahead and hit you with the lot: :D
    • Have you found & read 1(M)AA Regt's war diary at TNA, Kew? - whichever that is:WO 166/14687 - Jan-Dec '44 - 1 A.A. Z Regt. ?
    • WO 166/14958 - Jun-Dec '44 - 1 A.A. Comd. Demonstration and trials ?
    • WO 166/15957 - Jan-Jun '44 - 1 A.A. Bde Maint. Det. ?
    • Or more likely one my searches aren't finding. :confused:
    [*]Have you got her full service record yet? - here's how @ £30
    [*]Am I right in deducing this to be about?:
    I've mentioned her parents on the assumption that she was staying with them at the time (while Charles was off doing his bit) and it may therefore help to know where they lived in Hayes because, if near to Cherry Lane Cemetery, we may then take it she was buried there to be near them rather than necessarily because she died nearby. Either way, unless you or either of the sources queried above [at A&B] can shed any light, we can't even be certain whether or not she died on duty.

    As it's perhaps most natural to assume that she was on duty, I'll deal with that first. The only AA site I've been able to identify in Hayes is listed as item 35 on p20 (numbered 15) of this Wessex Archeology report and the map to which it relates 2 pages later.
    "OS grid ref: 509400 179200
    "Description: Site of light anti-aircraft guns, positioned to defend Vulnerable Point no. 550, the Fairey Works at Hayes."
    If, however, anything significant did happen in Hayes on Thu 29 June it will have almost certainly been eclipsed in most local folks' memories by the V1 buzz-bomb which claimed 37 EMI victims only a week later on Fri 7 July. :poppy: Or she may have commuted from Hayes to a unit further away.

    Trying to identify events further away, I downloaded CWGC's list of 754 casualties for 29 June '44 and pared it down to isolate two - in Surbiton and Streatham Hill. As neither of these seem particularly commutable from Hayes, I got to wondering whether she might have been visiting friends or relatives there or elsewhere - not necessarily needing to take leave in order to do so if near enough. Just in case you recognise a name, though, here's my short list :poppy::
    • Surbiton (all civilians buried Kingston Upon Thames, municipal borough):
      FEARNE, Edward Graham (33)
      Of 33 Portsmouth Road. Son of H. FEARNE, of 6 Brantwood Road, Herne Hill, London; husband of N. E. FEARNE. Died at 33 Portsmouth Road.
    • MORRIS, Marie Alice (32)
      S.R.N.; of 34 Portsmouth Road. Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. CALLIS, of 5 Lewis Crescent, Gilfach, Bargoed, Glamorgan, Wales; wife of John C. MORRIS. Died at 34 Portsmouth Road.
    • NUTLEY, Nina Margery (55)
      Of 33 Portsmouth Road. Wife of George NUTLEY. Died at 33 Portsmouth Road.
    • PHILLIPPS, Constance Austin (71)
      Of 33 Portsmouth Road. Widow of John Leonard PHILLIPPS. Died at 33 Portsmouth Road.
    • SHEPHERD, Alice Elizabeth (39)
      Wife of Richard SHEPHERD. Died at 34 Portsmouth Road
    • TANT, Robert Ross (33)
      Son of William and Margaret TANT, of 12 West Port, Linlithgow, Scotland; husband of Reita TANT, of 3 Knights Court, Knights Park. Died at Uxbridge Road.
      NB: Uxbridge Road runs off Portsmouth Road beside where I think #34 stood so not only did this incident take out 2 houses but a passer-by!
    [*]Streatham Hill (all civilians buried Wandsworth, metropolitan borough):
    • LINDERS, Anne Catherina Josephina (4)
      Netherlands subject; of 260 Amesbury Avenue. Daughter of Aloysius LINDERS, and of Mary Matilda LINDERS. Died at 260 Amesbury Avenue.
    • LINDERS, Joseph Antonius (3)
      Of 260 Amesbury Avenue. Son of Aloysius LINDERS and of Mary Matilda LINDERS. Died at 260 Amesbury Avenue.
    • LINDERS, Mary Matilda (42)
      Netherlands subject; of 260 Amesbury Avenue. Wife of Aloysius LINDERS. Died at 260 Amesbury Avenue.
    • LINDERS, Stephen Joseph Margaret (2)
      Of 260 Amesbury Avenue. Son of Aloysius LINDERS, and of Mary Matilda LINDERS. Died at 260 Amesbury Avenue.
    Cheers, Steve

    PS: Seeing her grave planted with primulas, I'm reminded that you've yet to give us a clue where you are.
     
  4. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    Tony, Debn is already aware of this info, as she has posted it in her family tree.

    Elzabeth Ann Thomas (nee Bowen) Was a cook in the army. Air raid siren went off Elizabeth and her friend left the cook house for the shelter. If they had stayed in the cook house they would have been ok instead Elizabeth's friend got into the shelter but the bomb dropped and Elizabeth was killed. Her daughter Joan rembers going to Penge with her father to identify the body. Her son Graham remembers the funeral with the Union Jack over the coffin and the coffin being carried by 6 soldiers.

    SE20 Penge V1 Penge Anerley Road behind town hall 1 29/06/1944 11:20 This V1 fell on a Anti Aircraft gun site behind Anerley House schools. Buildings and 2 Nissan huts were damaged as were 6 rocket guns. There was another V1 on the 24th August at more or less the same location

    FlyingBombsandRockets,V1 & V2 Dulwich E21 & SE22
     
    Slipdigit likes this.
  5. Red Goblin

    Red Goblin Senior Member

    Debn is already aware of this info, as she has posted it in her family tree.
    So this is a wind-up?
    What post/tree do you mean?
    Debn only has one post here AFAICT.
     
  6. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    update photo of headstone
     

    Attached Files:

  7. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    So this is a wind-up?
    What post/tree do you mean?
    Debn only has one post here AFAICT.

    Excuse me.......

    Why would Deb's family tree be on WW2 forum? and who said it was on here ?

    No one. So keep yuour comments to yourself
     
  8. Red Goblin

    Red Goblin Senior Member

    Gee I'm sorry Phil but I only asked if Debn was winding us up - not you. Nor did I actually suggest you were referring to a tree on this forum - just that I couldn't see it here so, ergo, where should I be looking?
     
  9. Tonym

    Tonym WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Tony, Debn is already aware of this info, as she has posted it in her family tree.

    Elzabeth Ann Thomas (nee Bowen) Was a cook in the army. Air raid siren went off Elizabeth and her friend left the cook house for the shelter. If they had stayed in the cook house they would have been ok instead Elizabeth's friend got into the shelter but the bomb dropped and Elizabeth was killed. Her daughter Joan rembers going to Penge with her father to identify the body. Her son Graham remembers the funeral with the Union Jack over the coffin and the coffin being carried by 6 soldiers.

    SE20 Penge V1 Penge Anerley Road behind town hall 1 29/06/1944 11:20 This V1 fell on a Anti Aircraft gun site behind Anerley House schools. Buildings and 2 Nissan huts were damaged as were 6 rocket guns. There was another V1 on the 24th August at more or less the same location

    FlyingBombsandRockets,V1 & V2 Dulwich E21 & SE22

    Thanks for that Phil. With no comment from Debn I wasn't sure if she had seen I had given it an exclusive thread.

    Tony
     
  10. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I've copied Dedn's original post into this thread , that way it'll show up in her Statistics as she is now the Thread Starter, cheers for your help Tony if giving it a seperate thread originally.
     
  11. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    Thanks for that Phil. With no comment from Debn I wasn't sure if she had seen I had given it an exclusive thread.

    Tony

    Tony, Deb added the details to her family tree on the 15th April, so clearly got the details from other sources after posting her initial thread, but thought you would want to see them as well.

    P
     
  12. Tonym

    Tonym WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Phil

    Is the family tree posted anywhere? Haven't had time to contact her yet but does the family tree indicate where 1 (M) A.A. Regt. R.A. was located?

    Tony
     
  13. englandphil

    englandphil Very Senior Member

    Phil

    Is the family tree posted anywhere? Haven't had time to contact her yet but does the family tree indicate where 1 (M) A.A. Regt. R.A. was located?

    Tony

    Its on ancestry Tony, and doesnt mention where they where based, but the link below states the following

    This V1 fell on a Anti Aircraft gun site behind Anerley House schools. Buildings and 2 Nissan huts were damaged as were 6 rocket guns. There was another V1 on the 24th August at more or less the same location

    FlyingBombsandRockets,V1 & V2 Dulwich E21 & SE22
     
  14. Tonym

    Tonym WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Phil

    Thanks, that answers my principle question

    Tony
     
  15. Debn

    Debn Junior Member

    Hi to you all
    For a number of reasons I never came back to this site after posting my question. Many apologies to you all for your interest and information. I have not continued my family research up to now but I now have time to do so and I am picking up the threads of my previous research.
    I will follow the leads and ideas on here. Once again thank you all for your help.
    confirming I am not a wind up and my tree is on ancestry.
    Debn
     
  16. Debn

    Debn Junior Member

    Hi england phil I am curious to know how you have the memories of Joan and Graham?
    Thanks
    Debn
     
  17. Debn

    Debn Junior Member

    Hi
    I'd obviously forgotten that Joan and Graham gave me comments which I had added to my tree. Sorry 8 years ago is a long time and I had not remembered this information - sorry
     

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