Fireman James Shelley

Auxiliary Fire Service

Died: 2nd February 1940

James Shelley was born in Litchfield in 1894 and at the age of seventeen he enlisted with the 3rd South Staffordshire Regiment Special Army Reserves in February 1912. In June of that year he then enlisted in the South Staffordshire Regiment.

When the First world war broke out he went to France as part of the British expeditionary Force which was know as the 'Old Contemptibles'. The regular army adopted this title themselves after the Kaiser of Germany referred to them as a contemptible little army.

James served on the Western Front and was transferred back to the army reserve in April 1919. Lieutenant Colonel Davidson described him on his discharge papers as "Hardworking, willing, good tempered, honest and sober."

He took up employment at Cannock chase Colliery where he became a Coal Cutter Chargeman. He moved to Nottingham and on 8th August 1928 where he married Adelaide Taylor. They had one son and at that time were living on Dorset Street.

James joined the Auxiliary Fire Service and attended many fire calls both prior to the outbreak of the Second World War and afterwards. It was following one protracted incident where he had been soaked through by freezing cold water for many hours that he fell ill. He deteriorated and doctors diagnosed that he had pneumonia. He finally succumbed to this on 2nd February 1940.

He is officially recorded as having died due to illness contracted on duty as a result of firefighting.

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Ruth Willis

First Aid Party Air Raid Precautions Service

Killed: Laxton 28th August 1940

At 22:25 hours, six high explosive bombs fell in Laxton along with two large calibre oil incendiary bombs and numerous one kilogram incendiaries. Ruth Willis, was on duty as a member of the Air Raid Precautions Service First Aid Party in Laxton.

She was by her front door at The Old School House in the village when the first bomb fell into her front garden. The shrapnel killed Ruth, and seriously injured two other people from the first aid party who were standing near where their ambulance was parked. Damage was caused to several other houses, farm buildings and the village school.

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Herbert Hill

Air Raid Shelter Warden

Air Raid Precautions Service

Died: 29th August 1940

When the air raid sirens sounded over Nottingham on 28th August 1940, Herbert Hill, who was one of the city’s Shelter Wardens, dashed from his home in Sneinton Dale to unlock the air raid shelter for the local people designated to use it. Such was his hurry to get to the shelter that, as he ran across the road, he was struck by a bus sustaining fatal injuries. He died on 29th August in Nottingham’s General Hospital and was the second ARP Service member to die on duty since the start of the war.
The raid claimed the lives of six people in all.

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William Dainty

Rescue Party

Air Raid Precautions Service

Fatally injured: 1st September 1940

The air raid sirens sounded the alert in Nottingham on 1st September 1940 and William Dainty responded to the call to duty. He was knocked down by a motor car in the blackout as he made his way to his ARP Rescue Party Station and died of his injuries that night at Nottingham General Hospital. He was the third person from the civilian services to die on duty during the three raids in five days on Nottingham.

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Fireman Philip Smith

Auxiliary Fire Service

Killed: Nottingham 17th December 1940

Philip was part of a crew that had been called out to an incident on 17th December 1940. The vehicle they travelled in was a large car which pulled a trailer pump and carried other equipment strapped onto the roof. It was common for some of the crew to ride on the outside of the vehicle by standing on the running boards and holding on to the vehicle through an open window. Phillip was in one of these riding positions when the offside of the vehicle collided with a street air raid shelter in Manvers Street, Nottingham. The headlights of the vehicle were masked so as not to show any light during the blackout and there was only a thin slit of light about the width of a pencil emitted to light the road ahead. The driver of the vehicle thought that all the street air raid shelters were on the opposite side of the road but he was mistaken in this and he did not see the shelters until it was too late.

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Firemen Raymond Burrows, Joe Wright, Alan Day,
Albert Cooke.

Auxiliary Fire Service

Killed: Manchester, 23rd December 1940

An eleven hour air attack was carried out on Manchester by 270 aircraft. The aircraft dropped 272 tonnes of high explosive bombs and 37,152 incendiaries on Manchester alone.

The firemen had an insurmountable task to control over 400 fires that were consuming entire blocks of buildings. Three Nottinghamshire firemen from Kirkby, Raymond Burrows, Joe Wright, and Alan Day, were killed on 23rd December during the raid.

Their final resting place

Manchester was attacked again that night and the Luftwaffe crews could see the glow that was Manchester from as far away as London. 171 enemy aircraft bombed the city for five hours, unleashing 195 tonnes of high explosive bombs and another 7,000 incendiaries. During the raid, another of Nottinghamshire's firemen, Albert Cooke, was seriously injured and after being treated in hospital at Manchester, he was returned home. He subsequently died of his injuries.

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Claude Martin

First Aid Party

Air Raid Precautions Service

Killed: Newark 7th March 1941

A daring daylight raid on the Ransome and Marles Factory in Newark took place in the early afternoon of 7th March 1941. Ten high explosive bombs were dropped on the factory during four low level runs across the site. Five of the bombs detonated and five failed to explode. It was said afterwards that they were dropped from such a low altitude that the mechanism for detonating the bombs did not prime properly. The third run across the site resulted in factory workers and Civilian services at the scene being strafed by machine gun fire.
Claude Martin was one of the 41 people killed that afternoon.

Another 165 were injured and the factory, vital to the war effort, was badly damaged.
This was a dark day in Nottinghamshire’s home front war.

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Cyril Theaker

First Aid Party Air Raid Precautions Service

and

Charles Gooding

Air Raid Warden Air Raid Precautions Service

Killed: Nottingham 8th May 1941

107 aircraft were assigned to raid Nottingham. During the raid, one 'stick' of bombs fell in a line from Kentwood Road to Lichfield Road in Sneinton. A shop was wrecked on the corner of Port Arthur Road and the gas main in the street was blazing fiercely.

In Baden Powell Road, four men were out in the street when a bomb fell. Charles Gooding, the ARP warden, Cyril Theaker a member of the first aid party as well as a fire watcher, Cyril Parkes and a nineteen year old soldier, Joseph Murquis. The blast killed Gooding, Murquis and Theaker.

Cyril Parkes was seriously injured and suffered from ill health for over forty years due to his injuries.

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John Addis and George Morris

First Aid Party

Air Raid Precautions Service

William Daubney, Frank Howman and Albert Keetley

Air Raid Wardens

Air Raid Precautions Service

Eric Saunders

Firewatcher

National Fire Service

Killed: Co-op Bakery, Meadow Lane, Nottingham 9th May 1941

The heaviest air raid on Nottingham and its surrounding districts during the Second World War occurred on 8th and 9th May 1941. Scores of high explosive bombs fell across the River Trent in West Bridgford and also in Colwick, Sneinton and the City. The Co Operative Bakery took three direct hits, one of which penetrated the roof of the air raid shelter in the basement of the factory and another one entered the factory at the base of the ground floor wall which caused all the floors above to collapse into the basement. A fierce fire was caused and it was some weeks later when the rescue teams recovered the last body. Some of the victims were never formally identified.

A total of 49 people were killed including John Addis and George Morris both of whom were members of the factory first aid party. William Daubney, Frank Howman and Albert Keetley all of whom were Air Raid Wardens at the Co-op. Also killed was Eric Saunders who was one of the two Firewatchers on duty at the bakery that night. His colleague, Fred Kummer, survived by a quirk of fate even though he was just a few feet away from him at the time of the explosion.
This was the highest loss of life recorded in a single incident in Nottinghamshire.

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Charles Brown

Air Raid Warden

Air Raid Precautions Service

Killed: Carlton 9th May 1941

Nottingham endured a sustained bombing attack on 8th and 9th May 1941. Charles Brown, an Air Raid Warden, was carrying out his duties at the Junction of Parkdale Road and Oakdale Road. A stick of high explosive bombs fell in the area, one of which killed Charles. By chance, his boyhood friend, Fred Shipley who was a fireman, was also struck by the blast from the same bomb, but survived.

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William Blackford

Air Raid Warden

Air Raid Precautions Service

Died: Nottingham 9th May 1941

The air raid on Nottingham on 8th and 9th May 1941 was not the first time William Blackford had been under aerial bombardment, he had been in action several times since August 1940. On 15th January 1941 he was one of the wardens who dealt with extensive property damage and also casualties during a raid on Carlton and Sneinton. A house on the corner of Florence Road where he lived was damaged in the January raid. During the heavy raid in May 1941 he was outside number 35 Florence Road when he was fatally injured by a high explosive bomb. He died later the same day at the Wells Road First Aid Post.

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Dorothy Coulson

Firewatcher

National Fire Service

Killed: Dakeyne Street 9th May 1941

During an air raid on the night of 9th May 1941, the sky around Dakeyne Street was lit up by huge fires burning in factories and other buildings on Manvers Street and Newark Street. Many high explosive bombs were dropped in this area and one of them penetrated into the underground air raid shelter of Black’s Factory. Dorothy Coulson was amongst the twenty one people killed and she became the second of the two women from the civilian services to be killed in Nottinghamshire during the Second World War.

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William Daykin

Firewatcher

National Fire Service

Killed: Boot’s Printing Works, Nottingham 9th May 1941

The Boot’s printing works on Station Street in Nottingham was one of several buildings in the south east part of the city to be struck by high explosive bombs during a heavy air raid on the night of 9th May 1941. The Boot’s Island Street works also received direct hits and there were many casualties caused. Buildings were ablaze and four people were missing in the rubble of the printing works. Firemen and Rescue workers tried to find the missing people but it took several days before the last body was recovered. He was a 16 year old lad called Derek Needham and the day he was found would have been his 17th birthday. Three other fatalities had already been recorded; Eric Sedgewick, Harold Towle and William Daykin who was a Firewatcher at the works.

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Alfred Sabin

Firewatcher

National Fire Service

Killed: Edale Road 24th July 1941

On a cloudy July night bombers attacked, their target was thought to be the railway bridge on Sneinton Dale at the Edale Road junction. A number of high explosive and incendiary devices were dropped damaging the Dale Cinema, and the Edale Road School. As Alfred Sabin, a Firewatcher, took shelter in the doorway of the cinema, the blast from one of the bombs propelled the stump of a spiked railing from the school across the road. It struck him in the throat, killing him instantly

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Fireman John Tyers

National Fire Service

Fatally injured: Ollerton 4th November 1941

John Tyers was a French Polisher by trade and he joined the Auxiliary Fire Service before the Second World War.

In September 1939 he was called up as a full time member of the fire service and was stationed at Eastcroft Fire Station which was off London Road, Nottingham. John was involved in fire fighting during the Blitz of 1940 and 1941 in Cities and Towns all over the country. On May 8th and 9th 1941, Nottingham, West Bridgford, Colwick, Carlton and Beeston were heavily raided. John reported for duty when the air raid sirens went and when he did not return home again the next day, his wife Mary tried to find what had happened to him. She eventually found him on 10th May along with other fire crews at the rubble that had once been the Co-Operative Bakery in Meadow Lane, Nottingham. We can only imagine Mary's relief when she found her husband alive.

In August 1941, the National Fire Service was formed and this absorbed all the fire services in the United Kingdom, including the Auxiliary Fire Service. As well as his role as a fireman, John was also a dispatch rider and he regularly took messages all over the country, including Bletchley Park which was a centre for intelligence gathering during the war. John would sometimes be away for two or three days at a time whilst working as a dispatch rider.

On 4th November 1941, John was carrying messages and he rode his motorbike down the A614. As he reached the roundabout at Ollerton, a lorry collided with him and John died of a fractured skull. He was the first member of the National Fire Service to be killed on duty in Nottinghamshire.

Mary Tyers was left to bring up her two daughters aged seven and two as best she could.
She struggled for a long time on a pension of £0.4s.3d. (21p) and had to work hard just to make up the deficit of the 10 shillings (50p) per week rent that she had to find.
John was 30 years old when he died and is buried in Carlton Cemetery.

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Leading Fireman Albert Cooke

National Fire Service

Died of injuries: Nottingham, 11th November 1941

Albert Cooke was seriously injured whilst firefighting during an eleven hour air raid on Manchester on 23rd December 1940. Three of his Auxiliary Fire Service colleagues were killed during the raid. After hospital treatment, Albert was returned home to Nottingham. He was transferred to the newly formed National Fire Service in August 1941, but was never well enough to return to duty. He subsequently died of his injuries at home in Beeston on 11th November 1941.

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John Bramman

Firewatcher

National Fire Service

Died: 31st August 1942

John Bramman lived at 44 Miall Street and was a firewatcher at premises in Miall Street, Radford. The regulations governing Firewatchers required them to be on duty at the premises they were guarding even when there was no air raid alert in force. John was on duty on Sunday 30th August when he sustained injuries from which he died the following day at Nottingham General Hospital

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Company Officer John Goldrick

National Fire Service

Died: Nottingham 27th January 1945

A fire appliance from Hyson Green Fire Station (situated at the side of St Leodegarious Church at the bottom of Alpine Street) was mobilised to a fire call. John Goldrick was the officer in charge of the appliance and he would have been the equivalent rank of the more modern day Station Officer (Present day equivalent of Watch Manager). Whilst on the way to the call, John collapsed and died. It was subsequently established that the call had been a hoax.

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Fireman William Birch

National Fire Service

Died: Nottingham 12th February 1945

William Birch was a one of many National Fire Service personnel from Nottinghamshire who had been moved to the south of the country during 1944 and 1945. The crews provided additional fire cover for the large camps of American and British Troops and also the huge ammunition and other supplies depots that had been built up. Enemy activity from the air was still a threat, particularly the V1 and V2 Flying Bombs. William Birch was seriously injured at Birdham in Sussex by enemy action on 15th July 1944, which was just 5 weeks after D–Day. He was eventually transferred back to Nottingham where he died of his injuries seven months later at his home.

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Ronald Ross

Air Raid Warden & Instructor

Civil Defence Service

Died: West Bridgford 28th May 1947

Ronald Ross died at his home in Mona Road of an illness caused by injuries received during an air raid. Although there is only a small amount of information about this, it is likely that the air raid that caused his injuries was the one that took place on 8th / 9th May 1941 when West Bridgford was heavily bombed. An entire area, including Trent Boulevard, Holme Road, Julian Road, Gertrude Road, Mona Road and Pierrepont Road was struck by both high explosive and incendiary bombs causing casualties and extensive damage.

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Divisional Officer Frank Bennett

Nottingham City Fire Brigade

Fatally injured: Nottingham 5th November 1948

On 5th November 1949, the city brigade were kept busy attending bonfires that had got out of control and other fires that had been caused by sparks from bonfires or fireworks.

A call was received at the Brigade control room stating that Wall's Ice Cream Factory on Castle Boulevard was on fire.

Upon arrival fire crews could see no obvious signs of fire. A ladder was pitched to the flat roof of the factory so that a check could be made on the rear of the premises. Firemen Chris Raybould accompanied Frank Bennett onto the roof and they established it was a false alarm. They could not be sure however, whether it was a malicious call made by some one who knew there was no fire, or whether the call was made with good intent by someone mistakenly thinking the building was on fire. They went back towards the ladder, but Frank Bennett made a fatal mistake. He accidentally stepped off the edge of the roof and crashed to the ground landing on the base of his spine; this caused him to fracture his skull. He was rendered unconscious immediately.

The fire crew were able to get down to him as he lay in the rear yard of the factory and sent a message back to their control room requesting an ambulance. Frank was taken to the Nottingham General Hospital where he died three days later having never regained consciousness.

Chris Raybould believed that Frank mistakenly thought that the roof stretched further than it did. This illusion was created by the very high wall at the rear of the factory which cast a shadow over the entire roof area. In the darkness, this shadow looked solid as if it was part of the roof. Frank Bennett had survived fire fighting in the blitz and had escaped with minor injuries when a bomb fell directly opposite his house in Charlbury Road, but fate played a trick when his luck ran out at a false alarm.

Anyone who knew Frank described him as a gentleman and the firemen respected him as a very capable and fair officer.

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Station Officer Albert Smith

Nottingham City Fire Brigade

Killed: Nottingham 16th January 1969

The brigade were called to Dakin's warehouse on Talbot Street at 02:35 and Station Officer Albert Smith was in charge of the first crews to arrive.

Fifteen pumping appliances, two turntable ladders an emergency tender and the control unit attended the fire.

During the four hour struggle to control the fire, Albert Smith was found collapsed in the street. He was taken to the Nottingham General Hospital, but was confirmed dead.

Bob Nurcombe, a leading Fireman with the City Brigade, saw Albert at around 02:50 whilst he was still directing the firefighting operation. "He had been in the building, but when I saw him he had come out. I got the impression that he was suffering from the effects of the smoke. He had just about had it."

The news of Station Officer Smith's death had a profound effect on the men still tackling the blaze. Divisional Officer Ted Cowling said: "…this fire was one of the most hazardous that we have had for some considerable time. In the incipient stages when Station officer Smith was in charge, it must have been quite strenuous for him, but it was due to his efforts that the fire was brought under control quickly and with no further loss of life."

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Leading Firefighter Philip Hunsley

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service

Died: East Leake 24th March 1998

Philip Hunsley was a very community minded person and believed in serving the public.

The fire station in East Leake, where Philip lived, were recruiting part time firefighters in 1988 and it was no surprise to Philip's family that he enrolled to become a retained firefighter. Philip was just completing his basic training in January1989 when the Kegworth air crash occurred. The fire appliance from East Leake was mobilised to the incident, but Philip was not able to attend. He was frustrated by this, but it showed him just exactly what being a firefighter was about and spurred him on to contribute to a service that was held in high esteem. In 1998, Philip had been promoted to Leading Fireman and was approaching his 55th birthday. He knew that it was obligatory for him to retire, but he wanted to continue to serve, and asked for permission to extend his service by six months so that he could assist with training new recruits at East Leake. The Chief Fire Officer granted the permission and Philip was pleased that he would have a final six months of public service. On 24th March 1998 he was at the fire station in East Leake with other members of the crew undertaking training to rescue people trapped in Road Traffic Collisions. The training had gone well and just before 21:00 hours, they re-stowed the equipment that had been used and removed their fire kit. A few minutes later and without any warning, Philip suddenly collapsed. The fire crew immediately suspected a heart attack. They called an ambulance and began a resuscitation attempt on Philip. Using the oxygen resuscitator from the fire appliance and carrying out chest compressions, they worked on Philip until the ambulance crew arrived. Philip's wife and son arrived at the station and they could see that he everyone was doing all they could to resuscitate him.

Philip was conveyed to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham by ambulance and he was pronounced dead on arrival. It was subsequently confirmed that he had died of a Myocardial Infarction (heart attack). He had died just one week before his 55th birthday when he could have retired. Philip was cremated and his ashes were scattered by his family at Spurn Point on the East Coast which were his wishes. Spurn Point was a favourite spot for Philip where he indulged his other great passion - bird watching. Philip is still well remembered in the village as his commitment to public service.

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