Remembering Peter Wood (1922-1974)

Signalman Peter Wood
 Royal Navy   250372
[Photo taken in 1953. 'Destroyer' is on Peter's cap band. He served on
HMS Rocket, an R-Class Destroyer in 1953]

Peter Wood was born on the 21st of January, 1922 at Swinton. His birth was registered at Barton-upon-Irwell.  Peter, the son of John Wood and Emma Platt [1], was named in memory of his paternal uncle, who fell at Hulluch in the First World War.  He had five sisters: Edna, Alice [2], Nellie [3] Emma and Lily [4], and a brother, John [5].

(l to r) Lily, Peter, Emma and Edna
click on images to enlarge

Marian and Peter (1969)

In 1945, while on leave, Peter married Marian Robb,  They had six children:

• Christine Wood
• Michael J Wood
• Alison J Wood
• Martin D Wood
• Russell Peter Wood
• Anthony M Wood

Before Peter volunteered to serve in the Royal Navy on the 30th of April 1941, he was employed as a joiner.  Upon enlistment, at the age of 19, he was assigned to the Chatham Division (HMS Pembroke), Kent until 6 February, 1942,  HMS Pembroke was a shore establishment, where Peter received his training in communications and signals. Following his training, military records indicate that Peter was posted to President II (May Island). HMS President II was an accounting base used by numerous naval ships and establishments that were not self-accounting (i.e. had no paymaster). The place in brackets is the ship or establishment at which a person was actually stationed. So, Peter was garrisoned on the Isle of May, located strategically at the mouth of the Firth of Forth in Scotland. The Isle of May was used as the control centre of anti-submarine defences designed to protect the Home Fleet.  The Royal Naval Dockyard at Rosyth was near the head of the Firth, and became the base of the Home Fleet after the humiliating destruction of the HMS Royal Oak by a German U-Boat in Scapa Flow in 1939.  

. 

Isle of May Signal Station taken in 1980 prior to demolition
source: Dr Richard Walding

Peter spent just over thirteen months on the desolate and windswept island before being relieved and returned to HMS Pembroke. He was at Chatham for about a month before being assigned to HMS Wildfire, Sheerness, part of Nore Command.  One of the principal duties of Nore Command was to guard the east coast convoys supplying the ports of North Eastern England. HMS Wildfire was a shore base, from which Peter joined the HMS Queen Eagle, an anti-aircraft escort ship.

HMS Queen Eagle
source: Wikimedia Commons

HMS Queen Eagle was one six 'Eagle Ships', all stationed at Sheerness. Launched on 29th February 1940 as the passenger vessel, Empress Queen, she was quickly requisitioned by the Admiralty, and equipped with anti-aircraft guns, long-ranged fuel tanks, and camouflaged before being put to work on escort duty as part of the Thames Special Service Flotilla. Peter served on the HMS Queen Eagle from 5 April 1943 until September 1943, when she was transferred to the Merchant Navy and used as a troop transport.  On the 1 October, Peter found himself once again at HMS Pembroke, until he joined the HMS Pursuer on 12 October 1943.

HMS Pursuer

B a t t l e   H o n o u r s

Atlantic  1943-45 - Norway 1944 - Normandy  1944 -  South France  1944 - Aegean 1944

Norway 1945 - Arctic 1945
Photo credit: Gordon Smith, Naval-History.Net

HMS Pursuer in Belfast Lough by Stephen Bone
source: BBC - Your Paintings

If life had been dull on the Isle of May, service aboard the HMS Pursuer made up for it. This American-built ship joined the Royal Navy as part of the Lend-Lease programme in June 1943.
HMS Pursuer was an Attacker Class escort carrier whose primary role was to provide protection for convoys. Upon receipt, the ship underwent extensive modifications, including the installation of radar, before she was ready for operational service.  During November 1943, she embarked 12 Grumman Wildcat V aircraft of 881 squadron (Canada) and 10 Wildcat Vs, of 896 squadron, both part of 7th Naval Fighter Wing. HMS Pursuer was under the command of Acting Captain Harry Robert Graham, former captain of HMS Zulu, which fought at the last battle of the German battleship, Bismarck.


In January 1944, HMS Pursuer was deployed to the Western Approaches, and by February was operating as an escort on the Gibraltar convoy route. At 18.44 hours, eight minutes after sunset, on 12 February, an alert was received from the Admiralty of an impending attack on Convoy KMS.40. In the early days of Atlantic convoys, its sixty-nine ships would have been easy pickings, but under the protection of HMS Pursuer, this was no longer the case. 500 km. west of Cape Finisterre, the convoy was attacked by nine He 177 aircraft of Gruppe II / Kampfgeschwader 40.  As the Heinkel bombers flashed across the radar screens, Wildcats were launched to incercept them. In the engagement, Gruppe II lost its commander, the attack was repulsed, and no ships were hit.  

HMS Pursuer (1944)

Operation Tungsten

The Bismarck and her sister-ship, the Tirpitz, were the only two battleships in their class, and the largest vessels in the German navy. In 1941, the Bismarck was sunk about 560 km west of Brest, leaving the Tirpitz, stationed in Norway, which was considered a danger to Allied Arctic convoys. The British had attacked Tirpitz several times during 1942 and 1943, and Operation Tungsten was organized to finish the job.  The Royal Navy assembled a powerful force. In the vanguard were the carriers HMS Furious and Victorious, with escort carriers HMS Pursuer, Searcher, Emperor and Fencer in support. The Allied attack was divided into two groups, and HMS Pursuer was in Force 2 under the command of Rear Admiral Arthur La Touche Bisset. Peter and his ship left Scapa Flow on 30 March, and rendezvoused with Force One on in the afternoon of 2 April.

The combined force launched an air attack during the early hours of 3 April, while the fleet were 190 km from their target. Tirpitz was moored in Kaafjord in northern Norway, and well protected by anti-ancraft guns.  Flying only 15 m above the sea to avoid detection by German radar, the crew of the Tirpitz were taken by surprise. The first wave of fighters severely damaged the enemy's anti-aircraft capabilities, and carried out a bombing run against the vessel, wreaking havoc among the crew and wounding the ship's captain. A second wave added to the misery. However, the heavy armour of the Tirpitz, and bombing from too low an altititude, saved the vessel from destruction, but she was unfit for duty for months afterwards.

In the Thick of It

Within weeks, the HMS Pursuer, along with the Victorious, Furious, Searcher, Emperor and Striker attacked a south-bound convoy off Bödö, Norway, damaging all four merchant ships and an escort vessel.  In June 1944, Peter and his shipmates found themselves in the south west approaches of the English Channel, protecting the D-Day fleet against the threat of U-boat attack from the French Atlantic ports. The following month, HMS Pursuer set sail for the Mediterranean and Malta, where she formed part of Task Force 88.1 in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France on 15 August 1944.  In early September, HMS Pursuer docked at Alexandria, Egypt for repairs and replenishment, and joined the British Aegean Force, and was briefly engaged in operations against German garrisons in the Aegean and Dodecanese before returning to the UK for a refit.  By, October she was back in action along the coast of Norway, and involved in Operation Counterblast, the destruction of enemy shipping along the Norwegian coast.  After mine-laying duties (Operation Hardfast), HMS Pursuer sailed for Milford Haven to escort Convoy UC.48B across the Atlantic to New York, and then went to Norfolk, Virginia for repairs.  By March 1945, the European theatre was winding down, and Peter and his ship were transferred to the 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron, East Indies Fleet based at Trincomalee, where they prepared to support British landings in Malaya (Operation Zipper).  The captain of HMS Pursuer, after docking at Port Swettenham (Penang), went ashore with 200 marines and received the surrender of the Japanese garrison there.

In a short time, Peter and HMS Pursuer saw action in three theatres of war: the European, Mediterranean and Far East. They had crossed the North Atlantic to America, and virtually circumnavigated Africa, docking at Cape Town and Durban.  In November 1945, the ship was released from service, departing Colombo for the Clyde, where all British equipment and personnel were removed. HMS Pursuer sailed from Portsmouth on 16th January 1946, and the ship was officially handed back to the US Navy on 2nd February 1946. Shortly after she was scrapped.  Four days before HMS Pursuer left Portsmouth, Peter was dispersed and returned to HMS Pembroke 1.  On 26 March 1946, he received a Class A Release (an individual released from the forces in prority of age and length of war service).

Peter Wood (front 2nd from right) with shipmates
taken in Durban 1945

Peter Wood (standing far left) with shipmates
taken in Durban 1945 on HMS Pursuer

Returning home, Peter faced the post-war housing shortage. He and his wife first lived with his mother until they learned that the Royal Artillery Camp on Bank Lane, Pendlebury had been vacated. Several families were allowed to live there.  Peter and Marian spent several years in Hut no. 2, where they had their first two children.  Marian persuaded Peter to join the reserves, since the stipend would supplement the income of their growing family. It had unexpected consequences.

Cold War

The Malayan Emergency was already underway when the Korean War (June 1850-July 1953) broke out.  Following the reduction of military personnel after World War II, there was a shortage of manpower to deal with these new conflicts. Peter, as a member of the Royal Fleet Reserve (i.e. former full-timers) found himself back in uniform and back at HMS Pembroke on 30 December 1952. In January 1953, he was transferred to HMS Sea Eagle (formerly HMS Ferret), a strategically important shore establishment at Derry, Northern Ireland.  In the post-war period, HMS Sea Eagle was converted into a training school for anti-submarine warfare.  Peter was assigned to the ship, HMS Rocket, an R-Class destroyer of World War II vintage, which had been converted to a fast anti-submarine frigate, and was part of the Third Frigate Flotilla.  In  June1953, Peter was among the ship's compliment that took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

HMS Rocket underway

HMS Rocket

Medals

1939-1945 Star

Atlantic Star

Burma Star

France & German Star
Atlantic Clasp

Italy Star

War Medal 1939-1945

Arctic Star

Peter was finally demobbed on 20 March 1954, and settled down to family life until his death in 1974 at the age of 52.

... for we are an island race. Through all our centuries, the sea has ruled our destiny. There will always be other ships and men to sail in them. It is these men, in peace or war, to whom we owe so much. Above all victories, beyond all loss, in spite of changing values in a changing world, they give to us, their countrymen, eternal and indomitable pride." 

        -  Noel Coward

Notes

1

Marriage: 5 Jan 1907 Christ Church, Salford, Lancashire, England
John Wood - 21, Labourer, Bachelor, 32 Hanover Street
Emma Platt - 21, Weaver, Spinster, 32 Hanover Street
Groom's Father: Walter Wood, Labourer
Bride's Father: George Platt, Gardener
Witness: John Wolstenholme; Mary Jane Platt
Married by Banns by: H. Knowles
Register: Marriages 1906 - 1910, Page 11, Entry 22
Source: LDS Film 1786370

2
Baptism: 30 May 1907 St Thomas, Pendleton, Lancashire, England
Alice Wood - [Child] of John Wood & Emma
Born: 6 May 1907
Abode: 13 Burgess' Buildings
Occupation: Porter
Baptised by: J. R. Donald
Register: Baptisms 1904 - 1910, Page 173, Entry 1384
Source: Manchester Central Library
Marriage: 30 Mar 1929 St Peter, Swinton, Lancashire, England
Richard William Parton - 24, Salesman, Bachelor, 32 Stafford Rd.
Alice Wood - 21, Weaver, Spinster, 13 Long St.
Groom's Father: Richard Parton, (deceased), Miner
Bride's Father: John Wood, Labourer
Witness: John Wood; Nellie Wood
Married by Banns by: Denis Fletcher
Register: Marriages 1924 - 1931, Page 167, Entry 333
Source: Manchester Central Library

3

Baptism: 13 Jul 1911 St Thomas, Pendleton, Lancashire, England
Nellie Wood - [Child] of John Wood & Emma
Born: 30 Jun 1911
Abode: 23 Doveridge
Occupation: Labourer
Baptised by: A. Ebrey
Register: Baptisms 1910 - 1914, Entry 194
Source: Manchester Central Library

Marriage: 4 Aug 1934 St Peter, Swinton, Lancashire, England
Frank Howell - 22, Warehouse Hand, Bachelor, 19 Long Street
Nellie Wood - 23, Winder, Spinster, 13 Long Street
Groom's Father: Joseph Howell, Surface Hand
Bride's Father: John Wood, Watchman
Witness: Alfred Vernon; Lillian Davies
Married by Banns by: Philip Hussey
Notes: [Bride's age changed from 22]
Register: Marriages 1931 - 1937, Page 115, Entry 230
Source: Manchester Central Library

4
Marriage: 27 Mar 1937 St Peter, Swinton, Lancashire, England

William Henry Yates - 24, Transport Worker, Bachelor, 19 Long Street Swinton
Lily Wood - 22, Winder, Spinster, 13 Long Street Swinton
Groom's Father: William Henry Yates, (deceased), Railway Platelayer
Bride's Father: John Wood, (deceased), Labourer
Witness: William Brockbank; Emma Wood
Married by Banns by: Harold Dawson
Register: Marriages 1931 - 1937, Page 210, Entry 419
Source: Manchester Central Library

5
Baptism: 25 Mar 1909 St Thomas, Pendleton, Lancashire, England
John Wood - [Child] of John Wood & Emma
Born: 13 Mar 1909
Abode: 36 Doveridge St., Hayfield Tce.
Occupation: Railway Servant
Baptised by: Wm. Bernard Murray
Register: Baptisms 1904 - 1910, Page 259, Entry 2068
Source: Manchester Central Library

Remembering Douglas Arthur Binns

Douglas Arthur Binns (1921-1943)


'Dougie' Binns was baptized on 18 May 1921 at Stowell Memorial Church in Salford.  He was the son of Lilian (née Cawdery) and Frank Binns, who were married on 24 July 1920. [1]   Frank had been employed by the Ford Motor Company in Trafford Park, but he moved his family to Ilford in Essex, when the car plant relocated to Dagenham in 1931.  At the age of 20, Douglas married Catherine Bell during the closing months of 1942.   By that time, he was already in uniform.

1942 Marriage of Douglas and Catherine

click on images to enlarge

To the left of Douglas are Frank and Lilian Binns, and. on the far
right, his sister Dorothy

Douglas was a Trooper (service number 7956678) in the 50th Royal Tank Regiment (50 RTR), a constituent part of the 23rd Armoured Brigade and the Royal Armoured Corps.  50 RTR was formed in Bristol during April of 1939, when Territorial Army Battalions were converted to Tank Battalions in preparation for war with Germany.  The 23rd Armoured Brigade left England for the Middle East in May 1942 to join the Eight Army, and became active in early July.  Considering the timing of Douglas' wedding, it is uncertain whether he saw action in the Second Battle of El Alamein.  By May 1943, Allied forces had driven Rommel's Afrika Korps and their Italian allies from North Africa, leaving Sicily as the next objective in the Mediterranean theatre.

video: Invasion of Sicily

Operation Husky

Operation Husky was the code name given to the planned invasion of Sicily. It was to be the largest seaborne operation to that date. Beginning on 10 July 1943, an armada of over 2500 ships would transport 160,000 Allied troops to the island.  Their objective was to defeat Axis forces, and establish a base for the eventual conquest of Italy.  The British Eighth Army landed on the beaches at the Gulf

click on image to enlarge
source: Garland & Smith

of Noto and then pushed northward along the island's eastern coast.   By 13 July, Augusta had been captured, and three days later the Primosole Bridge, which spanned the River Simeto, was secured, giving the British forces access to the plain of Catania. However, German resistance was stiffening, and casualties were mounting, which slowed the advance. The 50th Royal Tank Regiment, as part of XXX Corps, was assigned to the left flank.  Operating in support of the 51st Highland Division, the 50th RTR moved toward Gerbini, with its well defended aerodrome defences.  On the night of July 18/19, they met fierce resistance from the Panzer-Division Hermann Göring and its Italian allies.  It was a particularly bloody engagement that lasted until 21 July.  Douglas Binns was killed in action during this battle. He was 22 years old.

Douglas is buried at the Catania War Cemetery (Commonwealth War Graves Record)

Source: Virtual Catania War Cemetery
Thank You
Plot: I. C. 17.

Dougie and his sister, Dorothy

Manchester Evening News 8 May 1944

 ROLL OF HONOUR
LILY and FRANK BINNS.—Treasured birthday memories of our beloved grandson and nephew, DOUGLAS, presumed killed July, 1943, Sicily. Many a silent tear is shed for one we loved so well. Grandma CAWDERY, Aunty MAY, Uncle JOHN, and COUSINS. Birthday memories of one who was dear to us all. ELSIE. CHARLIE, and CHILDREN. 

Notes

[1] Parish record:

Marriage: 24 Jul 1920 Stowell Memorial, Salford, Lancashire, England
Frank Binns - 20, Coil Winder, Bachelor, 23 West Brownbill Street, Salford
Lilian Cawdery - 20, Armature Winder, Spinster, 23 West Brownbill Street, Salford
Groom's Father: Thomas Binns, Joiner
Bride's Father: Arthur Cawdery, Joiner [i.e. Francis Arthur Cawdery]
Witness: John Taylor; May Cawdery

Baptism: 18 May 1921 Stowell Memorial, Salford, Lancashire, England
Douglas Arthur Binns - [Child] of Frank Binns & Lilian
    Abode: 23 West Brownbill Street Salford
    Occupation: Labourer
    Baptised by: C. E. Leytham Rector
    Register: Baptisms 1921 - 1942, Page 7, Entry 49

First World War Centenary. 10 : Michael Charles Cawdery

Sargeant Michael Charles Cawdery

Michael Charles 'Charlie' Cawdery was born on the 20th of September 1873 at no. 20 Queen's Square, Dublin, Ireland.  He was the son of George Cawdery and Teresa Scott. 

Charlie's father was a master carpenter, who specialized in making stage sets. He had moved to Dublin from England, and chose to live in Queen's Square, because of its association with, and proximity to, the Queen's Royal Theatre located on Pearse Street,  The Theatre Royal was also nearby on Hawkins Street.  The family remained in Dublin throughout much of the 

No. 20 Queen's Square

(now Pearse Square) Dublin

Video: Pearse Square

1870s, but, sometime before 1881, Teresa died, and George moved back to England with Michael Charles and his siblings, Francis Arthur and Mary Georgina.  George's other daughter, Susan, appears to have died in her youth.  Upon returning to England, the family lived in Camberwell, Surrey. George died at 109 Blackfriars Road in Southwark on 15 July 1898.  By 1894. Francis was living in Salford, having followed in his father's occupational footsteps, as did Charles. In the 1901 census his occupation is given as a "stage carpenter theatre". By 1911 Charles was living in Pendleton.

click on images to enlarge

                  

                       Francis (left) and Charlie

Francis (left) and Charlie

                  

                     George Cawdery and offspring

Teresa Scott Cawdery

   

Susan holding Mary Georgina ?

To Arms!

When Charlie joined the Lancashire Fusiliers, he was already 41 years old, and at the upper age limit for recruitment, but he dutifully answered the call to arms as Kitchener began his task of building a new all-volunteer army. Charlie was one of the ''Salford Pals", who joined the ranks as a Lance Sargeant in the 16th (Service) Battalion (2nd Salford Pals). His service number was 11723.  The 16th 

Charles appears to have misrepresented his age in 1914

Lance Sergeant Michael Charles Cawdery
Lancashire Fusiliers 11723 [1]

was formed in Salford on 5 November 1914 by Sir Montague-Barlow, MP for Salford South, and the Salford Brigade Committee. After some intitial training carried out locally, the battalion moved to Conway Camp on the 11th of February 1915.  The 16th Bn was assigned to the 96th Brigade, 32nd Division, and was moved to Prees Heath Camp in Shropshire for trench-warfare training. However, conditions there were too wet, and, on 20 June 1915, it was moved to Catterick. North Yorkshire. This was followed by a stint at the Ponteland Rifle Ranges in Northumberland. On the 13 August 1915, the battalion was transferred to Codford Camp [2] on Salisbury Plain, and, in the following month, it was formally adopted by the War Office.

In November 1915, the 32nd Division received orders to prepare to sail for France. Charlie and the 2nd Salfords left Codford on a slow-moving train in the early hours of the morning with full packs.  After an eight hour journey, the battalion arrived at Folkestone, embarking on an Isle of Man Packet Co. steamer, bound for Boulogne-sur-Mer.  After a smooth crossing, the ship arrived on the 22nd of November 1915. [3]  From the port, Charlie travelled by train to Longpré, and then continued to move south and east to the front at  La Boisselle. Christmas Day was spent in reserve at Albert.

The 16th Battalion (2nd Salfords) spent the first six months of 1916 confined to a relatively small area just north of the Rive Somme. Its principal job, when not in reserve, was to man the trenches at Authuille, Theipval and Aveluy.  On 1 July 1916, this same small area turned out to be the most deadly place on earth.  This fateful day, the 'First Day on the Somme' was the blackest day in the British Army's long history. It marked one of the beginning of one of the bloodiest military battles in history. Charlie and the Salford Pals Battalions were in the thick of it.   In preparation for the Battle of the Somme, British artillery fired more than 1.5 million shells at the German lines, more than in the first year of the war and another 250,000 shells were fired on 1 July. The noise was horrendous, and could be heard on Hampstead Heath, 300 miles (480 km) away. The object was to neutralize the

video: The Somme: From Defeat to Victory (BBC)

enemy and obliterate their defences.  British commanders were so confident that the artillery had been effective that they ordered their men to walk slowly toward the German lines.  It was a slow walk toward German machine guns, and they were cut to pieces.  By the end of the day, 20,000 corpses and 40,000 wounded littered the landscape of no-man's land.

We assume that Charlie was one of the wounded, and that, upon his recovery, he was transferred to the Labour Corps, though his age may have militated against front line service. He served with the 9th Labour Company with the rank of Sargeant. His service number was 566128.

Charles was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the Victory Medal, and the British War Medal.

Charles married Adelaide "Ada" Rebecca Rollings, presumably before their first child was born, in 1893.  Ada was born in Ancoats, Manchester in 1875. They had seven children:

• Henrietta "Hettie" born about 1893 in Ardwick, Manchester. 
• Ada christened in 1897 in Ardwick; married William Hilton in 1915; died 1980.[4]
• George Stanley born 19 March 1900; married Lucy Taylor on 30 March 1918; died 1971.
• Arthur christened in Salford 1902; married Ethel Jones in 1924, died 1975.[5]
• Charles born 1905; married Amelia Irwin in 1924; died 1959 [6]
• John Richard born 1907; married Annie Lingard in 1927 ; died 1990.[7]
• Amy born in 1910; married Thomas Eaton in 1924; died 1975. [8]

Michael Charles Cawdery's death was registered at Barton, He died on 22 June 1951, and is buried in the Southern Cemetery, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. He was 77.  Ada died on 31 August 1940, and is buried with her husband.

[1] Probably taken during training (1915). [see Manchester Courier, 16th January 1915]. The photograph was sent to Charlie's niece, May Cawdery, who was also engaged in the war effort. The verso reads: " To May with Best Wishes from Uncle Charlie".
[2] Diary: conditions at Codford Camp

[3] sources: Tattersall Diary ; History of the Lancashire Fusiliers, 1914-1918, v.2. The Isle of Man packet steamer was either Empress Queen or Mona's Queen.
[4] son: Edward Hilton born 1925
[5] children: Arthur Cawdrey born 1925; Harold born 1927
[6] children: Charles born 1924; Hilda born 1932
[7] children: John R. born  1927 ; Irene born 1929 ; Rita born 1936
[8] son: Brian H. Eaton born 1942

Isle of Man Steam Packet Company

The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, founded in 1830, is the world's oldest continuously operated passenger shipping company in the world.  It received a Royal Mail Warrant for the carriage of mail on July 12, 1831.  In addition to plying its trade in the Irish Sea, the company's ships fought in two world wars, losing three vessels during the evacuation of Dunkirk. The company is still in service.

The souvenir brochure below was issued by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company in 1954 to raise funds for the British Sailors Society, which was founded in 1818.

click on images to enlarge

note: the stamps are misplaced
and do not match the captions.

A list of ships of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company's historic fleet can be found here. See also The Ships List ; Postcards of the Fleet ; The Current Fleet ; SS Empress Queen ; Manx Worthies ; Historic Company Offices

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