World War 2 Memorial

This page remembers all  of our relatives  who were killed serving in the armed forces or as a result of enemy action during the 1939 - 1945 war. The entries are in chronological order.


Thomas George Osborne aged 19

Died 14th October 1939, Scapa Flow, Orkney


Thomas Osborne was our Mum's brother. His biographical details can be found here.  He was the first of our relatives to be lost in the war, just six weeks after the war started.

On 13th October 1939 his ship HMS Royal Oak was at anchor in Scapa Flow.  It felt a very safe protected anchorage with only one way in and out through the Sound of Hoxa. This passage was protected by an anti-submarine boom which was raised and lowered to allow ships to pass through.  Smaller entrances to the anchorage were obstructed by sunken wrecks known as block ships. The defences proved to be inadequate on the night of 13/14th October. A U-boat found a way into Scapa Flow close to the Orkney mainland shore. She was undetected until about 01:00 when the Royal Oak was hit by torpedoes. At first it was thought that there had been an accidental explosion on board, but about fifteen minutes later the Royal Oak was hit again by another salvo of torpedoes. She sunk quickly with the loss of 833 men.

This was the second major naval loss of the war. On 17th September the aircraft carrier HMS Courageous was torpedoed in the Western Approaches and sank with the loss of  519 men. This was at the start of the period later known by historians as the phoney war, so called because little was happening!

Died in the same incident 7th September 1940, Poplar, London:

On Saturday 7th September 1940 six of our relatives, three generations of the same family, were killed in an air raid, when a bomb hit their home at 46 Tetley Street, Poplar.

Minnie Louise Hooper, our cousin, was born in Poplar in 1883.  (Her grandfather was Richard Hooper the marine store dealer.)  Minnie married Arthur Graves in 1908 and they moved into 46 Tetley Street in 1913, with their two children Ivy and Arthur. Over the years they had another five children in 46 Tetley Street, the last was Irene in 1921.

On the day of the air raid Minnie was at home in 46 Tetley Street where she had lived for 27 years. With her were two of her daughters Irene and Rose. Irene had married Robert Laker two months earlier. Rose was there with her husband Walter Scott who was a private in the Essex Regiment on leave, and their eighteen months old baby daughter Jean. In the afternoon the eldest daughter Ivy came to visit with her 11 years old daughter Joan. Ivy was married to Gustav Krause and lived in Catford, South London. It was a simple journey from Catford to Poplar on a 108 bus through the Blackwall Tunnel.

That evening  London suffered the biggest air raid that had been seen so far, with over 400 bombers attacking the London docks. This was the first day of the London Blitz which later became known as Black Saturday. 46 Tetley Street was hit by a bomb which killed Minnie, her daughters Ivy and Irene, and Ivy's daughter Joan.  Rose and her husband died the following day in Poplar Hospital. We don't know what happened to baby Jean, or whether there was anyone else in the house when the bomb struck. But we do know that the remaining men in the family survived.

We have two photographs to illustrate this story. The first depicts Tetley Street on 30th December 1938 looking towards the west. Number 46 is the leftmost house, so we  can't see the full extent of the house, although it is identical to the next one along adjacent to the shop.


The second photograph below was taken from a German aircraft on that day - 7th September 1940. Tetley Street is highlighted. The picture must have been taken at the very start of the attack as there is no damage or smoke. The shadows indicate that the sun was low in the west. Sunset that day was about 6:30pm so the time was early evening.


George William Budden

Died  23rd Jan 1941, Ryde Isle of Wight


George Budden was our Granny's cousin on her mother's side. He was born in 1885, and just before the First World War he was living in Freshwater IOW with his wife and five children, working as a farm labourer. In WW1 he volunteered for the Isle of Wight Rifles, and on 10th August 1915 landed at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli. His battalion took part in a woefully poorly planned attack against the Turks and suffered heavy casualties and eventually had to retreat. He also served in Egypt and Palestine before demobilisation in 1918.

When the Second World War started George volunteered again for the Hampshire Regiment and served in the 13th Home Defence battalion. The HD battalions undertook guard duties at military and strategic locations. George died of pneumonia in the County Hospital Ryde on 23rd January 1941 aged 55. His illness must have resulted from his army service because he is buried at Christ Church, Totland IOW with a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone.

George is the only person in our family to have served in the armed forces in both world wars.


Edward Francis Harris

Died 3rd January 1943, Shanklin, IOW

Fireman Edward Francis Harris was killed by enemy aerial bombardment on 3 January 1943 aged 48.

Edward was born on 26th June 1894 in Shanklin. He lived with his parents and older brother and sister at 2 Seymour Villas, Hatherton Road, Shanklin, where his father worked as a blacksmith. The Harris family had worked as blacksmiths in Shanklin for several generations. Edward's great grandfather George Harris as well as being a blacksmith was the parish clerk for St Blasius, Shanklin for thirty years until his death in 1887.

By 1911 Edward  was 16 and working in motor repairs. In the first world war he served in action in the Army Service Corps, for which he was awarded the British War Medal, and the Allied Victory Medal.

Edward married Dorothy May Gibbs in 1925 at St Blasius church, Shanklin. They had three children, Edward, Derek, and Alan. At the outbreak of war in 1939 Edward was working as a bus driver.  He was too old for military service so he volunteered to join the National Fire Service. On the afternoon of Sunday 3rd January 1943 Shanklin was attacked by four Focke-Wulf 190 fighter/bombers. Edward Harris was on duty in the requisitioned Gloster Hotel, the temporary headquarters of the Shanklin Company of the National Fire Service, when the building took a direct hit from a 500kg high explosive bomb.

Edward was one of twelve NFS firemen killed instantly by the blast. The photographs show the aftermath of the bomb at the Gloster Hotel.


Arthur Edward Budden

Died 23rd March 1943,  Mareth, Tunisia


Arthur Budden was the son of George Budden whose death is described earlier on this page. Arthur was born in Totland in 1920 and lived  there with his family. He enlisted in the 5th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders and saw action as part of the so called 'Desert Rats' in North Africa. Arthur took part in the Battle of El Alamein, and was killed later at the Battle of Mareth in Tunisia. He is buried in Enfidaville War Cemetery, Tunisia.

When the names of the dead were added to the war memorial in Totland, Isle of Wight, for some reason Arthur's name was forgotten. In 1999 with pressure from the family and support from Totland Parish Council his name was finally added to the list.


Ada Doris Turp

Died 27th April 1944, Cosham, Hampshire

Ada Doris was our Mum's sister. She married Richard Turp in 1938. On the night of 26/27th April 1944 she and her two year old son Tony were staying overnight at 75 West Street Portchester  with her friend Florence Hayter and her two children. That night there was an air raid on Portsmouth. One bomb hit an air raid shelter in St Faith's Road Portsmouth killing 27 people.  75 West Street Portchester was demolished by a bomb which killed Florence and her two children. Ada and Tony were recovered alive from the wreckage after several hours, but Ada died later in Queen Alexandra hospital. 

One other person was killed in Portchester that night - a boy called John Darnborough aged 21 months who lived a short distance away in 99 The Crossway. Number 99 was just across the road and a couple of houses up from where Dad's family lived at number 78. 

The pictures show The Crossway after the bombing of 27th April 1944. We haven't been able to find a picture of the wrecked 75 West Street - yet.


Douglas Fraser Watt Dugay

Died 27th October 1944, Alexandria, Egypt

Douglas Dugay was born in Willesden, London in 1925, the illegitimate son of Jeannie Patterson. When Jeannie married our cousin Edward Dugay in 1931, Douglas adopted the Dugay name. Douglas joined the Royal Navy about 1943, and served on the cruiser HMS Argonaut. She took part in the D-Day bombardment and the allied invasion of southern France. Soon afterwards Douglas died in the Royal Naval Hospital, Alexandria on 27th October 1944 after being seriously injured falling into a dry dock.

HMS Argonaut