WW2 Participants, Casualties, and Memorials
This page within the ‘People’ section of the website includes information and biographies on people with a connection to the local area who served or were actively involved in World War 2. The list is presented in alphabetical order.
Note: a Cross (♰) against an entry indicates that the individual is commemorated on the Stansted War Memorial.
Anstiss, Jack
Jack was born on 21st November 1915 in Hook and Hatchet Cottages, Hatham Green Lane, Stansted and was the youngest of 9 children in total. Jack joined the Army and became a Lorry Driver in the 2nd Armoured Division. He was captured in North Africa and spent the next 2 years in the Sulmona POW camp in Italy before being moved to the infamous Brux forced labour camp in what is now the Czech Republic. He was liberated by the Soviet Red Army in 1945.
Anstiss, Fred
Fred joined the RASC at the same time as his twin brother Jack and spent his war years in Africa.
Bayne-Jardine, Christian, DSO, MC, CBE
Christian Bayne-Jardine was a career military officer in the Royal Artillery who saw active service on the Western Front, Italy and the Middle East during WW1. He lived at Fairseat Manor from 1938 to 1946 whilst he was commanding the anti-aircraft coastal defences south of the Medway. At the end of World War II, he retired from the Army at the age of 57.
Bowyer, Tom
Tom was from Plaxdale Green Road, Stansted, and served in Canada with the RAF.
Brooker, Frank
Frank was from Stone Rocks, Plaxdale Green Road, Stansted and served in the RAF. We believe that he was part of the RAF Maintenance Command.
Canning, Victor
Victor lived at Church Cottage, Tumblefield Road, from 1946 to 1952. He joined the Royal Artillery in 1940 and served in anti-aircraft batteries in the South of England before serving in North Africa, Sicily and Italy from 1943 onwards. He retired from the Army in 1946 with the rank of Major and began his career as a highly successful novelist and Hollywood film script writer.
Capon, Willie
Willie Capon was born in Stansted and spent at least the first eleven years of his life at Kingsdown Road (Stansted Lane) before moving with his family to Balham. By 1939 he and his wife had moved to Beckenham, which is where he was injured in an air raid on 5th June 1943. He was admitted to Beckenham Hospital and died there six days later. He rests in Beckenham Cemetery and is commemorated on the Beckenham civic war memorial, and on the Second World War Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour, in Westminster Abbey, London.
Colegate, Ken
The Colegate family lived next door to the Mills family in Mingram cottages. Ken was Arthur Colegate’s younger brother and served in the Navy at the end of the War.
Colegate, William Arthur ♰
William Colegate was born in April 1916 at Dartford, Kent. Leading Stoker Arthur Colegate died in action at sea in Norway on the 8th June 1940 aged 23. He was married and had no children.
Francis, Colin
On 30th August 1940, an RAF Hurricane smashed into the ground at Coldharbour, killing its pilot who was on his first operational flight. Colin’s remains lay buried in his aircraft for 41 years. The following link provides a synopsis of the events that took place overhead that day and the subsequent recovery of the wreckage and its pilot.
Goddings, John
John spent the last 6 years of his long life living at the Almshouses in Tumblefield Road. He had joined the army aged 18 in 1942 and saw active service in North Africa and in Italy, where he was injured in the fierce battle for Monte Cassino. After recovering, he rejoined the fighting in Italy and ended the war in Greece.
Gould, Edward Roy ♰
Edward Gould lived in Stansted for almost the whole of his life, latterly at the Horse and Groom pub where his father was the publican. He lost his life aged nineteen at the very end of world war two and was the very last person from the Royal Scots Regiment killed in that conflict.
Hohler, Craven Goring ♰
Craven Hohler was already in the RAF when he inherited Court Lodge Stansted from his uncle in 1934. He was Wing Commander of 148 Squadron and was en route to Egypt in a Wellington bomber when he and his crew became victims of an Italian attack on a convoy near Malta. They were lost at sea in November 1940 and are recorded on the RAF Memorial at Runnymede.
Hollands, Newman
Newman Hollands was born in Ash in 1915, the youngest of ten children. His father, John, was farm bailiff at Rumney Farm and at the Court Lodge in Stansted. At the beginning of WWII, Newman joined the 8th Army and served in North Africa and Europe. During the six years he was away, Bertha and their young daughter, Margaret, lived at 2 Seagrove Cottages, Malthouse Road, Stansted.
Hooper, Charles Kingsley ♰
Charles Hooper had served in the Royal Navy since 1924 and was a member of the sick berth staff of HMS Eskimo when he was killed in action during the Second Battle of Narvik in 1940. His wife Muriel lived in Fairseat with her parents and gave birth to their only daughter exactly six months after his death.
Hubble, George
George Hubble lived at one of the Hook & Hatchet Cottages and joined the East Surrey Regiment. It is thought that he was posted to duties in Northern Ireland.
James, Elsie Violetta
Twice widowed Elsie James was born in Birmingham and following the death of her second husband in 1942, was living at Haven Manor, Haven Hill, Ash cum Ridley. On 11th October 1944 this building was obliterated by one of the last V1’s to fall in the UK, and Elsie died as a result. She is laid to rest in Watling Street Cemetery Dartford and is commemorated in the Second World War Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour in Westminster Abbey.
Lance, Geoffrey Charles ♰
Geoffrey Lance was born in Fairseat and was a career soldier. His mother Gladys was Sir Phillip Waterloo’s daughter and had lived in Trosley Towers. Geoffrey was killed in action at the bloody battle for Hill 112 near Caen, France in 1944. He left a wife and two children.
Maughan, Stanley
Stanley and his wife Kit moved to the Cottage on the Hill, Plaxdale Green Road, Stansted in 1969. He had been captured as a civilian by the Japanese at the fall of Hong Kong and was interned for the duration of the War in Kowloon Barracks. Like Jesse Mills below, he suffered from a vitamin deficiency and disease, and his eyesight was permanently damaged for the rest of his life.
Mills, Jesse
Before the War, Jesse lived in No. 3 Mingram Cottages, Malthouse Road, Stansted. He was taken prisoner-of-war when Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day 1941, and this was also his 23rd birthday. It is believed that Jesse was held in Changi prison in Singapore. When he finally made it home, he had severe eyesight loss due to a lack of food and vitamins.
Nash, Peter Albert ♰
Peter Nash lived at Parsonage Farm, Stansted, Kent, and was married in St Mary’s Church. As an RAF Lancaster pilot, he survived Bomber Command’s most costly operations of the War: Nuremberg and Mailly le Camp. His biography details the last three months of his life, leading up to his tragic death in 1944.
Parsons, Doris
Doris was the only woman from Stansted who was called up. She lived at Hatham Green Farm, Parsons Lane, Stansted, and served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.
Pankhurst, Craig
The Pankhursts lived at 1 Seagrove Cottages, Malthouse Road (next to Mingram Cottages). Craig was born in 1921 and was a motor mechanic after leaving school. It is believed that he served in the RAF in Burma (possibly in an air crew capacity). His older sister Bertha had married Newman Hollands from Rumney Farm, South Ash Road.
Wintle, Alfred, MC
The indomitable Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Daniel Wintle was an Army Cavalry officer who served in the First and Second World Wars and lived in Coldharbour, Wrotham Hill Road, from about 1930 to his death in 1966. He was the first non-lawyer to achieve a unanimous verdict in his favour in the House of Lords and achieved a degree of fame as a result. He is considered one of England’s greatest eccentrics.