|
BQMS ALFRED HENRY CHAPMAN, R.A. 726646, battery Quarter Master Sergeant, 117th Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiment, Royal
Artillery. Age 49 Died17.4.1945
Battery Quarter Master Sergeant, ALFRED HENRY CHAPMAN, was the husband of Minnie Margaret (Min) Chapman; they lived at No. 19 Prince Alfred
Street, Gosport. He was mentioned in despatches during the 1914-18 War. He passed away in the General Hospital, Ramsgate, Kent, on Tuesday 17th April 1945. The cause was not given. He was buried on
Saturday 21st April 1945, Plot 7 Space 56, and is commemorated by a CWG headstone.
Lieutenant Commander WILLIAM ALFRED CHEER, R.N. Lieutenant Commander, Shipwright, R N, H.M.S. Victory. Age 56 Died 3.9.1946
Lieutenant Commander, WILLIAM ALFRED CHEER, Royal Navy, lived at No. 7 Strathmore Road, Gosport. He was based at H.M.S. St. Vincent, Gosport, a
shore base training establishment. Very little is known about him. We do know that he passed away on the 3rd of September 1946, at HMS St. Vincent, it appears as a result of a heart attack. Lieutenant
Commander WILLIAM ALFRED CHEER, R.N., was buried on the 7th of September 1946, and is laid to rest, Plot 22 Space 54. No memorial marks the site of his final resting-place.
Private GEORGE RUEBEN CHILDS 17590, Private, 15th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment. Age 36 Died 15.9.1915
Private GEORGE RUEBEN CHILDS, 15th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment was the son of Mr and Mrs James Childs, and was husband of Mabel Kate Childs,
and lived at ‘The Retreat’, Trinity Street, Fareham, Hants. Private Childs was taken ill during the particularly cold autumn, admitted to the South General Hospital, Fawcett Road, Southsea,
with a high temperature. His condition worsened, and he contracted pneumonia, from which he failed to recover. He passed away on 15th September 1915, and was laid to rest, Plot 47 Space29 on the 20th
September 1915, and is commemorated by a CWH headstone.
Leading Aircraftsman CHARLES HENRY CHILLCOT, R.A.F. 654152 Leading Aircraftsman, No. 930 Barrage Balloon Squadron, Royal Air Force Age 20
Son of Harry Harris Chillcott and Florence Chillcott, of Cheriton Fitzpaine, Devon.
SEE – Corporal ARTHUR REGINALD BARRELL RAF
Corporal ERNEST GEORGE CHRISMAS 73177, Corporal, Machine Gun Corps (Inf.). Age 23 Died 16.7.1918
Corporal ERNEST GEORGE CHRISMAS, of the Machine Gun Corps (Inf.), was the oldest son of the late Company Quarter Master Sergeant Ernest
Chrismas, who had been killed earlier in the war, and who has served with the Royal Garrison Artillery. Corporal Chrismas died on 16th July 1918, as a result of contracting the ‘Spanish Flu’
epidemic, which raged throughout war torn Europe. Somewhere in the region of a million people died after becoming infected. Corporal ERNEST GEORGE CHRISMAS, was laid to rest, Plot 38 Space 48, and is
commemorated by a CWG headstone.
Lieutenant (E) ROGER CHURCHER, R.N. Lieutenant, Royal Navy, HM Auxiliary Ship Sluys. Age 35 Died 19.5.1947
Lieutenant (E) ROGER CHURCHER, Royal Navy, was serving on HMAS Sluys. He was the son of Kenneth Percy Harry Singleton Churcher and Edith
Emily Churcher, of Gosport. He was also the husband of Gladys, and they lived at No. 44 Bury Close, Gosport. Lt. Churcher was aboard the ‘Sluys’, which was anchored in Portland ¥Bay,
Dorset. It appears that on the 18th of May 1947, Lt. Churcher was on the ship’s sea launch that had been sent to the dockyard at Portland, to pick up members of the ship’s crew, who had been
given shore leave. At about 10:45pm the launch cast off for the return to ‘Sluys’. However a sea swell combined with a sudden increase in wind speed, quickly turned the calm waters of
the bay into rough and turbulent conditions for the small launch. The launch capsized, throwing the men into the sea. Ships around the anchorage immediately went to the assistance of those in the sea.
Some thirty men were plucked from the water, sadly nine, of which Lt. Churcher was one were swept away, and drowned. Lt. Churcher’s body was recovered from the sea, three weeks later, when upon his
remains were returned to Gosport. Lieutenant Commander (E) ROGER CHURCHER, R.N., was buried on the 18th of June 1947, and is laid to rest, Plot 31 Space 13. No memorial marks the site of his final
resting-place.
Squadron Leader CECIL CHRISTAIN CLARK, RAF 70130, Squadron Leader, Royal Air Force Age 42 Died 30.11.1939
70130, Squadron Leader CECIL CHRISTAIN CLARK, RAF, was the son of Henry and Katherine Marie Clark. He was the husband of Katherine Haswell
Clark, of North Berwick, East Lothian. He was flying a ‘Skua’ aircraft L 2981 of No 2 Anti Aircraft Co-operation Unit based at RAF Gosport. It was late afternoon of Thursday 30th
November 1939, the visibility was closing in, Squadron Leader Clark an experienced pilot knew that he would have to return to his airfield, returning from the Fraser AA Range off Eastney, Portsmouth, the
visibility became nil. What happened next is unsure, but his aircraft was seen to go out of control and drop from the sky, plunging into the shallow water of the upper reaches of Portsmouth Harbour, at a
point off Bedenham Point, known locally as Fareham Creek.
With dusk fast approaching, a boat was dispatched from the shore, in an attempt to rescue the downed aviator. With hardly
any visibility and light failing, the searchers could not locate the pilot. The aircraft had plunged deep into the mud of the shallow water. Hope of rescue faded, and was finally abandoned until the
following day, when the search was resumed. The aircraft was located late in the afternoon, but unfortunately the body of Squadron Leader Clark was not in the cockpit. Days went by and, as no sign of the
body had been found, a memorial service was held in Squadron Leader Clark's memory. It was not until the 20th of April the next year that Clark's body was found, probably dislodged by the strong
Spring tides, recovered from Portchester Creek, half a mile from where he had crashed.
Squadron Leader CECIL CHRISTAIN CLARK, R.A.F., was buried on the 24th April 1940, and is laid to rest in
the War Graves Section Row1 Grave 2, and is commemorated by a CWG headstone.
|
