Untold lives blog

On a corner of the perimeter wall of Heathfield School in Ascot sits a memorial to the only son of its former bursar, Flying Officer Henry Beaucourt Skyrme of the Royal Air Force, who went missing on the night of 16 January 1941.  Such commemorations of sacrifice during times of war provide a first step in the journey of discovery. The sources used to find out more about Flying Officer Skyrme may be of use in tracing other ‘Untold Lives’.

Skyrme was first posted missing in The Times on 7 February 1941.  A copy of his RAF service record was obtained with the permission of his next-of-kin. Henry “Harry” Beaucourt Skyrme was born on 8 October 1917 in Bexhill-on-Sea, the only child of Major Theophilus Garfield Skyrme. His middle name refers to Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre on the Somme, where his father was wounded during the First World War, subsequently losing his leg.

Harry attended Radley College Abingdon 1931-35. The British Library holds issues of school newspapers and The Radleian [Pressmark: P.P.6118.l.] contains a short obituary of Harry, which describes him as a loyal Radleian although not known for eminence. Skyrme’s service record lists his interests as ‘rugger and rowing’ and The Radleian mentions him crewing a coxed IV for his house in inter-school competitions.

Skyrme was a salesman for Stratstone Ltd in Pall Mall before volunteering for the RAF on 4 October 1938. He scraped through his flight exams at the second attempt and was authorized to wear the coveted RAF cloth pilot’s wings. He married Georgina Alexandra Bellanti from Gozo Malta on 23 September 1939. On 25 October 1940 he was promoted to the rank of Flying Officer and on 1 November 1940 he joined No.10 Bomber Squadron under the command of Group Captain W.E. ‘King Kong’ Staton.

On 16 January 1941 at 18:32 Skyrme and four comrades (Sergeants Rowlett, Sandland, Polkinghorne and Brookman) took off from RAF Leeming in Yorkshire as part of an 81 aircraft raid on Wilhelmshaven following up a successful raid the previous night. During the night of the 16th fewer crews found their targets and Wilhelmshaven reported only light damage with two people killed.  Five aircraft did not return from that raid including the Whitley Mk V bomber T4220 ZA-S piloted by Skyrme on his maiden operational mission. The last report of his aircraft was timed at 21:15: they were going to drop altitude to try to find warmer air because the flaps were icing up. The aircraft and crew were presumed lost in the North Sea.

On 10 September 1941, Harry Skyrme’s daughter Jacqueline was born. The following day, The Times listed him in the roll of honour: “previously reported missing now presumed killed in action”.   He is commemorated on three memorials: Heathfield School, Ascot; Ascot War Memorial; RAF Memorial, Runnymede (Panel 30).
 

Jeremy Jenkins
Curator, International Organisations & North American Official Collections

Further Reading:

Eunice Wilson, The Records of the Royal Air Force: How to Find the Few, Federation of Family History Societies: Birmingham, 1991 [HLR: Enq Desk 929.341].

W.R. Chorley, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War, Midland Counties Publications : Leicester, 1993  [Pressmark: 97/25912] 

Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book, 1939-1945, Viking: Harmondsworth 1985 [Pressmark: X.800/41147]

George L. Mosse, Fallen Soldiers: Reshaping the Memory of the World War, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1990 [Pressmark: YC.1991.a.4084]

There is no obvious link between the late David Croft's sitcom 'Allo! Allo!' and the India Office Records, but almost inevitably visions of Herr Flick, Von Smallhausen and General Von Klinkerhoffen came to mind when I recently discovered the file IOR/L/PJ/12/623.

It contains mostly typewritten notes (no illustrations) relating to British surveillance of the magnificently-named Johannes Emil Schwarz Von Berk, thought to be not only a Nazi agent but also to have personal connections with the national leadership back in Berlin. Interestingly, the date span of the contents goes beyond the formal period of hostilities (April 1939 - July 1945). The file forms part of the IOR/L/PJ/12 sub-series, being documentation from and about the Indian Political Intelligence Department - a shadowy body responsible for the internal and external security of the Raj. Whatever nefarious activities Von Berk got up to while in India, the spooks were able to ensure that he did not succeed in damaging the Allied war effort! The file was one of a small collection of archival materials I produced in September when co-hosting a visit from staff working on the India desk in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office; no doubt their predecessors in the Whitehall of the 1940s regarded it with considerably less amusement.

Hedley Sutton
Asian & African Studies Reference Team Leader

Search for more India Office Records

In the early 15th century the powerful Duchy of Burgundy with its huge territories in the Southern Netherlands, was a political and cultural rival to France. Into the magnificent Burgundian court circle, Jean de Wavrin was born in around 1398, bastard son of Robert, Count of Wavrin, who is believed to be the ancestor of King Juan Carlos of Spain and HRH the Prince of Wales.

Jean made his military debut as a young squire at the battle of Agincourt. He took part in numerous military expeditions for the Burgundians, and their English allies until 1435, when he married a wealthy widow from Lille, and was legitimised by the Duke of Burgundy. As Lord of Le Forestel, he performed numerous official duties for successive dukes, including embassies to the Pope and the English court.

© The British Library Board: Royal 15 E iv vol 1, f. 14

Image no: G70026-79  Discover more images from the Bl collections

In the last twenty-five years of his life Wavrin compiled his multi-volume chronicle of England from its legendary beginnings to 1471. Though his stated purpose was to please his nephew and to avoid idleness, his true motives will never be entirely clear. Wavrin was certainly an anglophile and probably met John of Lancaster, Anthony Woodville, brother-in-law of Edward IV and maybe the king himself during his temporary exile in Flanders. The later volumes provide a unique view from Europe of the Wars of the Roses, based on his personal knowledge of the events as they took place and on information he obtained from those involved on both sides. Edward IV owned a magnificent copy of the chronicle and two luxurious manuscripts to be displayed in the British Library’s Royal Manuscripts exhibition are part of his set.  The first contains a picture of Wavrin presenting his work to the English king.  However Wavrin died at about the age of 75, before the volume was completed in c.1475.

Chantry Westwell

Today's blog marks the ‘Black Friday’ suffragette march and the launch of a new British Library website telling the story of Asians in Britain.

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh, was a prominent suffragette and member of the Women’s Social and Political Union. She campaigned for votes for women nationally and locally in Kingston and Richmond, where she regularly spoke at branch meetings. On 18 November 1910, known as ‘Black Friday’, together with Emmeline Pankhurst, Sophia led a 400-strong demonstration to parliament. Clashes broke out between the police and protesters and over 150 women were physically assaulted.

Sophia Duleep Singh selling The Suffragette outside Hampton Court Palace. The Suffragette, 1913 (1913 LON 515 [1913] NPL)

Sophia took part in many publicity campaigns and was often seen selling the newspaper The Suffragette outside Hampton Court Palace where she and her sisters were given free use of Faraday House in the grounds of the palace.  Her activities raised concerns in some quarters as seen in a letter to Lord Crewe, which asks ‘if anything could be done to stop her’ and whether the King should consider evicting her from her lodging. Sophia also belonged to the Women’s Tax Resistance League, whose slogan was ‘No Vote, No Tax’. Her refusal to pay taxes led to her prosecution several times, and some of her valuable possessions, such as a diamond ring, pearl necklace and gold bangle were impounded.

In addition to her suffragette activity, during World War I she organised collections for Indian soldiers fighting on the Western Front during World War I. She also donated money towards the Lascar Club in the East End of London.

 Sophia was not the only Indian suffragette. Other Indian women too campaigned for the right to vote. For instance, a small delegation took part in the 1911 coronation procession of 60,000 suffragettes.

Text supplied by Rozina Visram
Advisor to the ‘Making Britain’ project from 2007-2010, consultant on the follow-on project, ‘Beyond the Frame’ and author of the British Library’s web pages for researchers interested in the history of Asians in Britain.

A ground-breaking facsimile exhibition, part of a larger project, Beyond the Frame: Indian British Connections, takes a new look at the little-known history of the Indian presence in Britain, and will tour India from 25 November at the British Council and from 26 November at the National Archives of India in Delhi.

On Remembrance Sunday, we are sharing a story about librarians who lost their lives serving in the First World War.

In 1923 The Library Association commissioned the calligraphers Edward Johnston and H Lawrence Christie to design a roll of honour commemorating the British librarians who fell in the Great War.  Johnston, a renowned calligrapher best-known for designing an alphabet used on London Underground signs until 1980, was familiar with the British Museum Library having studied its manuscript collections as a young man.  Christie was one of the co-founders of the Society of Scribes & Illuminators and had already designed other memorials to the 1914-1918 war, including the bronze panel in the House of Commons commemorating the five Committee Clerks who were killed in action.

Letter from H Lawrence Christie to W R B Prideaux, Secretary of the Library Association, showing the 1923 design for the roll of honour

The original design was for a roll of honour on a series of vellum panels behind glass and framed in oak, to be written and gilded by Edward Johnston and H Lawrence Christie, and framed at the Hampshire House Workshops in English Oak.  The Library Association contacted libraries across the United Kingdom asking for information about staff killed during the First World War.  When the replies came in it soon became clear that there were too many names to be easily accommodated by the original design.  Following the advice of Christie, it was decided that the entire memorial would be made of a series of wood panels incised in gilt.  English oak was chosen because, in the words of Christie “the wood seems to be thoroughly British and to symbolise Britain”.  The memorial was made by the workshops of Harry Hems and Sons of Exeter, ecclesiastical sculptor and wood carver.

The memorial, which was erected in the corridor leading to the Round Reading Room of the British Museum, was officially unveiled at a ceremony in Museum on the evening of Friday 24th October 1924.  The memorial remained at the British Museum until 1998 when it was moved to its current site in the British Library.

What is less well-known is that the Library Association also collected service details for each of the librarians named on the memorial.  Many of the forms returned included photographs, which are now held in the British Library Corporate Archive.  A selection of these has been made available on the BL Facebook pages.  More will be added during the coming week.

Unfortunately, we have very little information about the memorial or the librarians mentioned on it, and only have images for 30 of the 142 people named.  Please help us to tell the stories behind these ‘untold lives’ by using this blog or our Facebook gallery pages to share any information you have about the memorial or the librarians named on it.

Lynn Young
British Library Corporate Archivist

A story for Armistice Day...

The India Office Records holds the Reports of the Censor of Indian Mails in France, 1914-1918. The Censor was concerned with letters to and from Indian troops in France and England, and his reports include translated extracts from soldier’s letters. The Government’s fear which led to the censoring of mails was that uncensored letters could provide military information to the enemy and that accounts of Indian soldiers suffering in France could distress their families at home and so lead to political instability in India. Touching, funny, sad and at times bawdy, the letters describe vividly the suffering the Indian soldiers endured and their longing to return to their families back in India.

This letter, originally written in Urdu, was from an Indian Muslim soldier writing from Marseilles, France to Moradabad, United Provinces, dated 14 January 1915. In passing it the Censor, Captain E B Howell, commented in his report that it read like an extract from the Arabian Nights. The soldier writes that he has been in France for a year and a half, but has heard that they will be leaving by the end of January or February at the latest. He says that his family must be very distressed at his long absence, and it reminds him of the following story.

IOR/L/MIL/5/828/1 ff.110-110v

He writes that it is told that the Caliph Hazrat Umar used to make a tour of inspection every night, and that on one occasion he passed near a house where a woman was reading some beautiful verses. The next day he returned to the house and asked the woman what she had been reading. The woman replied that she was reading odes of love and affection to her husband who was absent at the wars. The Caliph returned home and asked his daughter for how long a time a woman could remain continent. The daughter raised her hand and showed three fingers. The Caliph understood that a woman could remain separate from her husband for three months, and he forthwith issued an order that whenever soldiers were sent to the wars they should be returned to their homes every three months.

The Indian soldier concludes by asking the recipient of the letter to pray that his difficulties may be removed and he may soon return safely with honour.

 
John O’Brien
Curator, Post 1858 India Office Records

Discover more documents and books on this subject.

In my previous blog about Austrians and Germans repatriated from India during the First World War, I mentioned that some women had an ‘unfortunate’ profession.

There were six women from Calcutta with an ‘unfortunate’ profession, eleven  from Bombay described more bluntly as prostitutes, five female brothel-keepers, and two servants in a brothel. This was the first time we had seen a reference to European prostitutes in India – documents in the India Office Records focus mainly on local women and the health problems in the Indian Army.

Image and description of a Bombay brothel-keeper (IOR/L/PJ/6/1389)

However, Our Army in India and Regulation of Vice refers to the ‘White Slave Traffic which has provoked the indignation of the Western World, which exists also in the East’. Calcutta Vice, a tract against prostitution, refers to the longstanding import of girls from Germany and Eastern Europe. According to Philippa Levine in Venereal Disease, Prostitution, and the Politics of Empire: the Case of British India, British authorities were relieved to find that most white prostitutes were not from Britain, and therefore not such a challenge to social norms and the delicate balance of imperial power as they had feared.

The presence of European women in brothels in India raises all sorts of questions. Were they trafficked? Did they go to India expecting an entirely different life? Did they go there with the intention of pursuing this occupation? What were their circumstances in Germany and Austria? Were they born in India?

How did these women get on with their fellow passengers to Europe, the missionaries, nurses, clergymen’s wives and other pillars of society?

The Public and Judicial files (IOR/L/PJ/6/1386-1389) telling the story of their repatriation may be found in Search our Catalogues of Archives and Manuscripts
Further reading can be discovered in Explore the British Library

Penny Brook, Lead Curator India Office Records

 

The First World War had a profound effect on Austrians and Germans living in India. Faced with increasing tension arising from the presence of enemy aliens in India and the resources and costs entailed in keeping them under civil control at Ahmednegar, the government decided that repatriation was the best option. A touching petition from Revd C R Handmann, Prisoner of War, on behalf of married men at B Camp, Ahmednegar, asks the British Government to take proper care of the wives and children being repatriated via the SS Golconda.

While cataloguing some India Office Records, a colleague discovered three volumes recording the names, appearance and profession of the people being repatriated. The majority are missionaries and churchmen, teachers, governesses, nurses and wives of businessmen. Men of fighting age were generally not repatriated so most were women, children, or elderly men. There is a photograph of each person, giving the record a striking immediacy and poignancy, especially in the case of the children.

These records show a different aspect of the human cost of war. How did these people settle into their native countries? Did they socialise with the British in India before the War? What was it like to be so far from home and find that you were classed as an enemy alien? In fact the repatriation process was not entirely devoid of compassion – passengers who were destitute were granted a small allowance.

Most passengers were doubtless pillars of Austrian and German society. However, some women’s profession was coyly described as ‘unfortunate’. I’ll write about them in a later blog.

The Public and Judicial files (IOR/L/PJ/6/1386-1389) telling the story of these hidden lives may be found in Search our Catalogues of Archives and Manuscripts.

Further reading can be discovered in Explore the British Library