LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS - WWII
Sub-Lieutenant (A) Edmund Hedley Archer
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Town Memorial WWII Panel
 Fleet Air Arm |
 785 Sqn NAS |
| Name:
ARCHER,
EDMUND HEDLEY Rank: Sub-Lieutenant (A) Regiment: Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Unit Text: H.M.S. Jackdaw. Date of Death: 12/10/1941 Grave/Memorial Reference: South of Church. Cemetery: LEATHERHEAD (SS. MARY AND NICHOLAS) CHURCHYARD In Proud and Loving Memory of
SUB-LIEUT EDMUND HEDLEY ARCHER, RNVR(A) WHO GAVE HIS LIFE ON THE NIGHT OF OCTOBER 12TH 1941 AGED 20 YEARS ALSO OF CECIL EDMUND ARCHER FATHER OF THE ABOVE WHO DIED SUDDENLY ON JULY 31ST 1955, AGED 65 YEARS ALSO OF ELLA, MOTHER OF HEDLEY & WIFE OF CECIL DIED APRIL 17TH 1976, AGED 87 YEARS |
 image: Haslam |
HMS Jackdaw was a land based establishment at Crail airfield, 7 mile SE of St Andrews, Fife. It was a torpedo aircraft training school.
Friday 17 October 1941
DEATHS
Saturday 18 October 1941
SURREY MEN IN THE FORCES
LEATHERHEAD OFFICER’S DEATH
The death has occurred in Scotland of Sub-Lieut. Edmund Hedley Archer, R.N.V.R., aged 20, elder son of Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Archer, of Bridge-street, Leatherhead. Sub-Lieut. Archer joined the Fleet Air Arm in September last year. He was trained in Canada, where he gained his commission and wings, and returned to England last July.
An outstanding lad in many respects, he was educated at the City of Freemen’s School, Ashtead, of which he was captain in 1938. The same year he was also captain of the Rugby XV and cricket XI, and at his last school sports he won the senior 100 yards and high jump events.
After leaving school he obtained a position
with Courtaulds, Ltd., until joining the Services. Sub-Lieut. Archer was
a member of the Leatherhead Golf Club, where he had already won three
trophies, one in partnership with his father, and also of the
Leatherhead Constitutional Club, of which his father has been hon.
secretary for many years.
There was a representative congregation at the funeral at Leatherhead
Parish Churchyard on Thursday, when the service was conducted by the
Rev. E. J. Austin (rector of Ashtead). The coffin was draped with a
Union Jack.
Among numerous wreaths were tributes from the committee and members of the Leatherhead Constitutional Club; 6th Surrey Home Guard; his colleagues at Brocking; committee and members of the Leatherhead Golf Club; “The Three Corporals”; workpeople of Horrocks and Co., Ltd., Ashton-under-Lyne; Commanding Officer and Officers of his squadron; Captain and Officers of H.M.S. Jackdaw; and Officers of Polish Squadron. Another tribute was “In memory of our old school captain, from pupils and staff of the City of London Freemen’s School.”
What were the circumstances of his death?
In ADM104/113, the Naval Register of Deaths for 1940/41, is this entry
on page 434, the page for [HMS] Jackdaw:
1941
Record: 46151/41
Official Number: -
Name: Archer Ed. H.
Age: 20
Quality: T.P. S/Lt (A)
Date of Death: Oct 12 [1941]
Place: Dunino
Cause of Death: Burns (Seq Flying Accident)
Initial research on Edmund's death - what aircraft, any crew, purpose of flight etc - showed that an Albacore crew was lost from HMS Victorious in a flying accident on the same date (see the end of this page). Some sources have the same crewman in both Edmund's aircraft, a Fairey Swordfish I L9757 coded H and the Fairey Albacore N4358.
Following contact with the aircrewremembered.com Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm Database about this problem they have concluded that Sub-Lt EH Archer was either flying alone that night or that his crewman survived the crash. They have now amended their information for Edmund accordingly:
HMS Jackdaw, Crail Swordfish L
9757, coded H
Archer, Edmund Hedley Temp Acting Sub-Lieutenant (A)
Pilot RNVR 785 Sqd
HMS Jackdaw, Crail
Killed 1941-10-12 RNAS
Crail
South of Church, Leatherhead (Ss Mary And Nicholas) Churchyard - Surrey,
United Kingdom
It is not known if there was a second crewman aboard the aircraft. If
there was his identity is unknown.
http://www.aircrewremembered.com/RoyalNavyFleetAirArmDatabase/?q=L+9757
If anyone can shed more light on this accident, please contact the Leatherhead War Memorials website editor. Would Edmund have been flying alone at night, especially if it was more than to practice take off and landings? If he wasn't alone who was the surviving crew member? Was there an accident report?
A further source adds new information about what happened: Swordfish:
The Fleet Air Arm's Versatile, Long Serving, Legendary 'Stringbag'
(Aeroplane Icons/Aeroplane Monthly)
Oct 12, 1941 [Swordfish I] L9757 785 Sqn Caught fire immediately
after night take-off from Dunino and crashed into Kippur Wood
(Sub Lt E H Archer +)
Crail Airfield was HMS Jackdaw. Dunino was its satellite airfield, Jackdaw II. The Swordfish book link has excellent photos of the Fairey Swordfish and an interesting section on Crail/Dunino. The Fairey Swordfish was to be replaced in service by the Fairey Albacore, but ended up outlasting it.
torpedo aircraft during a training flight from Royal Naval Air Station Crail.
Edmund's life
His birth on 21 May 1921 was registered at Croydon, Surrey, the elder of two sons: his brother Keith was born on 14 November 1927.
His early childhood can be followed through the lives of his parents.
His father was Cecil Edmund Archer born 12 July 1890, baptised
20 November 1890 at Immanuel Church, Streatham Common, Surrey.
In 1914 when living at Dimora, The Crescent, Leatherhead Surrey
and working at the Stock Exchange, he attested for the Territorials, 2nd
(City of London) Battalion, The London Regiment Royal Fusiliers. He
served in the UK from 28 September to 22 December 1914 and then in Malta
until 29 October 1915.
Private Cecil Archer was discharged on 4 July 1916 as "No longer fit physically for war service". His disability was described as valvular disease of the heart (VDH mitral) & gastritis. He had been in hospital for 4 months in Malta with paratyphoid fever & cystitis and this was followed by spells in UK hospitals.
Cecil and Ella née Neate were married five months later on 27 December 1916 at St Gabriel's, Warwick Square, Pimlico.
When Cecil died aged 65 in a swimming accident in the River Thames near Staines, opposite Penton Hook Lock, on 31 July 1955 the address on his death certificate was 2 The Crossways, Ermyn Way, Epsom Road, Leatherhead. As can be seen above, he is buried in the churchyard of Leatherhead Parish Church.
In his research on the Neate family Alun Roberts (see below) wrote: When The Terrace in Bridge Street was sold after Mary Neate's death [Mary was Ella's mother] in 1925, Nos. 28 and 30 were bought by Cecil Edmund Archer, a printer who had married Stephen Neate’s youngest daughter Ella. The couple had met at the Leatherhead Operatic Society (it was a great marriage market) and lived [as would have Edmund b1921] first at No. 30, and then, until 1954, at No. 28."
Edmund's mother Ella Neate was born 6 October 1888 and baptised on 16 January 1889 at Leatherhead Parish Church. She lived at the family home The Nook, (No.1) Poplar Road, Leatherhead (1891 & 1901 Censuses). In the 1911 Census the Neates were at [4] The Terrace, Bridge Street, Leatherhead, the address she gave when she married Cecil in 1916. She died aged 87 on 17 April 1976 in Boston, Lincolnshire and as can be seen above she too is buried in the churchyard of Leatherhead Parish Church.
In the 1939 England & Wales Register Cecil and Ella Archer were at
28 Bridge St Leatherhead Surrey with their youngest son Keith. Also
there was Edmund's grandmother, the Neate family matriarch Mary aged 66
(Grocer Retired Temporarily), and Ella's older sister Beatrice Eva Neate
aged 59 (Grocer Retired Temporarily).
Cecil gave a lengthy description of his occupation as "Manager
Printers of Advertising Display Creative Ideas for Adv Propaganda
Travel".
The newspaper article above covers Edmund's secondary education and sporting achievements. So far it is not known where he was at the time of the Registration on 29th September 1939. If he was already a member of the Armed Forces he would not have been included unless he was on leave.
| Edmund's
maternal grandfather was Stephen Neate. The Neate family, once
prominent in Leatherhead, are today still present in the town in
the form of Neates' Alley off the High Street. Alun Roberts' paper on THE NEATE FAMILY OF LEATHERHEAD can be read in the 2001 issue of the Proceedings of the Leatherhead & District Local History Society, page 112. He wrote: Stephen Neate’s grocery, after
which Neate's Alley is named, stood on its southwestern corner,
on the present site of Halfords [ now {my dentist} ], for more
than eighty years (c.1862-1945).
On the opposite side of the Alley was Gothic Lodge, where the Edmund Tylney public house now stands. According to Stephen’s grandson, Charles Lester Neate, the present name was never used when he was a boy, the thoroughfare being generally known as Dog Alley, after the many stray dogs who frequented it for various purposes. Pigs were kept for fattening and eventual slaughter in the back yard of the shop, which attracted both the dogs and small boys who would beg for the animals’ bladders for use in their footballs. |
 |
Edmund Hedley Archer is remembered on these memorials
Leatherhead Town Memorial
Leatherhead RBL Roll
of Honour, Leatherhead Parish Church
Links
Crail
Airfield
e.g. a photo of him , the circumstances of his death
and of any recollections within his family.
with thanks to:
local historian Alun Roberts, who knew Keith & Hazel Archer
Ralph Snape at aircrewremembered
page last updated 13 Jul 20
For completeness aircrewremembered.com's details of the Albacore loss from HMS Victorious on the same date are summarised as follows:
HMS Victorious
Albacore N 4358: Crew Missing presumed killed 12
October 1941 At sea
Jack
Guiscard Rouse Flowers 25yrs Temp
Lieutenant (A) Pilot
RNVR 817 Sqd
Bay 2, Panel 6, Lee-On-Solent Memorial - Hampshire, United Kingdom
Son of Harold Jack and Marion Edith Flowers. BA (Lond)
James
Walter Mallet 21yrs Leading Airman
(TY) FX 77170 Air Gunner 3rd
Class RN 817 Sqd
Bay 2, Panel 2, Lee-On-Solent Memorial - Hampshire, United Kingdom
Son of Abraham Edgar and Harriet Ann James of Cwmdare, Glamorgan, Wales
Both crew members have no known grave and are commemorated as detailed above on the Fleet Air Arm Memorial at Lee-on-Solent in Hampshire.
The primary source is ADM104/113 p441:| CW35836/41 | ||
| Record | 46270/41 | 46270/41 |
| Official Number | - | Fx/77170 |
| Name | Flowers JGR | James WM |
| Age | 24 | 21 |
| Quality | S/Lt (A) | TA/LA |
| Date of Death | Oct 12 [1941] | Oct 12 [1941] |
| Place | at Sea | at Sea |
| Cause of Death | Seq: Flying Accident | Seq: Flying Accident |