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GREAT
YARMOUTH ATS
WAR MEMORIAL
World
War 2 - Detailed Information
Compiled and Copyright © Colin
Glendinning 2019
The
ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) Memorial can be found at 9-12 Palm
Court Hotel, North Drive, Great Yarmouth. Sefton House stood on North
Drive and was being used as a billet by the ATS when on 11 May 1943
it was bombed leading to the deaths of the 26 ATS members. Gorleston
ROC post made a sound only report identifying the incoming FW's about
a minute before the attack. Caister ROC post gave the alarm to Gt Yarmouth
Police and the crash alarm was sounded only a few seconds after the
first bombs fell. The raid was a daylight low-level attack by 18 Focke-Wulf
190s, of II/SKG.10, on the Gt Yarmouth area at 0845 hours on 11 May
1943. This was a frontal attack out of the sun and early morning mist.
The raiders followed a reverse course of that taken by an earlier raid
on 7 May, crossing in flying West just North of Britannia Pier and attacking
the North part of Gt Yarmouth, exiting over the Winterton area. A squad
of about 30 ATS girls had been exercising that morning and had just
marched back to their billet when it received a direct hit from an HE
(High Explosive) bomb. The Burlington
Palm hotel now stands on the site of Sefton House and the memorial
was placed on the 11 May 1994. The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS)
was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War.
It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary
service, and existed until 1 February 1949, when it was merged into
the Women's Royal Army Corps.
Extract
from Dundee Courier - Wednesday 12 May 1943, page 3:
A.T.S.
GIRLS DIE IN BOMBED HOSTEL
Two Raiders Destroyed
Several
hours after an A.T.S. hostel in an East-Anglian coast town had been
razed by a hit-and-run raider's bomb, search parties were last night
still digging for victims among the ruins.
Bodies
of eleven girls were recovered soon after rescue squads—among
them soldiers—had raced to the scene. Others were extricated
later.
Two
of the fighter-bombers which sneaked in from the sea haze with a strong
sun behind them were destroyed one by intercepting Mustangs, the other
by A.A. gunners. Several more were damaged. Manyhomes were wrecked
in the brief attack, and searchers found the bodies of five civilians.
Another victim died later.
German
news agency said last night:— "A group of fast German bombers
at nine o'clock to-day made a low level attack on important military
installations at Great Yarmouth. Heavy bombs caused great havoc and
several fires."
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Photographs
Copyright © Colin Glendinning 2019
|
Sefton
House ATS memorial
1939-1945
| BELL |
Bernadette |
Private
W/157912 aged 22, Wife of John Bell, daughter of Albert and Margaret
Hurley. Buried in MOSTON (ST. JOSEPH'S) ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY
St. John Bosco, Lancashire. Sec. Grave 344. |
| CARTER |
Mollie |
 [Listed
as Molly on CWGC] Lance Corporal W/118566 ages 21, Daughter of William
Raynor Carter and Rosamond Carter, of Sheffield. Buried in SHEFFIELD
(HANDSWORTH NEW) CEMETERY. Sec. B. Grave 397. |
| COPLEY |
Jean |
Private
W/152132 aged 21, Daughter of Alban Ernest and Kittie Copley, of
Aston. Buried in ASTON-CUM-AUGHTON CEMETERY, Yorkshire. Grave 678. |
| FARNES |
Louisa |
Private
W/157028 aged 22, Daughter of Albert and Margaret Farnes, of Stockton-on-Tees.
Buried in STOCKTON-ON-TEES (OXBRIDGE LANE) CEMETERY. Sec. H. R.
C. Row D. Grave 36. |
| FAWKES |
Dorothy
Ann |
Private
W/91160 aged 26, Daughter of Joseph and Sarah Jane Fawkes, of Hexham.
Buried in CORSENSIDE (ST. CUTHBERT) CHURCHYARD, Northumberland.
North of chancel. |
| GALBRAITH |
Margaret |
Corporal
W/121432 aged 23, Daughter of James and Margaret Galbraith, of New
Mills, Derbyshire. Buried in CAISTER OLD CEMETERY, Norfolk. Sec.
M. Grave 474. |
| GAUNT |
Kathleen |
 Private
W/189807 aged 20, Daughter of Harry and Mary Elizabeth Gaunt, of
Bingley. Buried in BINGLEY CEMETERY, Yorkshire. Sec. C.C. Row 10.
Grave 71. |
| GRIMMER |
Lilian |
Private
W/206615 aged 19, Daughter of Mrs. E. Cook, of Great Yarmouth. Buried
in CAISTER OLD CEMETERY, Norfolk. Sec. M. Grave 533. |
| HUNT |
Eileen |
Lance
Corporal W/180944 aged 21, Daughter of Samuel William and Florence
Annie Hunt, of Besthorpe. Buried in BESTHORPE (HOLY TRINITY) CHURCHYARD,
Nottinghamshire. |
| JAMES |
Norah
Isabel |
[Listed
as Nora on CWGC] Private W/119369 aged 24, Daughter of Francis and
Sarah Annie James, of Rolleston. Buried in ROLLESTON (ST. MARY)
CHURCHYARD. West of church, Staffordshire. |
| JOHNSON |
May |
Private
W/113897 aged 20, Daughter of William and Caroline Johnson, of Louth
Lincolnshire; niece of Miss R. Johnson, of Louth. Buried in CAISTER
OLD CEMETERY, Norfolk. Sec. M. Grave 518. |
| LEWIS |
Jessica
Margaret |
Private
W/128285 aged 22, Daughter of Philip Roland and Beatrice Maud Lewis,
of Boscombe, Bournemouth. Buried in BOURNEMOUTH EAST CEMETERY. Plot
D. Row 4. Grave 55. |
| LINE |
Enid
Gertrude |
 Corporal
W/150659 aged 23, Daughter of Fred and Emily Ethel Line, of Crouch
End, Middlesex. Buried in NEW SOUTHGATE CEMETERY. Hertfordshire.
Sec. K. Grave 1126. |
| MACKAY |
Elizabeth |
Private
W/64368 aged 27, Daughter of Donald and Joan Mackay, of Rarichie.
Buried in CHAPELHILL CEMETERY. Ross and Cromarty. Sec. F. Grave
9. |
| MACLEOD |
Anna |
Lance
Corporal W/171933 aged 23, Daughter of Angus and Mary A. Macleod,
of Stornoway. Buried in EYE CEMETERY (OR AIGNISH BURIAL GROUND),
ISLE OF LEWIS. Sec. D. Grave 43. |
| MANN |
Vera |
 Private
W/154541 aged 22, Daughter of William and Minnie Renolds Mann, of
Beeston Hill Leeds. LEEDS (HOLBECK) CEMETERY. Grave 8526. |
| MAXWELL |
Louisa |
Private
W/216628 aged 22, Daughter of Mabel Winifred Maxwell, of South Gosforth,
Newcastle-on-Tyne. Buried in GOSFORTH (ST. NICHOLAS) CHURCHYARD.
Sec. F. Grave 97. |
| MCAULAY |
Jane |
Private
W/240452 aged 31, Daughter of Thomas and Agnes McAulay; Niece of
Mary H. Redden, of Germiston, Glasgow. Buried in GREAT YARMOUTH
ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY, Norfolk. |
| MOORE |
Ivy |
Private
W/113978 aged 24, Daughter of Rowland and Mabel Moore, of Grimsby.
Buried in GRIMSBY (SCARTHO ROAD) CEMETERY, Lincolnshire. Sec. 116.
Row L. Grave 10. |
| PEARSON |
Roma
Joan |
Private
W/38649 aged 25, Daughter of Richard and Lila R. Pearson, of Grimsby.
Buried in GRIMSBY (SCARTHO ROAD) CEMETERY, Lincolnshire. Sec. 116.
Row J. Grave 10. |
| SCOUGALL |
Jean |
Private
W/121454 aged 21, Daughter of John and Williaminnie Lorimer Scougall,
of Edinburgh. Buried in EDINBURGH (MORNINGSIDE) CEMETERY. Sec. C.
Grave 580. |
| SHARPE |
Jessie |
[Listed
as SHARP onCWGC] Private W/178338 aged 21, Daughter of Stanley and
Fanny Louisa Marguerite Sharp, of Hessle. Buried in HESSLE CEMETERY,
Yorkshire. Comp. 32. Plot 13. Grave 6. |
| SUTTON |
Marjorie |
Private
W/129269, of Fulstow, Lincs, aged 20. Daughter of John and Alice
Sutton of Fulstow, Lincolnshire. Resident Whitfield House, North
Drive, Great Yarmouth. Buried in CAISTER OLD CEMETERY, Norfolk.
Section M. Grave 541. See also Fulstow,
Lincolnshire |
| TRAVERS |
Doris |
Private
W/113878 aged 21, Daughter of John and Lucy Anna Travers, of Northampton.
Buried in GREAT YARMOUTH ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY, Norfolk. |
| WELLS |
Viola |
 Sergeant
W/18246 aged 23, Wife of Wilfred Wells, of Hunslet Carr, Leeds,
Yorkshire. Buried in CAISTER OLD CEMETERY, Norfolk. Sec. M. Grave
555. See also Fulstow,
Lincolnshire
|
| WIMBUSH |
Doris |
Private
W/35004 aged 28, Daughter of Alfred and Jessie Wimbush, of Doncaster,
Yorkshire. Buried in CAISTER OLD CEMETERY, Norfolk. Sec. M. Grave
569. |
Last
updated
10 June, 2023
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