A memorial plaque to those who died while serving in the Second World War is sited in the clubhouse of the Mellish Rugby Club. Those named are shown on the websites of the Imperial War Museum and the Nottinghamshire Roll of Honour. There are 58 names on the plaque which is also inscribed with:
THIS PAVILION AND GROUND IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE OLD BOYS AND STAFF OF THE HENRY MELLISH SCHOOL WHO GAVE THIER LIVES DURING THE WAR 1939-1945
ROLL OF HONOUR
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
The school and old boys raised the funds for the club in the years after the war.
It is hoped that details of all 58 will be added to this page.
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ALVEY, Raymond Henry 1920-1942 (School 1931-1936).
Raymond Henry Alvey was born on 21 February 1920 at Long Eaton, the son of George Alfred Alvey (1878-1949), company secretary of a timber merchant, and Marguerite Elise Aludie (née Saywell) (b 1887 Caudry, France; d 1974 Somerset). The family moved to 226 High Road, Chilwell. Alvey joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve in May 1939 and was called up on the outbreak of war. He was reported missing on 22 November 1942 along with other members of the crew of a Handley Page Hampden I (P2063) of 144 Squadron, Coastal Command.
The crew was listed as ‘missing’, the aircraft not having been seen again. However, more recent research (link HERE) by family members and others together with eye witnesses in Norway has revealed what happened.
Raymond Alvey was at RAF Wick, waiting to join 144 Squadron, when a Hampden from that squadron arrived from RAF Leuchars for refuelling. One of the Wireless Operator/Air Gunners, Sgt Burrow, reported sick, Raymond was called in to join the crew, with Sqn Ldr. John Hird as pilot, Sgt Davidson Hepplewhite as Navigator/Bomb aimer and Sgt Robert Coles as the other Wireless Operator/Air Gunner. The mission was ‘nuisance bombing’ over SW Norway.
The Hampden with Raymond on board took off from the airfield at Wick, at about 18:00 hrs. Three other Hampdens, on the same operation, left Wick between 17:30 and 18:00 hrs, and returned safely between 22:15 and 23:05 hrs. They reported bad weather conditions, with rain, sleet and snow, and poor visibility. Only one was able to report a successful operation.
The four aircraft in the flight reached the Norwegian coast at around 19:30 – 20:00 hrs; located their targets, and then at least two encountered anti-aircraft fire from German ground positions. Raymond’s plane, having released one or more bombs on a target to the north of Haugesund, was passing southwards towards Karmøy island when it received a direct hit, exploded, and debris was scattered along the coastline and in the sea.
Eyewitness accounts suggest that the bodies of the three sergeants were recovered and (probably) buried at sea by the Germans, as no graves were discovered by the Missing Research and Enquiry Service or subsequently. As well as having their names recorded at Runnymede, the crew have been commemorated on a plaque erected at the site of the crash by the family of Sqn Ldr. Hird.
Sgt. Raymond Henry Alvey. Runnymede Memorial. Panel 77. Son of George Alfred Alvey, and of Marguerite E. A. Alvey, of of Chilwell, Notts, England. Born 20 February 1920. From family memories and research, the following information can be added: Pre-war, Raymond was employed as a telephone engineer with Ericssons of Beeston, Notts. A keen sportsman, playing ruby, cricket and hockey, and had been a keen swimmer and cyclist. (In July 1939 he cycled from Nottingham to Neuchatel in Switzerland and back.)
Photographs from Aircrew Remembered Website:
NAYLOR, Arthur 1920-1941 [School 1931-1939; Temporary Member of Staff 1940]
Arthur Naylor was the son of Arthur (1890-1964), a ‘colliery winding engineman’, and May Lilian (née Gillott) Naylor (1891-1985) and the brother of Frank and Lilian May Naylor of 50 Newthorpe Common, Eastwood. At Henry Mellish he was a noted cricketer and Captain of Red House. The Centaur records he was awarded a scholarship to University College Nottingham in 1939 and in the 1939 Register he is shown as a ‘student’. He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and it seems likely he was a temporary member of the teaching staff at the Mellish while waiting to be called for training as a pilot. In April 1941 has was a Leading Aircraftman (Pilot Under Training) at No. 5 Service Flying School, R.A.F. Tern Hill in Shropshire. By this stage he was on the advanced course of training to become a fighter pilot.
Arthur Naylor and his instructor, Flying Officer Cyril George William Moore, were killed when their aircraft (Miles Master I, serial number T8757) stalled and crashed very shortly after take of from R.A.F. Cosford, thirty-odd miles from Tern Hill, on 26 April 1941: Naylor was 20 and Moore 22. There are reports of engine failure.
Arthur Naylor was buried at Eastwood Cemetery (Commonwealth War Graves Commission).
Photograph and Documents from Lady Clare Howes DL, Arthur’s niece.
Further papers are shown on the MISCELLANEA Page.
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STEVENTON, Arthur 1917-1942 [School 1929-1933]
Ordnance Artificer 4th Class Arthur Steventon was killed on 5 April 1942 when the heavy criuiser HMS Cornwall was attacked and sunk by aircraft from three Japanese carriers 200 miles south-west of Ceylon. HMS Dorsetshire was also sunk. British losses that day were 424 men killed.
STEVENTON, John Ashley -1942 [School 1932-?]
Ordnance Artificer 4th Class John Ashley Steventon was killed on 26 September 1942 when the destroyer HMS Veteran, on convoy escort duties south of Iceland, was torpedoed by a U-boat while picking up survivors from the merchant ship SS New York which had been hit earlier. All hands plus those picked up from the merchant ship were lost.
Arthur and John Steventon were the sons and only children of Thomas Henry Steventon (1890-1969) and his wife, Elsie (née Wild) (1893-1978) of 25 Leacroft Road, Bobber’s Mill, Nottingham. Thomas had served in the Nottinghamshire Royal Horse Artillery. At the outbreak of war both sons were working with their father at John Player & Sons, the tobacco factory, where Thomas was Foreman Fitter Millwright; Arthur was a ‘Fitter Millwright’ and John ‘Improver Millwright’.
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The Centaur 