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Little Shelford and World War Two

Appeal for Information and Photographs for villagers lost in World War II and named on the War Memorial at All Saints Church.

As we approach the 80th Anniversary of the end of World War II in 2025 we would like to enhance or knowledge of those from the Village who lost their lives during World War II and whose name appear on our War Memorial at All Saints Church.

 

The most comprehensive research we have found to date is listed below and can be viewed at the “Roll of Honour” web site:

 (Roll of Honour - Cambridgeshire - Little Shelford All Saints)

 

Of particular interest is the only female name on our War Memorial, that of Dora Ellen Bailey who was a NAAFI. If you have more information about any of those listed or even photographs or living relative contacts could you contact davidjhjones@btinternet.com. The information gathered will be listed on the Village History web site ready for the 80th Anniversary Commemorations.

BAILEY Dora Ellen

Naafi. Died 1942, buried 1 October 1942 at Little Shelford. Aged 25. Birth registered in the Linton Registration District in the March to June Quarter 1917, mother's maiden name Barham.

FROSTE Victor George

Trooper 14405448 141st Regt. (7th Buffs), R.A.C. who died on Monday, 14th August 1944. Age 19. Son of Frederick George and Hilda Mary Froste, of Little Shelford, Cambridgeshire. No known grave. Commemorated on Bayeux Memorial. Panel 10, Column 3. See also Sawston Village College memorial.

OLIVER Mostyn William

Flying Officer, 151326, 138 Sqdn., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve who died on Thursday, 9th November 1944. Age 21. Son of Mrs. D. A. Oliver, of Whittlesford. No known grave. Commemorated on Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede, Surrey. Panel 208. See also Sawston Village College

NEAVES Percy John

Private, 7372907, 198 Field Amb, Royal Army Medical Corps who died on Friday, 5th March 1943. Age 26. Son of Charles and Kathleen Neaves; husband of Ethel Neaves, of Little Shelford. No known grave. Commemorated on the Singapore War Memorial, Kranji War Cemetery, Singapore.

 

POOLEY Derek Arthur

Guardsman, 2723861, 3rd Battalion, Irish Guards who died on Friday, 18th May 1945. Age 22. Son of Arthur William and Cecilia Mary Pooley, of Little Shelford. Buried in All Saints Churchyard, Little Shelford. See also Sawston Village College

Also listed for this parish in the Ely Cathedral Second World War Book of Remembrance:

TABNER Eric Edward

Sgt. 115 Sqdn., R.A.F.V.R., d 12/5/1944, age 20, buried: WILSELE CHURCHYARD, Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium. Son of Albert Edward Tabner and of Sarah Ellen Tabner (nee Sheward).

Posted Jan 3 2025

Little Shelford in World War 2

Excerpts from Shelford’s Wars by the Great Shelford Oral History Group

“I remember all the soldiers coming back after Dunkirk. They were being spread around here and they were in digs on the recreation ground and in the woods at Little Shelford and on the recreation ground there. There was a succession of army units locally. Afterwards, we had Poles Czechs, Belgians who were happy friendly people. Particularly the Poles got on with us.

“There were soldiers in the back field behind the cottages in the High Street in Little Shelford. They had a Bren Gun mounted on a tripod and a plane came haring over our houses very low. It couldn’t have been more than 100 feet off the ground and they loosed off at it. Whether it was one of ours or one of theirs, I don’t know.

“Late 43 in Little Shelford, where I was playing in the field at the back of the house with two or three mates, we heard a bang in the air and there was a cloud of smoke and a wing of an aeroplane falling like  a leaf, a parachute beside it and a plume of smoke, and another one spinning down, another one zooming away. It was a Mustang and a Thunderbolt, American planes. They collided. I got on my cousin’s bike and cycled along Newton Road and across the field where the parachutist had landed. I arrived just after two Italian prisoners of war. They went across the field and picked up the airman. They brought him to the side of the road and he’d got a deep gash across his forehead. Then the American air force arrived en masse and we were told to go away. But some of the village lads turned up and went to look for his parachute and his rubber dinghy which was a great trophy.

“A bit later there was a Liberator crashed at Little Shelford out Whittlesford way. Four-engine plane came down in the fog and it came down at a low angle. It lay there for weeks. They took the guns out and the ammunition and there were any. It was a playground for us, sitting in the pilot’s seat. It was fun.

“On VE day, there was a party at Little Shelford on the tennis courts.”

Colin Norman

 

Betty Kennedy lived in a cottage on the Wale Estate in Little Shelford

Just before the war Mrs Eaden – she was one of the Wale family- she spent 6 winter months at Brookside, Cambridge. Then the summer months she came back into the Lodge. Then the Lodge was always let to a Squadron Leader from Duxford. So we had the Squadron Leaders with their families living there.

When the war broke out, everything was taken over by the army. The field that was used as a cricket ground,  that was all tents. At one time, mummy had six soldiers billeted on her. There were all these big tents. The house on the corner was the officers’ mess. There were big brown gates at the driveway which were shut and there was one small gate that opened. So there were guards there all the time.

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