Friday, January 2, 2015

42.3.2.1.3 Edward Durnford and Julia Penrice daughter Julia Durnford m Arthur Lydekker - The Lydekker connections

Edward Congreave Langley Durnford and Julia Penrice had four children.

These children are the grandchildren of Anthony William Durnford and Barbara Brabazon


1.2.1 Julia Mabel Durnford                        born 6 May 1861   d  Feb 1952  She married Arthur                                                                                Lydekker     in Harpenden Hertfordshire 10t August 1882.

1.2.2  Edward William Durnford               born 1863  died 1863
1.2.3  Edward Francis Penrice Durnford    born  July 1865  died December 1954 in 
                                                                                        Lothingland, Suffolk
1.2.4  Maria Catherine Durnford                born 1867   died  1867




1.2.1     Julia Durnford and Arthur Lydekker married in Harpenden and they                         had four children
                  They were married for 50 years, as the family photograph below                          indicates.


1.2.1.1  Lionel Edward Lydekker   born Sept 1886  He married Margaret Robinson in 1914 in                                                                             Wokingham
1.2.1.2  Neville Wolfe Lydekker   born Aug 1888 in St Albans he married Sylvia Gwendolen Palmer                                                        on 10th August 1882.  He was a Minister and died on Oct 1956                                                               in Surrey
1.2.1.3  Guy Onslow Lydekker      born Jan 1880 Hapenden and in 1911 he married Gladwys Amelia                                                           Durnford.   She was born 11 Aug 1889 in Antony in Cornwall.  

1.2.1.4   Cuthbert John Lydekker      April 1891  m   Miss Griffith-Jones March 1920



50th Wedding in Harpenden
 
                                                                                  Arthur & Mabel Lydekker - possibly a Golden Wedding family gathering, 
                                                                   On the left Lionel Lydekker, Gwendolen (Mrs Neville) Lydekker,
                                                                                   John Lydekker, Gwladys (Mrs Guy) Lydekker, Clare (Mrs John) Lydekker,                                                                     Guy Lydekker, Margaret (Mrs Lionel) Lydekker, Neville Lydekker


Captain Arthur Lydekker JP  (1853-1935)
LHS archives, cat.no, LHS/004517

Arthur Lydekker, the third son of Gerard Wolfe Lydekker, joined the Bedfordshire Regiment in 1871, aged 18, and rose to rank of Captain over 10 years.

He and his wife, Mabel, lived for a time in "The Cottage" (which later became "Tollgate Hotel").

He was Chariman of the Parish Council from 1894-1898, and the first Chairman of Harpenden Urban District Council from 1898 to 1904.  Then he became a JP for the County.

He was active in other local matters, including the Reading and Lecture Institute, the Street Lighting Committee, and the Fire Brigade Committee.

 He died in 1935 while addressing a meeting of the Church Missionary Society in the Public Hall (now Park Hall).

The Lydekkers were a Dutch family who emigrated to America in 1654. They soon owned land in Long Island, now part of New York State, but lost it in the American War of Independence so in 1783 came to England where they first took a house in London.


Arthur was the son of Gerard Wolfe Lydekker and Martha Peake.

Gerard Wolfe Lydekker, who bought Harpenden Lodge in 1857, was born in Rochester in 1811. He went to Trinity College, Cambridge and graduated MA in 1836. He was called to the Bar in 1841, joined the Home Circuit, and practised at the Hertford and St. Albans Sessions.  He was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire and was for a time Chairman of the Quarter Sessions for West Hertfordshire. Gerard died in 1881 and his mother Martha died in 1897.




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Arthur and Julia's children

1.2.1.1     Lionel Edward Lydekker           m  Margaret Robinson  He was a Minister
1.2.1.2     Neville Wolfe Lydekker             m Sylvia Palmer   He was also a Minister and died in                                                                                    Terrys  Cross Woodmancote Henfield Sussex
1.2.1.3     Guy Onslow Lydekker                m  Gladys Amelia Durnford he was
1.2.1.4     Cuthbert John Wolfe Lydekker   m   Clara Ann Margaret Griffith-Jones


Arthur Lydekker and Julia Mabel Durnford's son Guy Onslow Lydekker

1.2.1.3   Guy and Amelia had three children

1.2.1.3.1   Anthony John Guy Lydekker   b   1914   d  1942
1.2.1.3.2   Patricia Hyacinth Lydekker      b   1916   d  1966
1.2.1.3.3   Ann  Lydekker                          b    1925  d  2007


Guy enlisted in the Royal Navy in World War I

Crown of Italy
From Forces United His Records
Guy Onslow Lydekker was a Lieutentant and he was awarded the Crown of Italy Medal for Gallantry.    He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.  This is awarded for Meritorious service or achievement.









Guy Onslow
Surname:
Lydekker
Rank:
Lieutenant
Gallantry Awards:
Distinguished Service Cross

Instituted in 1901, this award was originally known as the Conspicuous Service Cross, renamed the Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) in 1914, it also became available to Naval junior officers. In 1940, it also became available to Army and RAF officers serving aboard naval vessels.

This gallantry award of Guy Onslow Lydekker, which may be awarded posthumously, is granted in recognition of gallantry during active operations against the enemy at sea.

The recipient, Guy Onslow Lydekker,as an owner of the Distinguished Service Cross, is entitled to use the letters D.S.C. after his name.
Gazette Info:
Gazette issue 30687. Distinguished Service Cross. The King has been graciously pleased to approve of the award to receive the Distinguished Service Cross for services on the Mediterranean Station.
Gazette Date:
14/05/1918
Gazette Page:
5858
Duty Location:
MEDITERRANEAN
Service:
Royal Navy               

Guy Onslow
Initials:
G
Surname:
Lydekker
Nationality:
British
Rank:
Lieutenant Commander              
Campaign Medals:            
1914/15 Star


Guy Onslow
Surname:
Lydekker
Information:
Promoted from the Commanders List.
More Information:
Shown on the Executive Officers Retired List 1967
Rank:
Captain
Gallantry Awards:
Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire 
Distinguished Service Cross

Instituted in 1901, this award was originally known as the Conspicuous Service Cross, renamed the Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.) in 1914, it also became available to Naval junior officers. In 1940, it also became available to Army and RAF officers serving aboard naval vessels.

This gallantry award of Guy Onslow Lydekker, which may be awarded posthumously, is granted in recognition of gallantry during active operations against the enemy at sea.

The recipient, Guy Onslow Lydekker,as an owner of the Distinguished Service Cross, is entitled to use the letters D.S.C. after his name.

Service:
Royal Navy
Seniority Date:
31/12/1923               
1923

G O
Surname:
Lydekker
Information:
Promoted to Captain after being placed on the Retired List.              
Rank:
Commander              


In 1942  Captain Guy Lydekker and Amelia were living in Haifa, in Palestine.

The performance here of the Royal Navy’s musical “Wherein We Serve” has netted the Navy’s welfare fund three times the sum paid by the first night audience in London, where the show had its premiere, it is revealed today by Capt. Guy Lydekker who sponsored the performance.

The British Navy were stationed in Haifa in the War.

Guy and Amelia lived in Selsdon Surrey and he died June 1984.  Amelia died 1972

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Their son Anthony John Guy Lydekker also enlisted in the Royal Navy, and served in  World War 2.

In 1937, he left from Brisbane to return to England, he was a British Naval Officer assigned to Australia

A J G  (Son)
Surname:Lydekker
Information:Course for Pilots for the Fleet Air Arm, Attached to RAF              
Rank:Sub Lieutenant
Service:Royal Navy
Ship/Establistment:Royal Navy 


  He was attached to the RAF and records show  Lydekker, Anthony John Guy 1 Victory

LYDEKKER,
Anthony J G, Lieutenant, Avenger, 15 November 1942, ship loss, MPK (Missing Presumed Killed)

He was awarded The Distinguished Service Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Navy (United Kingdom) and other services, and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for gallant or distinguished conduct during enemy actions at sea




His records and achievements   http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/commonwealth_lydekker.htm

Biplane fighter aces Commonwealth

Lieutenant Anthony John Guy ‘Tony’ Lydekker DSC, RN

‘Tony’ Lydekker was born in 1914.

He was a qualified fighter pilot and had been serving as the Armament Officer on the Air Staff of HMS Furious since the recommissioning of the ship in 1939, and did so throughout 1940. Every RN carrier had an Armament Officer (the big ones had a staff of two), and without exception they were all qualified pilots.

He took part in the first expedition to Norway, which was a quick failure.
The second expedition got away when HMS Glorious and HMS Furious sailed from Britain at 20.30 on 14 May with an escort of four destroyers. En route one of the original 263 pilots, Pilot Officer Wyatt-Smith, suffered considerably from shrapnel wounds in his legs, which he had received during the evacuation from Andalsnes in Delius, and his place was taken by Lydekker, who volunteered. It was felt that Lydekker could be spared on HMS Furious and this was accepted.

263 Squadron flew off HMS Furious on 21 May to land at Bardufoss.

At 13:00 on 26 May three Gladiators flown by Flight Lieutenant Caesar Hull, Pilot Officer Jack Falkson and Lieutenant Lydekker were detached to Bodø to provide cover for troops retreating northwards in the face of the German advance. En route they were engaged in an inconclusive combat with one of the KGr 100 Heinkels on its way to Bardufoss. When they landed on their new airfield their aircraft all stuck fast in the mud. They managed to get the Gladiators to drier ground, where they began refuelling from four-gallon tins. This arduous task was by no means complete when a He 111 of 1(F)/122 was seen overhead, and all three leapt into their cockpits to take off.

Lydekker got off safely, but the mud clung to the wheels of the two following Gladiators, and while Hull just managed to get into the air, Falkson crashed in N5908. Lydekker’s aircraft had not yet been refuelled however, and he had little petrol left so Hull ordered him to land again and went after the Heinkel single-handed, finding it at only 600 feet and delivering three attacks. The bomber turned south, streaming smoke from the fuselage and engines. The Heinkel had been critically hit, and Leutnant Ulrich Meyer crash-landed the burning aircraft south of Mo. Here he and his crew were rescued by German troops.

Meanwhile Hull had broken away to attack a Ju 52/3m, which he just had spotted. He rapidly disposed of this second opponent, an aircraft of 1/KGzbV 106. The crew managed to bale out of the blazing aircraft (Ju 52/3m WNr. 5636), which crashed at Storfjellet, Saltdal, at 16:15.

Still with ammunition left, he chased a second He 111 without success, and then attacked two more Ju 52/3ms from 1/KGzbV 106. One escaped in cloud, but the other went flaming down after six men had baled out. Eight more paratroops of I/FJR1 were killed in the crash. While he thought the other transport had got away, it was in fact also hard hit, and was already on fire. The pilot managed to reach German-held territory, where he force-landed. Crew and paratroops aboard all got out safely, but the aircraft burnt out completely. One Ju 52/3m was ‘BA+KH’ of 1/KGbzV 106, which crashed at Ekornes, Evensdal, at 16:30 while the second was “White 2” (WNr. 6713) from the same unit, which crashed at Kvassteinheia, Saltdal, between 16:30-16:40.

Meantime Hull had engaged yet another He 111, and drove this off, like the first with smoke pouring from it. Down now to only one nose gun still operating, he returned to Bodø where he found that during his absence wooden snow-boards had been laid over the worst of the soft patches. Although he claimed only two definite and one probable victories, he had in fact shot down no less than four aircraft in one combat.

At 08:00 in the morning on 27 May things started to heating up when 11 Ju 87Rs from I/STG 1, escorted by three Bf 110s from I/ZG 76, appeared over Bodø and began dive-bombing radio masts at Bodøsjøen, only 800 yards from the landing ground. Lieutenant Lydekker took off at once, but Caesar Hull and a fitter were forced to leave his Gladiator (N5635) for a few minutes and shelter from the bombing. With the initial attack over they managed to get the fighter started and Hull took off, at once catching Feldwebel Kurt Zube's Stuka at the bottom of its dive. He caused it to fall in a gentle dive into the sea, where two Bf 110s circled the wreckage. Zube and his gunner were picked up safely by German troops.

As Hull completed his attack, another Ju 87 went past and shot up his aircraft, smashing the windscreen. At the same moment he was attacked from behind by one of the escorts, flown by Leutnant Helmut Lent, and the Gladiator was hard hit. Hull managed to get back to the airfield at 200 feet, but was then attacked again by the Bf 110 and crashed at Bodøhalvøya, wounded in the head and knee. N5635 has been identified by serial number found on the wreckage. Lent logged his victory at 08:20 (Helmut Lent shot down another 263 Squadron Gladiator on 2 June when Pilot Officer J. L. Wilkie in N5914 was killed east of Rombaksfjorden).

Lydekker meanwhile was being attacked by most of the remaining Luftwaffe aircraft, his aircraft being badly shot up and himself wounded in the neck and shoulders. Unable to land at Bodø as three Stukas were circling overhead, he set course for Bardufoss at low level, where he eventually landed with his Gladiator a complete write-off. A second claim for a Gladiator was put in by Oberleutnant Jäger, shared with his gunner Stabsing. Thönes, and timed at 08:25, but this was not confirmed. Watchers on the ground at Bodø reported that the Gladiators had shot down at least three aircraft, Hull and Lydekker each having got at least one apiece. This was not in fact the case, for only one Ju 87 had been lost.

To see a copy of his combat report from 26 and 27 May follow this link: C. B. Hull Combat report (kindly provided by Ernie Burton).

He was evacuated to the UK.
After recovering from his injuries he returned to his duty as the Armament Officer on the Air Staff of HMS Furious.

Later in the war he served as a member of the Air Staff of HMS Avenger.
On 15 November 1942 this ship was torpedoed and sunk by U-155 off Gibraltar. Most of the crew on the ship went missing and presumed killed, Lydekker being one of these (together with Lieutenant (A) Patrick Wilfred Villiers Massy).

 At the time of his death Lydekker was credited with 1 biplane victory.



Lieutenant Anthony John Guy LYDEKKER DSC RN Fleet Air Arm               Imperial Service College 1928.3 - 1932.2

 He was born 1 June 1914. Son of  Captain G. Lydekker OBE DSC RN. He was a qualified fighter pilot and had been serving as the Armament Officer on the Air Staff of HMS Furious since the re-commissioning of the ship in 1939, and did so throughout 1940. He piloted a Gloucester Gladiator from HMS Furious on the 2nd expedition in May 1940 to Norway.  At 13:00 on 26 May three Gladiators flown by Flight Lieutenant Caesar Hull, Pilot Officer Jack Falkson and Lieutenant Lydekker were detached to Bodø to provide cover for troops retreating northwards in the face of the German advance. En route they were engaged in an inconclusive combat with one of the KGr 100 Heinkels on its way to Bardufoss. When they landed on their new airfield their aircraft all stuck fast in the mud. They managed to get the Gladiators to drier ground, where they began refuelling from four-gallon tins. This arduous task was by no means complete when a He111 of 1(F)/122 was seen overhead, and all three leapt into their cockpits to take off.    At 08:00 in the morning on 27 May things started  heating up when 11 Ju87Rs from I/STG 1, escorted by three Bf110s from I/ZG 76, appeared over Bodø and began dive-bombing the radio masts at Bodøsjøen, only 800 yards from the landing ground. Lieutenant Lydekker took off at once. He shot down one of the raiders. Meanwhile Lydekker  was being attacked by most of the remaining Luftwaffe aircraft, his aircraft being badly shot up and himself wounded in the neck and shoulders. Unable to land at Bodø as three Stukas were circling overhead, he set course for Bardufoss at low level, where he eventually landed with his Gladiator a complete write-off. 

He was evacuated to the UK. After recovering from his injuries he returned to his duty as the Armament Officer on the Air Staff of HMS Furious. Later in the war he served as a member of the Air Staff of HMS Avenger. On 15 November 1942 this ship was torpedoed and sunk by U-155 off Gibraltar. Most of the crew on the ship went missing and presumed killed, Lydekker being one of these.


HMS Avenger, HMS Biter, and HMS Victorious left Scapa for Greenock on 16 October 1942. Avenger still had the two Sea Hurricane squadrons on board, with two new aircraft armed with 20 mm cannon. Avenger was tasked with providing air cover for one of the convoys carrying the British assault force for Operation Torch.[18] Once off North Africa she would join the covering force for the landings, with HMS Argus, three cruisers, and five destroyers. On arrival on 8 November 1942, the Supermarine Seafires from Argus and the Avenger '​s Sea Hurricanes provided air cover for the landings.[18] Between 8–10 November Avenger flew 60 fighter missions. On 9 November, she had a near miss by a torpedo from a HE 111, and from 10–12 November she was laid up with engine problems before sailing for Gibraltar.[18] HMS Avenger was torpedoed and sunk with a heavy loss of life (516 perished) by U-155 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Adolf Piening on 15 November 1942, just west of Gibraltar.[5] Struck by only one torpedo, she quickly sank. Only twelve members of her crew were rescued.[



ANTHONY JOHN GUY LYDEKKER DSC
Lieutenant H.M.S. Avenger, Royal Navy
who died on Sunday 15 November 1942 . Age 28 .

Additional Information: Son of Captain Guy Onslow Lydekker, O.B.E, D.S.C., R.N., and Gladwys Amelia Lydekker; husband of Valerie Lydekker. Cemetery: LEE-ON-SOLENT MEMORIAL Hampshire, United Kingdom Grave or Reference Panel Number: Bay 3, Panel 1.

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1.2.3.2  Patricia Hycinth Lydekker  was born in 1916     She have died in 1966, some have her dying                                  in South America.

She had an interesting life.  She married in 1936 Belgian Andre Jean Robert Janssen  
Born 14th July 1911 - La Hulpe  He was a manufacturer from Belgium.  Both traveled to various ports.  He died in 1971, and married a second time.

in July 1946 she married Major Anthony Patrick Ness.    He was born in 1914, and died in 1993.

He was reported to be the Mayor of Berkshire, (maybe a town in Berkshire).  He also enjoyed and had a Royal Aero Certificate.

He was in the Military in the Queens Bays 2nd Dragoon Guards, and in 1943 Captain of the Royal Armoured Corps Dragoon Guards.

After Patricia died he married Brigid Katherine Rachel Guiness who had been married to Prince Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Hohenzollern of Prussia.  He drowned  19 June 1966

They married June 1967.

Brigid's family were also through the Onslow's and the Guinness family, famous for a certain stout.

Her parents were Rupert Edward Cecil 2nd Earl of Guiness and Gwendolen Florence Mary Countess of Onslow.

Gwendolen Onslow's  2 * great grandfather was  George Onslow b 1731  who was also the  great uncle of Colonel Arthur Walton.

Colonel Arthur Walton was Patricia Hycynths Lydekker's   2* great uncle


Operations Medal
His Army records.  He was twice mentioned in despatches and Awarded the

3nd Lieut in Queens Bays 2nd Dragoon Guards  1933                  
1938 Lieut Quens Bays 2nd Dragoon Gurard  1938
Temporary Major  in 1942       Trans-Jordan Frontier Force
1943 Captain Royal Armoured Corps
1943  Captain Royal Armoured Corps Dragoon Guards.

P.M. to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 11 Jan 1941 “…The mechanisation of the Cavalry Division in Palestine is a distressing story. These troops have been carried out with their horses and maintained at great expense in the Middle East since the early months of the war.  Several months ago it was decided by the War Office that they should be mechanised. I gladly approved. Now I learn…that nothing has been done about this, that the whole division is to be carted back home again – presumably without their horses. 4 – and that this is not to begin until June 1. After that there will be a further seven or eight months before they will be of any use. Thus 8,500 officers and men, including some of our finest Regular and Yeomanry regiments, will, except for security work, have been kept out of action at immense expense for two years and five months of war…

Churchill went on to demand the total costs of having transported the troops and horses there and now back, plus maintaining them (rations, pay, etc,) from September 1939 to the start of March 1942. He also compared the conversion of the Household Cavalry, during the latter part of the Great War, into a machine-gun regiment, plus suggested that training could instead be done in Palestine, where they might be turned into infantry battalions, or switched with Regular troops then in India. His point was that the personnel should not be returned to the U.K., when there was a greater need for men in the Middle East

Having lost out in 1914, Mills had got their orders in 1939, but now there was a rather more formidable opponent to the continuance of production! In the event, Rashid Ali’s revolt in Iraq and the Siege of Habbaniya also intervened, some of the Yeomanry being converted to Lorried Infantry, as part of “Habforce”. The photo at left shows a Yeomanry Unit of 1st Cavalry in Palestine 1940.


The demise of the 1st Cavalry Division was certainly not the end of horses in the Second World War. By October, 1942, Tylden details 2,800 horses and mules in horsed transport companies, that usefully augmented M.T.. Six Cypriot pack transport companies were also in the Middle East, together with fifteen Indian mule companies and a mountain artillery patrol.
Watering their horses in Syria



In total there were over 6,500 horses, 9,600 mules, not forgetting 1,700 camels!. 1st Army had two pack transport companies in N. Africa and, whilst most of the campaign utilised M.T., these pack companies came into their own in Sicily and Italy. During the latter campaign, pack transport was urgently required, 4,500 animals were to be shipped from M.E. H.Q., even accepting a swap - by reducing M.T. requirements by 1,000 vehicles. By 1945, there were over 1,000 horses and 11,754 mules with Field Units and a further 500 horses and 8,850 mules with the Veterinary and Remount services.

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1.2.3.3   Ann Lydekker  born 1925  she married  Rupert T.B. Fellowes in Kensington in 1952.
              Ann died in 2007 in Wiltshire.

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Back now to Arthur Lydekker and Julia Mabel Durnford, and their youngest son Cuthbert John Wolfe Lydekker.  Born 1891 died 1948.

1.2.1.4     Cuthbert John Wolfe Lydekker   m   Clara Ann Margaret Griffith-Jones

Cuthbert was a 2nd Lieut in Royal Field Artillery in World War 1

C R
Surname:Lydekker
Nationality:British
Rank:Lieutenant
Service:British Army               
Bedfordshire Regiment

After the war he married Clare Ann Margaret Griffith-Jones in March 1920.
Cuthebert Lydekker was a civil servant in Kenya in 1923

They had one son

1.2.1.4.1  John Ryck Wolfe Lydekker who was born 1921 and enlisted in World War 2.

He was in the Navy and died heroically on the HMCS Weyburn.

John Ryck Wolfe
Initials:  J R W
Surname:  Lydekker
DOB:  Circa 1922
Age:  21
Nationality:  British
Date of Death:  22/02/1943
Information:  SON OF JOHN WOLFE LYDEKKER AND CLARE LYDEKKER.
Rank:  Sub Lieutenant
Gallantry Awards:  Mentioned in Despatches x2    1943 on HMS Quentin
Awarded for Bravery/Initiative during loss of ship HMS Weyburn

HMS Quentin (G78) was a Q class destroyer laid down by J. Samuel White and Company, Limited, at Cowes on the Isle of Wight on 25 September 1940, launched on 5 November 1941 and commissioned on 15 April 1942. Quentin attacked and sank the enemy German submarine U-162 while in company with the destroyers Vimy and Pathfinder in the Caribbean near Trinidad on 3 September 1942. Quentin and HMAS Quiberon ( Royal Australian Navy) depth charged and sunk Dessie (Regia Marina) off Algeria on November 28, 1942. Quentin was torpedoed by German aircraft and sank off North Africa on 2 December 1942, only hours after her participation on the successful battle of Skerki Bank

HMS Weyburn

On 22 February 1943, Weyburn struck a mine east of Gibraltar which had been laid by U-118 three weeks earlier. The mine ripped open the portside amidships, splitting the funnel from bottom to top, buckling the decks. The sea entered the engine room causing pipes to burst. After the initial explosion, all firing pins from the depth charges were safely removed except for two, which had jammed. This was done in hope that should the ship sink, the depth charges would not explode as the ship went under.

HMS Wivern came to Weyburn '​s aid, nudging her bow against the corvette '​s stern to take the crew off. Roughly twenty minutes into the rescue operation, something gave way inside Weyburn and the ship sank. As the ship sank the two depth charges whose pins had not been removed exploded, killing those in the water and killing and severely injuring members of the Wivern '​s crew in the forward half of the ship. Wivern herself was severely damaged and had to be towed back to port.





February 1943 Sub-Lieutenant Ryck Lydekker, only son of John and Clare Lydekker, killed February 22, 1943, in an attempt to save the life of his captain HMCS .Weyburn.  Twice mentioned in despatches.  Service in Harpenden Parish Church March 6 at 11.00am.

Sub-Lt John Ryck Wolfe Lydekker
Death Date:  22 Feb 1943
Cemetery:  Portsmouth Naval Memorial
Burial or Cremation Place:  Portsmouth, Portsmouth Unitary Authority, Hampshire, England
Royal Navy
Ship:  HMS Quentin
Service:  Royal Naval Reserve
Commemorated:  Panel 79, Column 3. PORTSMOUTH NAVAL MEMORIAL Hampshire
United Kingdom


LYDEKKER JOHN RYCK WOLFE TWICE in Despatches. R.N.R. H.M.S. Quentin. Royal Naval Reserve. 22nd February 1943. Age 21. Son of John Wolfe Lydekker and Clare Lydekker. Panel 79. Column 3.



Portsmouth Memorial
His name on the Panel
Of particular interest was some information on a Rare Book Site, that was offering for sale a book.


COLENSO, Frances Ellen My Chief and I.Or, Six Months in Natal after the Langalibalele
Outbreak. By Atherton Wylde  London, Chapman and Hall, 1880 [but 1879].
[39729]

£1500


8vo. Modern green half calf on marbled boards, red morocco label, spine gilt in compartments. Oval mounted Woodbury type portrait frontispiece of Durnford and one other mounted photographic plate, 2 tinted lithographic plates. A little browned, else very good.

FIRST EDITION

. “Under the fictitious guise of a young soldier, the authoress gives an account of six month’s
life and experiences with Colonel A. W. Durnford who lost his life at Isandhlwana. The writer was evidently an enthusiastic admirer of the gallant soldier” (Mendelssohn).

Daughter of Bishop Colenso of Natal (described by SADNB as a “protagonist of the Zulu people”), Frances completed Durnford’s work History of the Zulu War and its Origins , also with the publication date 1880. The first series of adverts here has the issue date November 1879.


This copy has the bookplate of Durnford’s father Edward William Durnford mounted on the front pastedown, and a gift inscription, “John Wolfe Lydekker from his grandfather Edward C.L. Durnford” on the verso of the front free endpaper.

Lieut.-Colonel Edward Durnford R.E. was brother of the subject and editor of his posthumously-
published A Soldier’s Life and Work in South Africa , 1872– 1879 (see item 41 belo

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When Guy Onslow Lydekker married Gladwys Amelia Durnford, it brought about a crossing of the different Durnford lineages.



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The Onslow family certainly were heavily involved in the Military and the Navy.

Colonel Arthur Walton Onslow's Grandfather.


Sir Richard Onslow, 1st Baronet GCB (23 June 1741 – 27 December 1817) was an English naval officer who played a distinguished role at the Battle of Camperdown.

He was the younger son of Lt-Gen. Richard Onslow and his wife Pooley, daughter of Charles Walton. Onslow's uncle was Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the British House of Commons, and he enjoyed considerable interest as he rapidly rose through the Navy.

He was made fourth lieutenant of the Sunderland on 17 December 1758 by V-Adm. George Pocock, fifth lieutenant of the Grafton on 3 March 1759, and fourth lieutenant of Pocock's flagship, the Yarmouth on 17 March 1760, upon which he returned to England.

Onslow became commander of the Martin on 11 February 1761, cruising in the Skagerrak until his promotion to captain of the Humber on 14 April 1762. He joined the Humber in June, but she was wrecked off Flamborough Head while returning from the Baltic in September.

 Onslow was court-martialed for her loss, but was acquitted, the pilot being blamed for the wreck. On 29 November 1762, he was appointed to command the Phoenix.

Onslow did not receive another command until 31 October 1776, when he was appointed to the St Albans. He took a convoy to New York City in April 1777 and joined Lord Howe in time for the repulse of d'Estaing on 22 July 1777 at Sandy Hook.

Onslow sailed for the West Indies on 4 November 1778 with Commodore Hotham, and took part in the capture of Saint Lucia and its defense against d'Estaing that December at the Cul-de-Sac. In August 1779, he brought a convoy from St Kitts to Spithead.

He was placed in command of the Bellona, in the Channel Fleet under Admiral Francis Geary, in February 1780, and captured the Dutch 54-gun ship Prinses Carolina on 30 December 1780.

Onslow took part in the Relief of Gibraltar under Admiral Darby in April 1781, and again under Howe in October 1782. The Bellona captured La Solitaire in the West Indies before Onslow returned home and took half-pay in June 1783.

In early 1789, he was appointed to command the Magnificent at Portsmouth, but was out of employment again in September 1791. He was promoted rear-admiral of the white on 1 February 1793 and vice-admiral on 4 July 1794. In 1796, he was made port admiral at Portsmouth, and in November, he went aboard the Nassau to act as second-in-command of the North Sea Fleet under Admiral Duncan.

During the Spithead and Nore mutinies, Onslow suppressed a rising aboard the Nassau, and was sent by Duncan to quell the Adamant. When the Nassau refused to sail on 26 May 1797, Onslow moved his flag to the Adamant and until the end of the mutiny, Duncan (in the Venerable) and Onslow maintained the blockade off the Texel alone, making signals to an imaginary fleet over the horizon.

Onslow moved his flag again to the Monarch on 25 July 1797, and it was aboard her that he took part in the Battle of Camperdown on 11 October 1797.

 His flag captain, Edward O'Bryen, supposedly warned him that the Dutch ships were too close together to get between, to which Onslow replied "The Monarch will make a passage." Indeed, Monarch was the first to break the Dutch line and attack the Jupiter of 72 guns, flagship of Vice-Admiral Reyntjes, who subsequently surrendered to Onslow.

 The victory was captured by the artist Thomas Rowlandson, a friend of Onslow's brother-in-law, Matthew Michell, in the painting "Glorious Defeat of the Dutch Navy Octr 10 1797, by Admirals Lord Duncan and Sir Richard Onslow, with a View Drawn on the Spot of the Six Dutch Line of Battle Ships Captured and Brought into Yarmouth".

For his exertions at Camperdown, Onslow was created a baronet and presented with the Freedom of the City of London. He became Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in 1796.


He went on sick leave on 10 December 1798 and retired as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth a few weeks later. He was promoted Admiral of the Red on 9 November 1805 and received the GCB in 1815. He died on 27 December 1817 at Southampton aged 76 years.




Another War and another Admiral

Admiral Sir Richard George Onslow KCB, DSO & Three Bars, DL (1904 – 16 December 1975) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.

Onslow was born in 1904 at Garmston (near Ironbridge), Shropshire, second child and eldest son of George Arthur Onslow, farmer, and his wife Charlotte Riou, daughter of clergyman the Reverend Riou George Benson.

In 1932 he married Kathleen Meriel Taylor, daughter of Edmund Coston Taylor, cotton manufacturer, of Bank House, Longnor, Shropshire; they had two sons.

Educated at the Royal Naval College, Osborne and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Onslow joined the Royal Navy in 1918 at the end of World War I.

At the start of World War II he was on the Plans Division of the Naval Staff, with a combat interlude in 1940 on an unsuccessful attempt to evacuate the Belgian government and gold reserves from Bordeaux during the Fall of France, nearly becoming prisoner of the Germans.

He next became Captain of the destroyer HMS Ashanti in 1941 in the role of defending Russian convoys, as well as the convoys to Malta.

His services on the former convoys earned him the initial award of his Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Soviet Order of the Red Banner.

 He took over the anti-submarine training establishment HMS Osprey in 1943 and went on to be Captain of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla in 1944 in which capacity he earned the third of his three bars to his DSO in the attack on a Japanese base at Sabang, Sumatra.


After the War he became Senior Naval Officer in Northern Ireland and then, from 1948, Director of the Tactical Division at the Admiralty. After taking command of the training ship HMS Devonshire in 1951 he became Naval Secretary in 1952. He was made Flag Officer (Flotillas) for the Home Fleet in 1955 and Flag Officer commanding the Reserve Fleet in 1956. His last appointment was as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth in 1958.[4] He retired in 1962.






William Hillier Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow GCMG, PC (7 March 1853 – 23 October 1911) was a British Conservative politician. He held several governmental positions between 1880 and 1905 and was also Governor of New Zealand between 1889 and 1892.

Born at Old Alresford, Hampshire, Onslow was the only son of George Augustus Cranley Onslow, son of the Hon. Thomas Cranley Onslow, second son of Thomas Onslow, 2nd Earl of Onslow. His mother was Mary Harriet Anne Loftus. In 1870, at the age of 17, he succeeded his great-uncle in the earldom of Onslow. He was educated at Eton and Exeter College, Oxford.

In 1801 he was further honoured when he was made Viscount Cranley, of Cranley in the County of Surrey, and Earl of Onslow, of Onslow in the County of Shropshire. The latter titles were in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.


And a change of tune -  André George Louis Onslow (1784-1853),

Andre George Louis Onslow (Composer) was a noted composer, author of thirty string quartets and other works.


George Onslow was born in Clermont-Ferrand, the son of an English father, Edward Onslow, and a French mother, Marie Rosalie de Bourdeilles de Brantôme; his paternal grandfather was George Onslow, 1st Earl of Onslow. In Onslow's own brief autobiography (written in the third person) he comments that in his childhood, "music studies formed but a secondary part of his education" but names Jan Ladislav Dussek and Johann Baptist Cramer amongst his piano teachers. It has been suggested that he received this tuition in London under the aegis of his grandfather the Earl. However, other research indicates he may not have studied with Dussek until 1797–1798 in Hamburg, where his family was living in exile after his father had become involved in counter-revolutionary activities in France. This research also indicates there is no evidence to support the suggestions sometimes made that Onslow at any time visited Vienna, or that he met, or studied, there with Ludwig van Beethoven.

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