See video
I
never knew my father. How did he get killed?
Where did he get killed? Was he
on his own or with others? On 20 Jan 44 he was seriously wounded by a
mortar bomb. On 22 Jan 44 he was REPORTED
MISSING, (Believed Wounded). On 4
Feb 44 it was recorded Body recovered, identified & buried by British
Troops. He died sometime between 20
Jan 44 and 4 Feb 44, but which was the date he died? In
investigating his death there was a historical challenge to writing about
it. The fog of war descends over the
battlefield as it is being fought.
Afterwards when it is being written about, each participant only sees
part of the picture. War is messy and
most accounts lose many of the human
consequences, both at the time and thereafter by simplification. Bringing together all the differing accounts
of the battle the reader can make their own judgement about what happened.
Ernest Strafford - War record.
The Straffords lived and worked in the same area of Sheffield for at least 250 years.
They were scissor manufacturers and in the 1760s had a workshop in Meadow Street.
My father, Ernest Strafford, was born in Sheffield on 26 October 1913, and before his
marriage lived with his parents in Midland Street.
Edith and Ernest Strafford were married on 28 August 1937. A year later, on
18 September 1938 their daughter Pat was born. My name is John Ernest Strafford.
I am the only son of Ernest Strafford. I was born on 13 September 1942.
On marrying, Edith and Ernest Strafford settled in Hunter Hill Road. It was a two
up, two down house with an attic and the toilet was at the bottom of the garden. During
the war we had a ‘bomb shelter’ in the garden. A tin bath was on a hook outside the
back door.
Ernest Strafford joined the York
& Lancaster Regiment Territorial
Battalion on 24 June 1940 and
the regular army on 14 October
1943. He was not conscripted, he
volunteered. Why?
He was a printer’s compositor
with the Sheffield Telegraph. This
was a reserved occupation, so Ernest
did not have to join the army. Did he
volunteer because of peer pressure?
After all some of his fellow workers
signed up including the son of
Lord Kemsley, the proprietor of the
Sheffield Telegraph. Just after the end
of the war perhaps on the unveiling
of the plaque ‘In Honoured Memory
of Those of The Sheffield Telegraph
Who fell in the Second World War
1939–1945’ Eliza Strafford (Ernest’s
mother) took myself and my sister
Pat to the offices of the Sheffield
Telegraph. Lord Kemsley told Eliza that there would always be a job at the Sheffield Telegraph for myself and my sister!
Did Lord Kemsley influence his staff to join the services and feel a particular link with
those who had died, in view of the fact that his own son was one of the casualties?
Edith and Ernest Strafford, 28 Aug 1937. (Family Photo)
John and Pat Strafford 1945 (Family Photo)
There was a military background to my family. Ernest’s grandfather was one of
the longest serving members of the Sheffield Artillery Volunteers which used to meet
at the Drill Hall. His father was also a member. On Edith’s (Ernest’s wife) side two of
her father’s brothers, Stanley and Maurice Waterfall, served in the York & Lancaster
Regiment during the Great War. Sadly Maurice Waterfall was killed at Havrincourt
in France on 27 September 1918 just before the end of the First World War. With this
background it was only natural that Ernest would feel some pressure to volunteer for
the Territorial Army in 1940 and then as a regular in October 1943.
In addition, there were further pressures. Two of Ernest’s brothers-in-law were
in the army. John Webb (Edith’s sister Bessie’s husband) was with the Royal Marine
Commandos and Arthur Townsend (Edith’s sister Gladys’s husband) was with the
Royal Engineers. Another of Edith’s sisters Winnie, was engaged to Len Hill who was
also with the Royal Engineers. All three men were in Italy when Ernest arrived there in
October 1943. It may have seemed to Ernest that he was not doing his duty by avoiding
active service. We will not know what motivated him to join the regular army, but what
we do know is that Edith, his wife, was opposed to it and was very upset, as any woman
would be, seeing her husband go off to war, particularly if he could legitimately have
avoided doing so.
Ernest was an only child. His father, Ernest Stafford Sr, died in 1949. His mother,
Eliza, died in 1957.
: Ernest Strafford’s grandfather, John Strafford. Yorkshire Telegraph & Star, 15 April
1929
John Strafford at DYRMS, 1959. (Family photo)
See video
DYRMS Trooping the Colour
Ernest Strafford’s War Record
Ernest Strafford joined the York & Lancaster Regiment Territorial Battalion on 24 June
1940 and the regular army on 14 October 1943, when he embarked on a Landing Ship
bound for Italy.
Convoy KMF 25 was the convoy that took Ernest Strafford to Italy. It was the only
convoy to Italy at that time. There were eighteen ships in the convoy plus fourteen
escort ships, eleven of which had Torpedo Defence Systems. Included in the convoy
was SS Champollion carrying 2,155 troops. There were two Landing Ships Tank,
HMS Boxer and HMS Bruiser, both the same class of Landing Ship Tank. Loaded,
they could each take 13 Churchill tanks, 27 other vehicles and 193 troops. It is likely
Ernest Strafford was on one of these. He embarked on 14 October 1943. The convoy sailed from Liverpool on the 16th. Its ultimate destination was Alexandria in Egypt via
Gibraltar and Italy. It arrived in Italy on 25 October when Ernest Strafford disembarked
and the two cruisers, HMS Orion and HMS Spartan, ceased escorting the convoy. HMS
Boxer and HMS Bruiser arrived at Alexandria on 31 October.
HMS Boxer at Salerno, Italy, Sep 1943. (naval-history.net website)
When Ernest Strafford disembarked he was registered with No. 1 IRTD
(Infantry Recruit Training Depot) on the X List (iv). This list comprises all unposted
reinforcements and incoming reinforcement drafts. Reinforcements in transit between
the base and a unit remain on the X List (iv) until they reach the unit and have been
taken on its strength. In Ernest Strafford‘s case his unit was 1 York & Lancs.
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