OLD AZURIANS
ASSOCIATION
Surnames C to D
William C Campsie: Cadet Merchant Navy died 6 April 1942 aged 17, on board SS Harpasa survived when that ship was bombed by Japanese aircraft south of Calcutta, caught fire and the ammunition it was carrying exploded, but died next day when the ship which had picked up survivors, was sunk by Japanese warships. Commemorated on Tower Hill Memorial. See more details.
Born 29/9/1924; school years 1935-40.
George Arthur Caton: Flying Officer RAFVR. After school he worked in Worthing Corporation Education Dept until he joined RAF in August 1941 .He trained as navigator in the USA and serviced in N Africa. He was killed in a motor accident.died on 16 November 1944 aged 22. Buried at Dely Ibrahim War Cemetery, Algeria. Parents Albert Arthur and Ethel Sophia lived at 2 Golf Cottages Hill Barn Lane Worthing.
Born 19/8/1922; school years 1938-39.
Alan Leslie Clements: born 31 March 1918, attended the school from 1928 to 1930 when he left for Hurstpier point College. He was 2nd Engineer Officer aboard SS N. C. Monberg, carrying coal from the Tyne to London, when his ship was sunk by a German E-boat off Aldburgh, Suffolk on 5 December 1940, Alan, aged 22, was among the 12 crew members lost. Parents (Harold W & Florence A)? Lived in Offington Avenue, Worthing. Commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial.
Born 31/3/1918; school years 1928-30.
Frederick Henry Charles Collier: Wireman RN HM Landing Ship Tank 862 missing, presumed drowned, 3 September 1943 (invasion of Italy) aged 18. He had just finished training and this was his first time in action. Commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial. His parents lived in Cortis Avenue, Worthing.
Born 26/7/1925; school years 1936-41.
Percy Reginald Cornford: Able Seaman RNVR, son of Thomas Edward and Louise who lived in Worthing. His ship HMS Sturdy had returned from Atlantic convoy escort duties during which heavy merchant ship losses had been sustained. On the night of 30 October 1940, during a heavy gale, HMS Sturdy, a WW1 destroyer, ran onto rocks off Tiree and broke in two. At dawn 25 men in a whaler set off towards the shore but the boat hit a rock and was tipped over, throwing its occupants into the water. Most of the men aboard managed to reach the shore but five, including Percy Cornford, perished.
Five of the crew, including AB Cornford aged 27, perished. They were buried in Soroby cemetery. A memorial has since been erected on the shore where the tragedy occurred.
Born 17/12/1912; school years 1924-28; parents lived at 68 Ashdown Road, Worthing.
Frederick David Cox: Pte. King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. He is presumed to have landed in Normandy with 4th Battalion on 14th June 1944 a week or so after D-Day. He was killed on 5 August 1944 during the subsequent allied advance through Europe. Buried in St. Charles de Percy War Cemetery, Calvados, France. His parents Charles Lewis and Dorothy Mary lived in Meadow Way Rustington.
Born 17/12/1912; school years 1936-41.
Sidney Crocombe: Sgt. RAFVR 42 Sqdn. based at Wick on the East coast of Scotland. Died 9 February 1941 aged 25, presumed lost when flying out on an anti-shipping patrol in Bristol Beaufort L9832. About 20 miles East of Wick the port engine stopped owing to fuel starvation, the aircraft lost height and the pilot had to come down on the sea. The pilot managed to reach the survival dinghy that had blown away, but despite getting back to the aircraft and shouting for the three other crew members to jump in, no-one left the aircraft. The pilot was later rescued by a lifeboat but no trace was found of the others. Commemorated on Runnymede Memorial (no known grave). His parents Arthur and May lived in Shoreham.
Born 7/7/1916; school years 1927-32.
Edward Anderson Davison: Corporal RAFVR died suddenly in Eastbourne Hospital on 18 March 1945, aged 33. He had returned home, to a posting at an RAF station in Sussex, six months previously after having served for three years in Burma. His illness was not thought to have been contracted as a result of his military service. He was one of the first batch of boys to enter the school in 1924. He and his wife Doreen lived in Warren Gardens and his parents lived in Woodmancote Road Worthing. He was buried in Durrington Cemetery on 22 March 1945.
Born 14/7/1911; school years 1924-28.
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Roy Alan Dean: Gunner, 7 Anti-Tank Regiment, New Zealand Artillery, wounded in action in Greece, died on 17 April 1941 in a German Prisoner of war camp in Salonika. Buried at Phaleron War Cemetery, near Athens. Roy joined the school on the first day it opened in 1924. He left in 1929 to take up farming in New Zealand. His parents Frank and Louise lived at 38 Christchurch Road, Worthing.
Born 4/4/1913.
Raymond Arthur Charles Dean: Seaman, was awarded the DCM in 1942 while serving in HMS Haselmere of the RN Patrol Service which undertook a variety of duties, mostly inshore. Missing, presumed killed, on 5 November 1944 aged 24 when serving in HM Motor Minesweeper 69. Commemorated at Lowestoft Naval Memorial. His parents Charles Richard and Ivy Gertrude lived at 46 Chester Avenue Worthing; wife Beatrice Kathleen.
Born 1920. Ed: THIS ENTRY HAS SINCE BEEN FOUND TO BE ERRONEOUS SEE ROY DEAN ABOVE, but it is an interesting story about a Worthing man that is worth reading (click here)
Leslie Douthwaite: Major, Acting Lt Colonel REME attached to HQ 2nd Armoured Brigade died in the Middle East on 24 April 1943 aged 28. Buried in Massicault War Cemetery, Tunisia. His parents William Wright and Elsie Jane lived at 41 St. Lawrence Avenue Worthing. He joined the school after his family moved to Worthing from Bedfordshire in 1930 and went on to study at Brighton Technical College where he was awarded a Lord Nuffield Engineering Prize. He passed his final examinations to become a fully qualified engineer just before war broke out. Already a member of the Sussex Territorials, he joined up as a Private at the start of the war, saw service in France near the Siegfried Line, and, with difficulty, managed to get back to England via Brest at the time of the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940. A year or so later, having been gazetted Lieutenant, he was sent to North Africa where he took part in the
advance to Tobruk, the retreat to El Alamein and the subsequent advance to Tobruk and beyond. It was during this fighting that he received wounds from which he died on Easter Day.
In civilian life he was employed by Caffyns the motor engineers. He was also a keen member of both the Worthing Camera Club and the Worthing Boat Club. He was engaged to Pamela Curvin of Westland Road, Worthing.
Born 26/1/1915; school years 1930-31.
Basil Edwin Duffield: died at his home in Poulters Lane, Worthing on 12 January 1947. He had served with the RAF for over two years during the war. He was discharged from the RAF at he end of the war, after which he was bedridden for two years until his death. It seems likely that he had been wounded or injured, or developed a serious illness while on active service and this was the reason why he was named in the School Memorial. His father Mr E M Duffield was a well-known business man in Worthing who ran an ironmogery shop in Chapel Road.
Born 25/2/1922. School years 1933-37.