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World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

17th December 1940

On this day:





If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.




Remembering those who died this day.

  • Brewin Frank. Able Sea. (d.17th December 1940)
  • Brooks Harry O.. Stoker (d.17th December 1940)
  • Crunden Ronald Allenby. Able Sea. (d.17th Dec 1940)
  • Cutts Howard. Able Sea. (d.17th Dec 1940)
  • Dobson Joseph. Able Sea. (d.17 Dec 1940)
  • Doust Frederick James Thomas. Stoker 1st Class (d.17th Dec 1940)
  • Hannabuss John Henry. Ord.Sea. (d.17th Dec 1940)
  • Matthews Reginald William. Able Sea. (d.17th Dec 1940)
  • Parnwell Francis. Stkr2. (d.17th Dec 1940)
  • Parsons Charles William. (d.17th Dec 1940)
  • Perkins Christopher Harry. Able Sea. (d.17th Dec 1940)
  • Pitcher Stanley George. Able Sea. (d.17th December 1940)
  • Putman Silvester Joseph. PO. (d.17th Dec 1940)
  • Richardson Harnett Richard. Sgt (d.17th Dec 1940)
  • Richardson Harnett Richard. Sgt. (d.17th December 1940)
  • Spratt Thomas Plimmer. Able Seaman (d.17 Dec 1940)
  • Whitworth Tom. Able Sea. (d.17th Dec 1940)

The names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List



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Want to know more about the 17th of December 1940?


There are:6 items tagged 17th of December 1940 available in our Library

  These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Second World War.




Stories from 17th December 1940





Able Seaman Thomas Plimmer Spratt. Royal Navy, HMS Acheron. (d.17 Dec 1940)

This is my Uncle Tom who went down on the Acheron in 1940. he was 21 years old. I think it is now too late to contact anyone who might have served with him. He was also on the HMS Hood for a while.

Joyce Curtin



Stoker 1st Class Frederick James Thomas " " Doust. , . (d.17th Dec 1940)

Frederick Doust was my Great Uncle who served on the destroyer HMS Acheron. He was stoker 1st class and went down with the ship at the age of 39 leaving behind sisters, wife and children.

Glenda Marshall



Able Sea. Reginald William Matthews. Royal Navy, HMS Acheron. (d.17th Dec 1940)

Able Seaman Reginald Matthews was my Grandfather. He served with the Royal Navy since the age of 16. He left in 1935 when my father was born. He was called up at the start of WW2 and served on HMS Acheron as a stoker until his death in December 1940. He was 35 years old and left behind his wife and my fathe.

Debbie Lancastle



Able Sea. Joseph "Forger" Dobson. Royal Navy, HMS Acheron. (d.17 Dec 1940)

Joseph Dobson was my mam's brother and he was killed on the Acheron, I don't know too much, despite my searching. I'm not sure if he was killed in the initial air raid at Portsmouth, or when the Acheron went down off the Isle of Wight. He was an Able Seaman, so would have been known to some of the survivors; infact, seeing how small the crew was, he was probably known by all of them. I've only seen one photograph of him, and he passed before my mother was born.

My brother and I (Joe's nephews) both went on to serve in the RN, so maybe it's in our blood after all. I wish I'd known him, but I would also like to know more about him. RIP those who were killed.

Ian Harris



Able Sea. Ronald Allenby Crunden. Royal Navy, HMS Acheron. (d.17th Dec 1940)

Ronald Allenby Crunden was my great uncle serving on HMS Acheron. He also served on HMS Hood at some point. His two brothers, Frederick (my grandfather) and Sydney, were also killed in action.

Andy Crunden



Able Sea. Howard Cutts. Royal Navy, HMS Acheron. (d.17th Dec 1940)

Howard Cutts went down with his ship, aged 21.

William  Dyer



Stoker Harry O. Brooks. Royal Navy, HMS Acheron. (d.17th December 1940)

Harry O. Brooks was my mother's first husband, and what I have to tell is from my late mother, backed up by a search on an Ancestry website. Harry served on HMS Acheron and went down with her off the Isle of Wight on 17th December 1940. Born in Nottinghamshire in December 1915, married in June 1939. His name is on the War Memorial on Portsmouth Sea Front. I was born in 1948, after my mother remarried. Not much to tell of a man I never knew, but I salute him. My father and grandfather served and survived.

Graham Lever



PO. Silvester Joseph Putman. Royal Navy, HMS Acheron. (d.17th Dec 1940)

Silvester Putman was my maternal grandfather, he was 32 when he died, leaving a pregnant wife, and a 20 month old daughter. My Nan never re-married.

Paul Woolerton



Sgt Harnett Richard Richardson. Royal Air Force, 61 Squadron. (d.17th Dec 1940)

Harnett Richard Richardson (known as Dick) son of Harnett Richardson (died as a result of injuries sustained in WW1)and Eleanor (Nellie) Richardson all from Hartlepool. Eleanor was later re-married to George Robert (Bob) Smith and had two daughters Gladys (Pi) and Jean Smith who were half sisters of Dick.

Dick joined the Royal Air Force at 17/18 yrs and became Sgt 526112 in Bomber Command Squadron 61, flying Hampdens as an Observer (Navigator) in WW2 out of Hemswell (Harpswell Aerodrome), Lincoln. At the age of 22 yrs he married Lillian Greenfields, who was aged 17/ 18yrs from Lincoln, but was tragically killed in action just two weeks later.

He and his crew; Sgt G.E Cowan DFM, Sgt A.J.P Casey and P/O E Reeves took off from Hemswell in Hampden X3128 on December 16th 1940, on an Operational Flight over Mannheim in Germany, but failed to return on December 17th. The only correspondence Dick's mother ever received about her son was a telegram from his wife to say he and his colleagues had been lost without a trace and were missing presumed killed in action. Nothing more was ever heard. The Crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial to the Missing and also in Lincoln Cathedral.

Some years ago, Jean had contact with Harry Moyles, author of 'The Hampden File' within which there is reference to Dick's last operational mission. If anyone has any memory or knowledge of Dick, his wife Lillian, his co-colleagues or indeed what happened on that fateful mission, please contact his remaining sister.

Jean Walker



Able Sea. Tom Whitworth. Royal Navy, HMS Acheron. (d.17th Dec 1940)

Tom Whitworth, gunnery Able Seaman, served aboard HMS Acheron. He is survived by his wife for 73 years and remembered every day. A regular sailor, pre-war serving in the China station. He feared he knew what was coming and married only a few short months before he died while on weekend leave.

Stephen Proctor



Able Sea. Christopher Harry Perkins. Royal Navy, H.M.S. Acheron. (d.17th Dec 1940)

Christopher Harry Perkins P/SSX29931 served as an Able Seaman on H.M.S. Acheron. He was lost when the Ship was sunk on 17th December 1940. He was 21 years old. He grew up in Killamarsh in North East Derbyshire. Sadly, I know nothing of him but my mother, who was only a child at the time, grew up in the same village and has never forgotten him. I hope his parents found peace.

Keith Nichols



Stkr2. Francis Parnwell. Royal Navy, HMS Acheron. (d.17th Dec 1940)

Francis Parnwell served on HMS Acheron, he was the son of Constance Emma Parnwell, his father, Francis H Parnwell, had died in 1938.

Carol Malone



Able Sea. Frank Brewin. Royal Navy, HMS Acheron. (d.17th December 1940)

My uncle Frank Brewin was an able seaman aboard HMS Acheron. He was 21 years old when she went down in 1940. He had been transferred from the HMS Hood.

Rebecca Sheehan



Ord.Sea. John Henry Hannabuss. Royal Navy , H.M.S. Acheron . (d.17th Dec 1940)

John Henry Hannabuss, Ordinary Seaman, died on HMS Acheron on 17th Dec 1940. My uncle I never met and brother to my father. John was 21 when he was lost.




Sgt. Harnett Richard Richardson. Royal Air Force, 61 Squadron. (d.17th December 1940)

My mum married an airman when she was 17 or 18 yrs. His name was Harnett Richardson he was only 18 or 19 years old and he was a navigator flying a Hampden in World War 2. My mum was only married to Harnett for 2 weeks before the plane came down killing all on board when coming back from Mannheim in Germany.

My mum whose name was Lillian Greenfield died in 1983 before telling me or my sister her story. I have since acquired their wedding photos and other photos of Harnett and his fellow pilots. The crew on the Hampden were Sgt. G.E. Cowan DFM, Sgt A.J.P Casey and P/O E Reeves.

Sometimes I feel really sad for my mum and all the families of that Hampden plane, if only she had told me. I don’t know if any relations of Harnett are still alive. I live in Lincoln and have been in contact with the bomber command archives in Lincoln and have taken my photos and other information that I have acquired for them to preserve. Some years ago a lady in the name of Jean Walker was trying to find out information relating to my story but unfortunately nothing has become of it.

Vicky



Charles William Parsons. Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes, . (d.17th Dec 1940)

Charles Parsons was a Naafi Manager.











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