The Bombing of The Guards Chapel, 18th June 1944
Wellington Barracks, London
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At 11:20 on the morning of Sunday 18th June 1944, a church service was being held in the Chapel of the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London. The Bishop of Maidstone was taking the service, and the congregation included a wide mix of people, from Guardsmen at the barracks to Free French soldiers, from local residents to members of the aristocracy, and including Americans and Australians amongst their number. Also present was Brinley Davies (Bryn) from Ystradgynlais.
The Victims of the Guards' Chapel Bombing The human cost is also shocking: a mother and two of her three children (Vera Mitchell), a mother, daughter and her sister-in-law (the Lumley Smiths), a brother and sister (the Atkins), two sisters (the Millens), a married couple and his mother (the Thorns), a mother and daughter (the Gidley-Kitchins), to give just a few examples. Mary Jameson died with her mother-in-law, Phyllis. Alan Fraser Coleman and his wife Edith died together, as did Captain Leslie Gordon Wall and his wife Diana. A number left small children; Dennis Gibson's son was only three weeks old when his father died, and James Copeman's son was little more than a year old. Two friends, Joan Duncan and Edith Farmer, had just joined the WRNS that day and decided to go to the Guards service afterwards; they were among the fifteen victims who died aged 21 or younger. The Band of the Coldstream Guards was playing that day. Their Director of Music, Major James Causley Windram, was killed, along with five of his musicians; another twelve were injured. Many guardsmen from the Coldstream, Grenadier, Scots and Welsh Guards also died, as did an Army Chaplain (the Reverend Whitrow) and a Royal Australian Air Force Chaplain (The Reverend Gordon Gladstone Wood). Some who died were well-known or well-connected, such as Lady Evelyn Gordon-Lennox, Lord Hay (who had just read the lesson when the doodlebug exploded), Gwen Horton (sister of the artist Edward Le Bas) and Captain George Kemp-Welch (Stanley Baldwin's son-in-law and the brother of Betty Kenward, who wrote Jennifer's Diary). Alice Lumley Keane was the mother-in-law of the writer, Molly Keane. Others remain largely unknown, with just the CWGC information to identify them. "Why were they there?" a Guardsman's son asked me. There are a number of reasons. The first V-1 had landed a mere 5 days before, so few people were aware of the risk involved from this new type of rocket; their existence had not yet been publicly acknowledged by the Government. Indeed, it was not until the following month that the Guards' Chapel incident was openly named in the press. Many people attended the service because it was the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo; it was also a chance to give thanks for the success of the Normandy landings (D-Day was 12 days before.) A number of the civilians attending had Guards connections; for example, Gwen Horton and Mary Jameson were married to Guards officers, as was Diana Wall, and two of Olive Penn's brothers were Guardsmen. Quite apart from the military significance of the date, services at the Guards' Chapel were renowned for their superb music. Those who died as a result of this incident will not be forgotten. Please see the Biographies of Guards Chapel victims for more details.
Researcher Jan Gore has compiled biographies on the victims of the Guards Chapel bombing, which can be accessed here.
Research by Jan Gore Biographies of Guards Chapel victims |