Recently I have been researching how the town of Bridlington in East Yorkshire fared during the Second World War in order to write a book on this period of history and document the forgotten stories that link here with some of the news stories that took hold during these six years of hardship and horror. So far I have given two talks on this in Bridlington and managed to interview many people to slowly gather the information together and I am impressed with just how much I am able to find. So this blog entry is an appeal for anybody else out there who can add to this story and provide evidence of just what went on between 1939 and 1945 that made Bridlington stand out. Here are a few of the stories that I have uncovered and which put this small town on the map.
SS Lulworth Hill - On 19 March 1943 the cargo ship
Lulworth Hill was sailing off the coast of western Africa when, in the early hours of the morning, she was torpedoed and sunk by the Italian submarine
Leonardo da Vinci. 15 people survived, one was taken prisoner on the submarine, the other 14 ended up in a fight for survival on a raft with nobody knowing that they were alive. On board this raft were two lads from Bridlington - Kenneth Cooke and Norman Fowler. After an incredible fifty days on the raft, only Kenneth and another man, Hull sailor Colin Armitage, were still alive. They were rescued by HMS
Rapid and both were awarded the George Medal and the Lloyds Medal for Bravery upon their return. Kenneth wrote a book about his experience and on the 80th anniversary of his rescue a blue plaque was unveiled on Bridlington Harbour to commemorate his rescue and awards.
Gibraltar Air Disaster - On 4 July 1943 a plane carrying Polish leader General Wladyslaw Sikorski took off from the airport in Gibraltar in the middle of a tour of the troops around the battlefields of North Africa and Europe, on board was Bridlington resident Warrant Telegraphist Harry Pinder from Hilderthorpe Road and over a dozen others. But seconds after take-off the plane plunged into the sea and killed 16 of the 17 people on board, the body of Harry Pinder was never found. There have been many conspiracy theories surrounding this disaster but the cause of the crash was thought to be the controls jamming.
George Cross - When the George Medal and the George Cross was first announced by the King in 1940 one man became the first civilian to be awarded the GC for his bravery during the bombing raids over Bridlington - ARP warden Thomas Hopper Alderson. In August 1940 he pulled out a woman alive from a bombed house on St Alban Road, then days later a family under a collapsed shop on Manor Street and then for a third time when a café collapsed and trapped more people under rubble on Prince Street. Alderson was one of many people who dug with their bare hands to remove the remains of the buildings without any consideration for their own lives, but he was the figurehead of this bravery and so he was put forward to be awarded the GC which he accepted but on behalf of those who were with him on all occasions. He was very humble about his award and would even go on to be awarded another from the RSPCA for assisting in the rescue of horses from a burning stable. His medals are currently on display at the Imperial War Museum.
- As well as Kenneth Cooke, three George Medals were awarded to men at Bridlington railway station for an action that took place in July 1940 when a bombing raid saw five people killed on Hilderthorpe Road and a train loaded with ammunition be set on fire in the process. Again without any consideration for their own lives, Ernest Barker from Bridlington, Arthur Harrison and George Whitehurst from Hull, battled the blazes and were successful in saving the station from certain devastation. All three were awarded the GM and plaques were unveiled in 2023 and 2024 for all three heroes in the station hall.
VIP Visits - Prior to the D-Day landings there was a lot of military movement in and around the town, with tanks going down the street and checkpoints set up all over the roadside. But on one occasion it was host to a very special visit when a parade of cars were saluted as they travelled down Cardigan Road - King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth (later our Queen), Montgomery, Eisenhower and even Churchill. To have this many people as high in the British establishment as this in one place was extraordinary! But it was certainly memorable.
RAF - While there were airfields nearby at Carnaby, Driffield and Lisset, RAF Bridlington was a collection of places dotted around the town consisting of barracks, training areas and guest houses all utilised to contain airmen who were taking part in training in and around the town. Tragedy hit several of the guest houses as the bombing raids led to a number of deaths and injuries, but all in all the town was a huge success to the servicemen who trained here including the fast patrol boats used by Lawrence of Arabia previously in the training of attack aircraft just off the coast.
HMS Bridlington - The Bangor class minesweeper
Bridlington was adopted by the town after her completion and had a friendly affiliation with it's namesake for many years. During the war years she took part in the disastrous Dieppe raid as well as the 1944 D-Day landings before being handed over to the RAF in 1947. After several more years of work including a trip to the Indian Ocean area, she was decommissioned in 1955 and scrapped at Plymouth. The items from the
Bridlington such as the name plate and bell are now on display at the Harbour Heritage Museum.
No 5 Commando - In 1940 Winston Churchill ordered the formation of an elite unit of Army commando's set up to "wreak havoc" on the coasts of the enemy, and so No 5 Commando was born. Set up at Bute House guest house on The Crescent in Bridlington, this became the HQ of the unit from 18 July 1940 until mid-November that same year when it moved on. The training carried out and the later missions of the men involved would later go down in history as being some of the most terrifying missions carried out such as Operation Chariot when the old warship HMS Campbeltown was rigged with explosives and rammed a dry-dock in St Nazaire in 1942, preventing the German battleship Tirpitz from using it later. On 3 April 2024 a plaque will be unveiled at the HQ at No 6 The Crescent, now known as the Carlton Apartments.
There are so many more aspects to Bridlington at war; the Home Front stories, evacuees, the beach being out of bounds, hidden guns on the harbour, U-boats off the coast, pillboxes on the cliffs, deaths in a foreign land, prisoners of war, rationing and the other bombing raids. So far my research has uncovered so many interesting stories, there is still time to add to this if anybody out there can help with stories, photographs, items of interest (ration books, ID cards, newspapers) that relate to Bridlington at war then please get in touch. My email address is shipwreckdata@yahoo.co.uk or I can be found on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/shipwreck.data if social media is easier. My mission is to get as much of this history preserved for the future generations.
An air raid siren above Manor Street branch of TSB, still there after over 80 years.
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