February 2011
See also: the simplified version of this list (addresses only), or view the Google map
From the list of civilian war dead, York, 29 April 1942
This information is based on a list on the Genuki website, extracted from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records.
As the CWGC records are now available online, I’ve linked the names to the relevant entries.
Further notes, links, and a map are at the bottom of the page.
This list shows the impact – part of it – on the civilian population, of one bombing raid, on one city, in one war.
The addresses shown are where individuals died, not necessarily their home address. Please see the CWGC records linked from the names for more information. If you have further information or notice any inaccuracies, please email me via the contact link.
| Adams, Thomas Cyril | 37 | 16 Bootham Cres, York | |
| Akers, Betty Audrey | 12 | 49 Nunthorpe Rd, York | |
| Atkin, Ernest | 45 | 26 Bootham Cres, York | Firewatcher |
| Blenkin, Christine Elizabeth | 11 | 39 Bootham Cres, York | |
| Blenkin, Pauline Mary | 14 | 39 Bootham Cres, York | |
| Borley, Florence Evelyn | 55 | 112 Spalding Ave, York | |
| Boyes, Ethel | 44 | 45 Nunthorpe Rd, York | |
| Boyes, Noel | 9 | 45 Nunthorpe Rd, York | |
| Broadhead, Arthur (more …) | 31 | Bootham Cres, York (memorial) | National Fire Service |
| Butler, Elsie | 40 | 46 Nunthorpe Rd, York | |
| Button, Audrey | 12 | 35 Amberley St, York | |
| Button, Elsie | 35 | 35 Amberley St, York | see note 1, below |
| Button, Gillian Patricia | 22 months | 35 Amberley St, York | |
| Button, James William | 39 | 35 Amberley St, York | |
| Button, Kenneth Ingham | 15 | 35 Amberley St, York | |
| Cammidge, Lilian | 51 | 55 Chatsworth Terr, York | |
| Campbell, Janet | 2 | 16 Burton Stone Lne, York | |
| Campbell, Patricia Ida | 28 | 16 Burton Stone Lne, York | |
| Chambers, John Edward | 36 | 20 Queen Anne’s Rd, York | |
| Cherry, Emily | 77 | 18 Westminster Rd, York | |
| Cherry, Frances Annie | 79 | 18 Westminster Rd, York | |
| Clayton, Madeline | 50 | The Bar Convent, York | Mother Mary Agnes |
| Colman, George Harold | 56 | Bootham Cres, York | Deputy Head Warden |
| Cooper, Katherine | 47 | 6 Pickering Terr, York | |
| Copping, Marjorie | 33 | 8 Fairway, Clifton, York | |
| Dale, Jane | 64 | 13 Mansfield St, York | |
| Davies, Arthur Leonard Simpson | 6 | Phoenix Cott, York | |
| Dickens, Emma | 65 | 39 Amberley St, York | |
| Dickens, Gertrude | 40 | 39 Amberley St, York | |
| Dickens, William Thomas | 69 | 39 Amberley St, York | |
| Dickinson, Edith Melita | 47 | 103 Spalding Ave, Clifton | |
| Duncan, James | 2 | 110 Spalding Ave, Clifton | |
| Duncan, Noelle | 22 | 110 Spalding Ave, Clifton | |
| Emmerson, Albert | 29 | Chatsworth Terr, York | Air-Raid Warden |
| Ezard, Ellen Elizabeth | 44 | 53 Chatsworth Terr, York | |
| Ezard, James | 50 | 53 Chatsworth Terr, York | |
| Ezard, Muriel | 9 | 53 Chatsworth Terr, York | |
| Farrington, Ada | 73 | 14 Chatsworth Terr, York | |
| Farrington, Sylvan | 50 | 14 Chatsworth Terr, York | |
| Farrow, Mary Jane | 66 | 55 Chatsworth Terr, York | |
| Fowler, John Herbert | 34 | Chatsworth Terr, York | Air-Raid Warden |
| Hall, Rita Amy | 26 | 16 Burton Stone Lne, York | |
| Halliday, Charles Milford | 30 | 62 Price St, York | see note 2, below |
| Harrison, John William | 77 | 68 Garfield Terr, York | |
| Helstrip, Florence | 38 | 110 Spalding Ave, Clifton, York | |
| Helstrip, Florence Mary | 14 | 110 Spalding Ave, Clifton | |
| Helstrip, Mildred | 10 months | 110 Spalding Ave, Clifton | |
| Holliday, Tom | 62 | 26 Nunthorpe Cres, York | |
| Hooker, Ada Fanny | 55 | 30 Bootham Cres, York | |
| Howe, Martha | 61 | 80 Rowntree Ave, York | |
| Hyde, Maxwell | 6 | 110 Spalding Ave, Clifton | |
| Hyde, Ruby | 30 | 110 Spalding Ave, Clifton | |
| Hyde, Yvonne | 6 | 110 Spalding Ave, Clifton | |
| Jackson, Annie | 45 | 35 Amberley St, York | see note 3, below |
| Jackson, Ella | 21 | 35 Amberley St, York | |
| Jameson, Francis Noel | 36 | 12 Livingstone St, York | |
| Jordan, Eva | 53 | The Bar Convent, York | Mother Mary Vincent |
| Kent, Clifford | 47 | Collingwood Ave, York | Air-Raid Warden |
| Leeming, Doris Elsie | 38 | 6 Pickering Terr, York | |
| Leeming, June Doris | 7 | 6 Pickering Terr, York | |
| Little, Florence | 59 | 39 Bootham Cres, York | |
| Littlewood, Ellen | 71 | 14 Bootham Sq, York | |
| Long, William | 31 | 12 Sycamore Terr, York | |
| Loveley, Emma | 66 | 37 Amberley St, York | |
| Loveley, William Edward | 68 | 37 Amberley St, York | |
| Macmillan, Mary Isabel | 21 | 16 Bootham Cres, York | |
| Maddison, Florence Ada | 49 | 39 Lavender Grove, York | |
| McClorry, Jane | 65 | The Bar Convent, York | Firewatcher |
| Mercer, Henry | 75 | Welwyn Hse Flats, York | |
| Mercer, Louisa Emily | 69 | Welwyn Hse Flats, York | |
| Milner, William (more …) | 42 | LNER Station, York (memorial) | St John Ambulance Brigade |
| Mort, Francis Royston | 17 | 20 Queen Anne’s Rd, York | |
| Mort, Helen | 56 | 20 Queen Anne’s Rd, York | |
| Munn, Leslie | 24 | 20 Queen Anne’s Rd, York | |
| Murphy, Margaret | 50 | The Bar Convent, York | Firewatcher |
| Nutter, Kenneth Ellis | 2 | 35 Amberley St, York | |
| Nutter, Lola | 21 | 35 Amberley St, York | |
| O’Connor, Mary Ann | 39 | The Bar Convent, York | Firewatcher |
| Oakley, Gordon | 37 | 6 Fairway, Clifton, York | |
| Ord, Halbert | 66 | Bootham Crescent, York | Firewatcher see note 5, below |
| Pearson, Amy | 51 | 16 Burton Stone Lane, York | |
| Pope, Betty | 6 | Queen Anne’s School Shelter, York | |
| Powell, Herbert Henry | 62 | 6 North Parade, York | |
| Ruskin, John Henry | 30 | York | see note 4, below |
| Skelton, Stella Evelyn | 35 | 1 Phoenix Cotts, Leeman Rd, York | |
| Smith, Michael | 2 | Grant Ave, Fulford Rd, York | |
| Smith, Robert William | 64 | LNER Police Office, York | |
| Thompson, Dorothy | 52 | 2 Malton Way, Clifton | |
| Trotter, William Alfred | 60 | 16 Westminster Rd, York | |
| Wilkinson, John Stanley | 35 | 6 Fairway, Clifton, York | |
| Worthington, Ernestine Jane | 65 | 18 Queen Anne’s Rd, York | |
| Worthington, Gwendoline Stockton | 60 | 18 Queen Anne’s Rd, York | |
| Wragg, Benjamin | 45 | 45 Plantation Drive, York | |
| Wray, Hilda | 36 | Burton Stone Lane, York |
Notes
1) Elsie Button. Injured 29 April 1942, at 35 Amberley St. Died at York County Hospital, 7 May
2) Charles Milford Halliday. CWGC record. Mr Halliday died over a year after the raid, on 15 May 1943 in Pinderfields Hospital from spinal injuries received.
3) Annie Jackson. CWGC record incomplete. Of 31 Amberley Street.
4) John Henry Ruskin. Of 44 Bootham Crescent. Died at Military Hospital, 11 May.
5) Halbert Ord apparently received a direct hit – his body was never recovered & his death was not registered until 10th July.
Thanks to David Poole for additional information included in these notes.
Poppleton Road Memorial Hall
A plaque at the Poppleton Road Memorial Hall (external link) remembers those who died at the Amberley Street and Chatsworth Terrace addresses. Nine people died at 35 Amberley Street alone.
Map
View York, 29 April 1942 – civilian deaths in a larger map
Links & further information
See also the York Air Raids pages, which present the Civil Defence reports of bombing raids on York, with locations of incidents marked on Google maps.
The searchable Commonwealth War Graves Commission database includes the casualties listed here, as well as those killed in the other bombing raids on York.
Telegraph – Britain at War: Warming up with a Baedeker raid on York – the memories of C Fawcett, ten years old at the time.
. . . . .
Page compiled in 2011.
The original list from the Genuki website is © Brian Pears and Carl Nutbrown 1995-2000, reproduced with permission. Notes on the original Genuki list. Please link back to this page if using information from this list.
Changes/additions in 2012: Removed references to the East/North Riding, and to ‘Flaxton’ district (which refer to properties now in the Clifton/Rawcliffe (Clifton Without) area); linked to the original CWGC records; added further notes in right-hand column, clarified dates where date of death was not 29 April 1942. Added information regarding queries in notes – thanks to David Poole.
Footnote
Last updated: 15 March 2018 (updated broken link. Thanks Paul Hepworth in the comments).
This page has now been online for 7 years, with hosting fees for it the responsibility of the person who created it (Lisa@yorkstories). If you appreciate this information, the work involved in compiling it and sustaining it, and would like to support it, virtual coffees are always welcome, thank you.
More recent additions to this resident’s record of York and its changes.
re Baedeker fatalities, there are errors with some addresses.
2 Jackson family lived at 31 Amberley Street (not 35)
3 Helstrip family lived at 104 Spalding Ave (not 110)
(This will affect your numeral address list)
Thank you David. Could I have the source of this please so I can refer to it when I make the change?
The addresses are from York Cemetery records, but I acknowledge that some families may well have had to use shelters in neighbours properties during air raids (as we had to do in the Layerthorpe district)
Thank you David. When I’ve got chance I’ll have a look and see about incorporating this information.
I too remember the air raid on York as I could hear every bomb that dropped. I could also see the flashes in the sky when Hull was bombed. I also remember a
a Heinkel 111 making a forced landing while on its way to bomb Belfast. The site of the crash is down the lane that runs from Skelton to Huby.
shame about how many people died
The link back to our Memorial plaque is not working. The URL is http://www.poppletonroadhall.org.uk/history/
Grateful if you can kindly check it out. Grateful for the listing.
I lived in 16 Bur dyke Avenue. I was aged 5. On the morning after the raids I went up to the top of Bur dyke with the corner of Spalding Avenue. The house on the corner was demolished with a bomb crater in Spalding Avenue. The air raid shelter was badly damaged.
My grandmothers family ( named Kay) lived at 5 Berkley Terrace, York. They were good friends with the Button family who lived in Amberly Street. all the family sadly died in this raid.
My grandmothers oldest sister ( Dolly Reast) was best friends with Elsie. Elsie was one of Dollys bridesmaids at her wedding. I have a lovely group photo with Elsie on.
One if Dollys daughters ( colleen) was best friends with Elsies daughter ( Audrey). Colleen told me that the day of the raids she had been out to the pictures with her friend Audrey and walked home with her to Amberley Street. Later that night the police visited Berkley Terrace and took Colleen ( aged only 13) to amberley street to identify where she had last seen her friend, as they were needing to account for those present in the house. The horrendous memory had forever lived with her.
I am contacting you as i have a lovely group photo of my great aunts wedding which has a picture of Elsie as her bridesmaid. It may be there are relatives who would appreciate these, as everything belonging to the Buttons was clearly destroyed in the bombing.
I have visited the memorial hall on Poppleton Road, to try to pass the information on, but could not find anyone who knew who to contact.
It is only in recent years that i learned who the unknown bridesmaid was. She was identified by Colleens younger sister who also knew The button family, so i am sure the identification is correct. If you would be interested i could meet or send a copy you a photo. I live in Harrogate.
I also feel this information is of historic interest.
There was an article in the York paper in 2012, 70th anniverary of raid where a reader said he remembered button family, he may recognise photo.
Hope this is of interest.
My mothers family lived at 25 Price Street.
The house next door was completely destroyed.
Were there no fatalities/injuries at that address?