Postscript One
Towards the end of the 1930s, Wellingborough Council, one imagines through the urging of Jim Eyles, was contemplating naming a road after Major Mannock. By this time many of the townsfolk must have begun to believe that Mannock was a native of the city, rather than someone who had merely been associated with it from just prior to WW1 until his death in 1918. Nevertheless, the town council had progressed the idea from wherever it came from and at the start of 1939, the suggestion was approved.
In a local newspaper for Friday 24 February 1939, the following headlines appeared above the article:
FAMOUS AIRMAN’S FRIEND ON
MANNOCK-ROAD DECISION
Better Late Than Never at Wellingborough
FORMER TALK OF MEMORIAL
Wellingborough’s further move to commemorate the name of the late Major Mick Mannock VC DSO MC, most renowned of all wartime airmen, has the warm approval of his closest friend Mr A E Eyles, manager of the Highfield Foundry, Wellingborough.
When asked if he wished to comment on the Urban Council’s decision to give the name ‘Mannock-road’ to a street on the new housing estate off Croyland-road, Mr Eyles said:
‘The less I say the better, perhaps, at this date, although I really think something ought to have been done before this at Wellingborough in tribute to Major Mannock, as it is over 20 years since he died.
‘The excuse was that Mannock did not happen to be a Wellingborough-born man but he was not a Canterbury-man either, and they have a tablet to his memory in the Cathedral.’
It was Coun. H C L Warwick who successfully introduced an amendment at last week’s Urban Council meeting that the name Mannock-road should be given to the new street, in preference to Hayside-road.
Among those supporting him was Coun. J Peck CC, who commented that if Mannock had been in a higher social position he would have had a monument erected to him.
Mannock was born at the Preston Cavalry Barracks, Brighton, on May 24th, 1887. His father was a corporal in the Royal Scots Greys, and his mother an Irishwomen of the maiden name Julia O’Sullivan. From her he inherited a ‘strong streak of Irish’.
‘I am glad Mr Peck thinks the same way as I do about it,’ Mr Eyles said. ‘If Mannock had been born higher in the world socially, I do think he would have been honoured rather differently.’
It was not until the publication of the book King of Air Fighters in 1934 by Flight-Lieut. Ira Jones DSO MC, a colleague, that the English public was put fully in possession of the facts about Mannock. The book established that he had the greatest number of aerial victories of any wartime airman – a total of 73 enemy planes destroyed.
Some mystery surrounds the circumstances of Mannock’s death in the air, which is officially recorded as having taken place on July 26th, 1918. The Air Ministry subsequently informed Mr Eyles: ‘It is regretted that no information is available as regards his place of burial.’
Meeting with Mr Eyles
‘Mannock was at Wellingborough for about four years,’ Mr Eyles said. He was transferred from the National Telephone Company’s branch in Canterbury to a linesman’s job at Wellingborough for which he applied. We first met when he came to apologise to me for “letting down” the Wesleyan cricket team. It was an away match and I could not turn out for the team, so they sent Mannock over in my place. He was soon out when he went in to bat, and when he got back to Wellingborough he came to me to apologise for being such a poor deputy.’
Subsequently Mannock went to lodge with Mr Eyles and his wife, and he used to spend much of his leave from the Front with them. At Christmas 1915 [sic] he flew to Wellingborough to stay with them, landing his plane in the School grounds.
Mannock’s mother is still living in South London, now about 77, and Mr Eyles proposes to call on her again very soon to tell of the further move at Wellingborough to commemorate her famous son’s name.
‘A few years after the War, as a result of what appeared in your newspaper – I have the cuttings,’ said Mr Eyles, ‘there was talk of a committee being formed of members of the Council and townsmen to arrange a memorial for Mannock. I was given to understand that I would be on the committee, but I heard nothing more.’
Council Chamber Photograph
‘All that was done was to hang the large coloured portrait of Mannock in the Council Chamber, and that was the gift of the late Ald. George Hensen.’
Mr Eyles related that the photograph was taken just before Mannock left Wellingborough to join No. 40 Squadron for the first time as a fighting pilot at the Front. ‘He did not want to have it taken but Mrs Eyles persuaded him and one day he came in saying he had just been to the photographer as he promised,’ Mr Eyles said.
Mr N G Woodhead, the photographer of Midland-road, Wellingborough related: ‘The photograph was actually taken by Mr Powell, whose business I took over in 1918. I made the large coloured portrait of Mannock and put it in the shop window, where it attracted a lot of interest. One day I said to Ald. Hensen, who was going by, “You know, that picture ought to be in the Council Chamber.” He said he would see about it, and soon afterwards he purchased it for hanging in the Council Chamber.’
Mr Woodhead himself presented another large portrait to the YMCA, as Mannock had been an active member. He was also a leading light in the Labour Movement at Wellingborough.
Mr Eyes further said: ‘Some years back I offered a propeller given me by Mannock from one of his planes, if the authorities at Wellingborough could find a suitable place for it. However, I heard no more about that. Eventually I presented it to the nation, and it is now displayed with a photograph in the Imperial War Museum.’[1]
Capt. Archie Reeves [2], of Wellingborough, a close wartime friend of Mannock’s although they were in different flying squadrons at the Front, expressed his pleasure at the decision to give the town a ‘Mannock-road’. He said:
‘I am very glad indeed that something is being done, because Mannock deserved it – and more.’
Mr Eyles’s concluding comment was: ‘I only hope that Mannock-road will be worthy of the name it bears, and that it will produce men the equal of Mannock in their private lives.’
Mannock Road is situated off Henshaw Road, that leads into Croyland Road.
Canterbury Cathedral
By this time, however, another city had put up a memorial to Mannock, and that city was Canterbury. The memorial tablet was given by the citizens of the city and presented by the Canterbury War Memorial Committee, and a service to put it in place was held on 18 July 1925, not quite seven years after his death. It is the only plaque involving an RAF airman, and for many years there has been a wreath laying ceremony on the anniversary by the East Kent Branch of the Western Front Association, and the local Royal Air Force Association has been involved. The wording of the plaque is as follows:
To the Honoured Memory of Major Edward Mannock VC DSO (2 Bars) MC (1 Bar), Royal Air Force who served with eminent distinction in the Great War and was killed July 18th 1918 while engaged in aerial combat. Sic itur ad astra.
He is one of the 517 men of Canterbury whose names are inscribed on The War Memorial by Christ Church Gate – The citizens of CANTEBURY place this tablet here.
It is unfortunate that the incorrect date was chiselled into this tablet, someone obviously confusing the date of his death with the date the tablet was to be erected, viz: 18 July 1925.
There is another memorial to Mannock at Broad Green, Wellingborough, so that town remembers him in addition to the road. Therefore it seems as though the town did eventually approve a memorial referred to in Jim Eyles’s newspaper interview in 1939.
The Royal Air Force also named one of its fleet of VC10 transport aircraft after him, and it flew with No.10 Squadron in the latter half of the 20th century. It was a Mark C1K and its serial number was XV103. This aircraft was scrapped in November 2002. Other VC10s of this unit were also named after RAF Victoria Cross winners of both world wars.
Postscript Two
There is one final and very sad twist to that quest by Jim Eyles for the burial location of his airman friend Mick Mannock. Mention was made in chapter one of the young son Jim and his wife had at the time Mannock knew him. Jim’s wife Mabel Annie ‘May’ (née Billingham) had died in January 1936, and with the coming of World War Two, this youngster had joined the Royal Air Force.
In due course Ernest Derek Eyles qualified as a navigator/radar operator and flew on operations as part of the two-man nightfighter crew of a Mosquito with 96 Squadron. His pilot was Flight Lieutenant Donald Leslie Ward from Warwickshire, who had earlier been with 68 Squadron. Ward and Eyles teamed up in early 1944 and enjoyed some success against the enemy. They had shot down two German Messerschmitt 410s and then in June, when the V-1 ‘doodlebug’ menace began, they downed a number of these deadly flying bombs – Don Ward himself being credited with 12.
Both men were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, which must have given great pleasure to his father Jim. Ernest Eyles was also awarded the Czech Military Cross. Upon the disbandment of 96 Squadron both men were posted to 25 Squadron at Castle Camps. In all, he had been involved in the destruction of four German aircraft, two with Ward, and two with other pilots. Eyles’s citation (London Gazette, 17 April 1945) reads:
The house at 183 Mill Road, Wellingborough, the home of Jim Eyles, as it is today and where Edward lodged before WW1.
Flight Lieutenant Eyles has completed two tours of operational duty. He is a highly skilled observer whose fine work has won much praise. He has assisted in the destruction of four enemy aircraft.
On 25 January 1945, during a practice interception sortie, Ward and Eyles collided with another aircraft and were killed instantly when their Mosquito (MT494) crashed at Camps Hill, Bartlow, Cambridgeshire. The other crew in MV529, Squadron Leader John Arnsby DFC and Flight Lieutenant Douglas M Reid DFC, also died, thus wiping out four DFC winners. The terrible blow to Jim can be imagined, but at least he had the satisfaction of knowing where his son would lay buried. Ernest was 31 years old and husband of Hilda Zoe Eyles of Northampton. He is buried in the Doddington Road cemetery, Wellingborough, Block Q, Grave 420. Today the grave is not in the best of conditions, but written along one of the stone edges is the name of May Eyles, and along the other is the commemoration to Mick Mannock, as if to say that although Jim Eyles’s old friend could not be found by the authorities in France, then at least he could be remembered here, along with his son and wife.
There is one other ‘memorial’ to Mick Mannock, arranged by Jim Eyles. The Eyles family had moved from 64 Melton Road, Wellingborough to 183 Mill Road. Looking at the house today one can see a blue plaque with white lettering on the front wall. It is not the usual round blue and white plaque that adorns houses of well known people who have lived on the premises, but no doubt Jim had by-passed this official type with a rectangular metal one of his own.
The plaque Jim Eyles placed on the front of his home at 183 Mill Road, Wellingborough, to his great friend, Edward ‘Mick’ Mannock.
[1] Jim Eyles presented the propeller to the IWM on 28 May 1936. However, while the date of acquisition is recorded, the actual whereabouts of the propeller are not known today. Nor were any marks on it recorded when it was received, so there is no way of knowing from what type of aeroplane it might have come from. It is difficult to believe that Mannock would have been able to bring either a Nieuport or an SE5 propeller back to England, by road, train and ship, so one has to consider that it was from an aircraft situated at one of the aerodromes from which he flew in England.
[2] Captain Archibald Charles Reeves was a Wellingborough man, and may well have come into contact with Mannock and Eyles before the war, as he was working as a contractor with the Wellingborough Iron Company prior to 1914. Reeves had flown with 55 Squadron in 1917 and had been awarded the Military Cross and been Mentioned in Despatches.