#Alkham #Arnhem #Belgium #Death #England #Goirle #Kent #KIA #Leopoldsburg #Military #Netherlands #Poppel #Tilburg #WWI #WWII
As we are coming up to Remembrance Sunday I thought that I would write a post about one of my wider family members who fought in World War II and sadly did not return home again.
Alan Gordon GAVIN was born in Alkham, Kent, England on 04 December 1920 at Meggett Farm (sometimes written as Maggot Farm) per the digital extract of his birth certificate purchased from the General Register Office1 earlier this year.
He was the youngest of thirteen children born to farmer Gordon Bedford GAVIN and Euphemia Paulina MARSH. His father was 50 and mother 47 when he came along after a gap of several years.
Overall, they had eleven sons but only two daughters. Sadly, the couple’s fifth child had died almost a decade before from nephritis a condition that affects the kidneys.
Their eldest son was 27 when Alan joined the family whilst another was married and had a daughter before this date. Therefore, what can be found in large families like this is that aunts and uncles are brought up with their niblings (nieces and nephews) more as siblings due to being of similar age.
During the Great War (1914 – 1918) I know that at least one of his other brothers, a woodcutter, served in the military but another was given dispensation due to the farm work being a reserved occupation. Around this time, there would have been three other sons of an age to join up but likely land work for food provision would have been their part of the war effort.
So Gordon and Euphemia would most likely have been dreading it when became clear there was another war coming. As far as I am aware only Alan went to fight on this occasion but sure all his elder siblings were again employed in keeping the nation safe and looked after on British shores.
By the time of the 1921 Census, at Find My Past (RG 15/1 Sch 135)2 there are nine children still under the roof of Gordon and Euphemia and therefore they had to complete a second page for their return. The dwelling is listed as having six rooms.
Here you will note there were actually two sheets entered for the final child. On the first which is signed at the bottom by Gordon the name is entered as Alan G. GAVIN. For some reason this is crossed out and another sheet completed that has no signature (enumerator completed perhaps) and puts the name as Allan instead.
Growing up he would have attended the local school and church, spent time with other family members and when of an age to do so helped with farm chores. The 1913 Kelly’s directory3gives detail about the village.
A family held photograph has Alan seated with his parents and sisters which as they are smartly dressed may have been at the wedding of another of his brother’s in 1923. We know that Euphemia suffered with a goitre (swollen thyroid) which is clearly in evidence at this time.
Without any wider family or neighbours getting married there were seven sibling weddings he would have attended by the time he was 16. He became an uncle another fifteen times during the same period.
A copy of the admission book entries for Alkham school relating to the GAVIN family shows he was admitted as pupil 511 on 06 September 1926. This time his name written as Allen so whether that was the actual notation or error in copying it is unknown.
He had a medical there on 17 May 1927 along with one sibling. Another brother is commended for perfect attendance so clearly Alan was not always in class. Unfortunately, not sure what date he left this primary school as it just states “see new register”.
For two months in 1933 it would seem he had to take his nephew Monty (born 1928) to school with him. It is quite probable that he may even have had to share a room with him.
From other research know that this change of school attendance for Monty started two weeks before he had a new sibling born. This would perhaps imply that the mother was struggling with her pregnancy and so perhaps Euphemia took in her second eldest son’s three children for a while.
Using The British Newspaper Archive4 I found just a few mentions about the family in the 1920s and 1930s. An elder brother selling pigs in 1924, couple of siblings mentioned at their school prize giving in 1925, his father Gordon in the local council nominations 1929 and then being fined for not having a dog licence in 1931.
From these snippets we can establish that the household must have been very busy and expanding with more people being welcomed to the family. Alan’s only surviving grandparent had died when he was just 5. It is plausible that due to the number and ages of the family members that his upbringing was more of a community based one.
With regards to his military career, it is not clear exactly when he joined up or anything about his time in the army but perhaps around 1941. In the 1939 Register5 he is shown at the farm with his parents and three siblings.
This record again shows him as Alan, and he is employed as a General Farm Worker assisting Father. His father Gordon is almost 70 by this point and appears that the farm is managed between three of them. Another brother is a bricklayer and a sister and mother Euphemia both described as undertaking Unpaid Domestic Duties.
It is only from the notifications about his death that I learnt he was a Rifleman in the 2nd Battalion of The King’s Royal Rifle Corps. Information must have travelled back to the family fairly quickly as just over three weeks after the event his loss is noted in the local paper6.
During the war years Euphemia was busy with the WI and there are a number of articles like the below7. It seems strange to realise that as life goes on that just a couple of months after her youngest child has been killed she won praise for her Celery and Hard fruit in syrup.
The following entry taken from the Memorial Register, Belgium 333, War Dead of The British Commonwealth, 1939-19458. This has the date he was killed in battle as 19 October 1944 whereas the following transcription9 appears to have an error as the date quoted as 19 January 1944.
Family lore advises that he was killed at the Battle of Arnhem, Netherlands which I thought meant he was in the fight over the road bridge. However looking at documentation10,11,12 relating to this specific event it seems this was not the cause of his demise as it took place from 17 September 1944 to 26 September 1944.
It is possible that he was injured during the time and died a month later but cannot easily find reference to The King’s Royal Rifle Corps13 being specifically involved. They are noted as being part of Operation Market Garden which is another term for the episode.
The following extract from Wikipedia14 does give a hint that there was this period in between specific actions that would imply that perhaps he just lost life as part of a skirmish. Until today have not looked in any detail at this so more research will need to be undertaken.
From the King’s Royal Rifle Corps Association website15 can see the general locations relating to the 2nd Battalion. It goes on to give some more information that indicates his group landed in Normandy, France on 07 June 1944 with 4th Armoured Brigade then presumably moved and fought their way across to the area around Arnhem.
It is not very clear as they had noted that for the first five months of 1944 there was intensive training in England of the 2nd, 8th and 12th Battalions, which is not shown as a location for them. Similarly, the detail relating to the Battle of Arnhem16 does not give any evidence that Alan was actually there.
On revisiting the notifications of his death not one specifies where he was actually killed. All we know is that he is buried at Leopoldsburg War Cemetery17.
However, the next section of the website does appear to perhaps give more idea about where he lost his life. This mentions October and the 2nd Battalion. Fierce fighting west of Tilburg would have placed them just north of the border between the Netherlands and Belgium.
On the map18 below have marked the current driving route between Arnhem, Tilburg and Leopoldsburg. Therefore, it would seem that Alan was killed just before Operation Pheasant19 commenced as a major operation to drive German troops from the province of North Brabant in the Netherlands.
Using Ancestry when I looked to find the last known record for Alan I found another data repository which gives more information and links that to this point I had not come across before. It just shows how only one small hint is needed and that you never know where the answers may be found.
First though the entry regarding the probate of his will20 being actioned in Llandudno, Conwy, Wales on 21 June 1945. Here we see that his effects were worth £264 16s 7d and awarded to his father.
The unexpected entry identified is for Find A Grave21 and then from this another website was found which seems to be from people of the Netherlands researching those who lost their lives in the vicinity.
This appears a recent update as a note left is dated 11 August 2024 and acknowledges that they want to respect what he did for the country and hometown of Goirle, Netherlands.
It connects a Wiki page for Midden-Brabant22 and having translated the page to English can see they have a lot of information about his last movements. His battalion having taken part in the Normandy Landings then fought their way through France and Belgium before entering the Netherlands at the Poppel border.
On returning to the map can see Goirle is due south of Tilburg just above the little point shown at the country boundary. Poppel is below that on the Belgian side of the border.
It seems that they had hoped liberation was going to happen around 07 October but were disappointed. On the day he died they continued their advancement with the weather being bad and stormy. Their tasks included clearing mines and felled trees that were blocking the road and hampering their passage.
The Germans continued to resist and were defending firmly. It seems he was killed during a heavy artillery barrage. He was initially buried near the Customs Office on the border near Poppel. Later reburied on 07 March 1946 along with about nine other allied persons at the War Cemetery who has all been killed in that area.
What was unexpected is a photo attributed to Alan showing him in uniform. It looks like the people who have researched him have endeavoured to ensure he is commemorated in as many places as possible.
What was unexpected is a photo attributed to Alan showing him in uniform. It looks like the people who have researched him have endeavoured to ensure he is commemorated in as many places as possible.
Along with the Wiki entry in Dutch and the detail on Find A Grave it then seems they have also added his story to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission23. It appears his image was originally posted to a historic report for local heroes under the Alkham Village website24 and this has the full length shot.
On there along with the photo of him in uniform is one of him as a schoolboy and another of his grave (see below) which I believe was actually taken by my family members on visiting the grave at the Leopoldsburg War Cemetery, Limburg, Belgium.
One day I would like to be able to make the trip to his final resting place especially now that feel I know Alan more as a person instead of just the name of a casualty. And especially with the greater understanding of where he fell on the battlefields as we remember him and his comrades25.
Footnotes
1 – 1 – General Register Office – www.gro.gov.uk
2 – Find My Past, 1921 Census – www.findmypast.co.uk
3 – Ancestry, UK, City and County Directories, 1766 – 1946 – www.ancestry.co.uk
4 – British Newspaper Archive – www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
5 – Ancestry, 1939 England and Wales Register (Reference: RG 101/1815D) – www.ancestry.co.uk
6 – Dover Express, 10 Nov 1944, Fri, Page 1 – www.newspapers.com
7 – Dover Express, 12 Jan 1945, Fri, Page 6 – www.newspapers.com
8 – Belgian Memorial Register of War Dead, 1939-1945 – www.fold3.com/image/713313724/memorial-register-belgium-333-war-dead-of-the-britishcommonwealth-1939-1945-page-28-uk-historical-d
9 – Ancestry, UK, Army Roll of Honour, 1939-1945 – www.ancestry.co.uk
10 – Liberation Route Europe, The road bridge at Arnhem, www.liberationroute.com/pois/692/de-verkeersbrug-bij-arnhem
11 – GOV.UK, Arnhem 80: Stories from the Second World War, www.gov.uk/government/news/arnhem-80-stories-from-the-second-world-war
12 – Wikipedia, Battle of Arnhem – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arnhem
13 – National Army Museum, Kings Royal Rifle Corps – www.nam.ac.uk/explore/kings-royal-rifle-corps
14 – Wikipedia, Operation Market Garden – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Market_Garden
15 – King’s Royal Rifle Corps Association, Battalion Locations – www.krrcassociation.com/index.php/history/11-battalion-locations-1755-1965?start=2
16 – King’s Royal Rifle Corps Association, Second World War – www.krrcassociation.com/index.php/history/14-second-world-war/49-north-west-europe-1944?start=2
17 – Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Alan Gordon Gavin Casualty – www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2109637/allan-gordon-gavin/
18 – Google, Maps – www.google.com/maps
19 – Wikipedia, Operation Pheasant – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pheasant
20 – Ancestry, England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations),1861-1941 – www.ancestry.co.uk
21 – Find A Grave, Alan Gordon Gavin – www.findagrave.com/memorial/14039620/allan-gordon-gavin
22 – Wiki, Midden Brabant, Alan Gordon Gavin – wikimiddenbrabant.nl/Gavin,_Allan_Gordon
23 – Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Alan Gordon Gavin Story – www.cwgc.org/stories/stories/rifleman-allan-gordon-gavin-1921-19-10-1944-reg-nr-14258557
24 – Alkham Village, Alkham Heroes – www.alkham.org/AlkhamHeroes.htm
25 – Freepik, Remembrance Day Image – www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/remembrance-day
