When Hitler Came To Call

 

A German bombing raid (Google image)

The Bombing Of Bentley

December the 21st 2020 marks eighty years since Bentley was hit by enemy bombs during World War II.

In this article we look back at the history of West End and the terrible events of that night, the people who were injured or killed and the destruction caused on Bentley's streets.

Contents

• West End
• Land For Sale
• Building Work Begins
• Shops And Businesses
• Wartime In West End
• December 21st 1940
• Houses Demolished
• Royston Avenue Casualties
• Charles Allmand - Rescuer
• Award
• The York Road Bomb
• The Smith Family's Story
• Aftermath
• Bentley's Resilience
• Memorial
• Memorial Update 2021
• Other Memorial
• Royston Avenue Residents
• A - Z List
• By House Number

West End

The area of Bentley known as West End lies south of the railway bridge and encompasses all the streets lying between Watch House Lane in the west and Bentley Road in the east. Houses on Bentley Road began to be built in the 1870's and were almost complete by the turn of the century. Soon after, land to the west of Bentley Road began to be developed, and a series of parallel streets filled with terraced housing were constructed.

The map below shows how the land looked in 1904 before building work began.

1904 map of West End prior to building work

  

The houses on Bentley Road can be seen bottom right, with construction yet to be completed up to the railway bridge, which was originally named 'Selby Road Bridge'. Watch House Lane was still very much a country lane, crossing the fields towards the railway crossing and Pipering Lane to the north. 

Land For Sale

At the beginning of the 20th century the area between Watch House Lane and Bentley Road was filled with arable land, known as Westfield Allotments. Just over thirteen acres of this land, spread over two closes, was formerly owned by Sarah Broughton - of the well-known Broughton family, farmers and land owners of Bentley from the 1500's to the late nineteenth century. Following Sarah's death the land was owned by Anthony Lambert and then John Royston. 

John died on the 18th of April 1907 and the land was sold to settle the entitlements of John's beneficiaries. The buyers were Thomas Jenkinson, builder, William Burton, joiner, and John Richards, grocer, in 1909.

This hand drawn plan (below) from an Abstract of Title document, 1910 shows the two closes coloured in pink which now belonged to Jenkinson, Burton and Richards, with the names of adjoining land owners also included.

Plan from an Abstract of Title document.
Courtesy of Linda Swain

Another map, below, of 1895 has been altered to show the land now owned by Jenkinson & Burton. The alterations to this map can be dated to 1911 as that was the year John Smith's Tadcaster Brewery acquired land on Watch House Lane to build the Bentley Hotel *(latterly known as The Drum). From this map we can see that Jenkinson & Burton had also acquired the plot of land previously belonging to R. Farr to the north. 

*For more on the Bentley Hotel go to - The Big Drum

1895 map of Bentley, altered in 1911.
Image courtesy of Carol Ann Ackroyd

Building Work Begins

Building must have begun almost as soon as the ink was dry on the contract because the date '1909' was added to the façade of this shop on the corner of Royston Avenue and Cusworth Road. The shop belonged to Archer Hall, who took on the premises in 1911. The two girls in front of the shop are believed to be his two daughters, Ruth and Adeline, who went on to own a corner shop together in Arksey many years later.

A. Hall, Grocer on the corner of Royston Venue and Cusworth Road.
Photo courtesy of Jean Cranshaw

The date plaque from the above shop

Another date plaque is visible above houses on Royston Avenue bearing the date '1910', which makes it possible to date this particular street exactly.

Date plaque on Royston Avenue.
Google Earth image

In all, eight new streets were completed over the next few years. The following lists each street and the year they first appeared in the 1911 census and electoral registers, indicating when the houses began to be occupied:

• Holly Avenue - 1912
• Fern Avenue - 1911
• Austerfield Avenue - 1913
• Stockbridge Avenue - 1914
• Broughton Avenue - 1911
• Royston Avenue - 1911
• West End Avenue (connected to Royston Avenue by Cusworth Road) - 1911

Washington Grove was added by 1914, but would not be completed for some decades. Other streets to the south, such as Wellington Grove, Queen's Drive and Lauder Road were built in the late 1940's.

The map below, from 1928, shows the streets of West End as they appeared then.

1928 map of West End

The streets consisted of traditional brick built terraced houses, with small front and back yards. Back alleyways (known locally as 'the backs') ran along the lengths of the rear yards, with a further narrow alleyway splitting the terraces, roughly about centre to allow easy access to other streets without having to walk the length of each terrace. Only two of the streets appear to have been named after any individuals, these are Royston Avenue, named after John Royston, and Broughton Avenue, named after Sarah Broughton (and possibly the wider Broughton family), both former land owners.

Royston Avenue about 1911

Early photo of West End Avenue.
Photo courtesy of Colin Hardisty

Shops And Businesses

Most of the streets had at least one grocery store, and there was a post office on Royston Avenue.  

This list of businesses from Kelly's Directory of 1927 gives a snapshot of how many small shops operated in West End:

• Senior, Frederick, shopkeeper, 2 Royston Avenue
• Oldham, May, shopkeeper, 32 Royston Avenue
• Saveall, Robert, grocer, 55 Royston Avenue
• Hall, Luther Horace, grocer, 57 Royston Avenue
• Williams, James, shopkeeper, 1 Cusworth Road
• Scott, Joseph, hairdresser, Cusworth Road
• Carpendales Stores, grocers, 27 Fern Avenue / Corner of Holly Avenue
• Dicken, Lily, shopkeeper, 2 West End Avenue
• Fenton, Fred, grocer, 18 Broughton Avenue

Broughton Avenue 1911

The photo above shows newly built Broughton Avenue in 1911; the rough road surface was called macadam, and consisted of a layer of crushed stone covered by a layer of stone dust. Prone to rutting and dust this was the unbound predecessor to Tarmacadam, which used the addition of tar and sand as a seal over the rough stone surface, providing a much smoother and more stable surface.

The buildings seen being constructed at the end of Broughton Avenue is the end of a block of five houses on Watch House Lane. Broughton Avenue has a short bend to the left near the end which makes the buildings appear in the middle of the road. 

The shop shown on the corner of Broughton Avenue and Stockbridge Avenue is number 20 Broughton Avenue. The sign above the shop door appears to say something like - 'Audsley's', and as far as can be made out, it was a drapery and tailors shop. Interestingly, the outline of the shop sign can still be seen on the side of the building to this day (below).

Broughton Avenue, comparative modern view of the 1911 image above.
Google Earth image 

 

Wartime In West End

  

At the outbreak of World War II a national register of the population of England and Wales was compiled. It was initially used to produce National Identity cards but was also useful in producing ration books, and from 1948 formed the basis of the National Health Service Register.

National Registration book cover

The register is an extremely valuable genealogical resource, listing every member of the household, their dates of birth, occupation and other details. The register plugs a thirty year gap in the census records as the 1931 census was destroyed in the Second World War, and there was no 1941 census due to the same conflict.

From the National Register we can name every resident in the West End area and identify which house they lived in. Concentrating on Royston Avenue, a full list of residents taken from the register can be found at the end of this article.

Royston Avenue about 1911

  

December 21st 1940

Up until the night of December the 21st 1940 Doncaster had seen very little in the way of any direct threat from the war, however, a raid on Bentley became the first of fifteen in the Doncaster area, the last being in April 1944.

The bombs which hit Bentley were thought to be meant for the Plant works, a fire had broken out there the previous day and this is what may have attracted the raid. Mistaking the railway bridge in Bentley for the North Bridge, at 6.45pm the first bomb hit houses on Royston Avenue, and then a second hit the York Road area close to the Sun Inn.

1938 map showing the approximate locations of the bomb hits

The type of bomb to hit Bentley was known as an HE (high explosive) bomb. Used extensively during WWII, the bombs were known for their highly destructive results. They were often dropped by parachute and the Bentley bombs may have been dropped in this manner as one report suggests this.

50 kg HE bomb.
Imperial War Museum

Houses Demolished

Four houses on Royston Avenue took a direct hit and they were reduced to rubble, killing the occupants in the process. Numbers 57 to 63 were the houses destroyed, number 65 was partially demolished and many others, including those on West End Avenue which backed on to the bomb site were badly damaged too.

Royston Avenue after the bomb, 22nd December 1940

 

The above photo, taken the day after the bombing raid, shows the huge pile of rubble where numbers 57 and 59 Royston Avenue had stood. The badly damaged building to the right is number 55, which was the post office. The houses in the background are numbers 30 to 34 Royston Avenue (right to left).

Royston Avenue and West End Avenue after the bomb, 22nd December 1940

The photo above is taken from the front of Royston Avenue looking on to the backs of houses on West End Avenue. The photo again shows the pile of rubble on Royston Avenue, with number 55 (the post office) now on the left. The damaged houses in the background were (from left to right), numbers 54 and 56, then there was the alley which ran from Royston Avenue to West end Avenue, then numbers 58 to 68.

The map below illustrates the epicentre of the bomb damaged area visible in the above photos. Many other surrounding properties will have been damaged in the blast too, but it is hard to determine the full extent and reach of the explosion without more information.

Map showing houses known to be destroyed or damaged by the bomb

Royston Avenue Casualties

With four houses reduced to rubble and many others severely damaged it was inevitable there would be fatalities. Despite many of the houses having their own brick or Anderson shelters, there would have been hardly any time to scramble to them in the pitch dark of a December night. Tragically fourteen people were killed on Royston Avenue and one on West End Avenue that night. The following lists each household and the residents or visitors who sadly died:

• At number 57 - Doris Wyatt, aged 50, wife of James Thomas Wyatt.
• At number 59 - Elsie Buttery, aged 53, widow of Roland Buttery. Also Abraham Wheat, aged 77.
• At number 61 - John Rowland Smith, aged 33, son of John Smith of 116 Bentley Road. Also Winifred Smith, aged 30 and their son Douglas Smith, aged 3 years.
• At number 63 - George William Windle, aged 47; also his wife Lilian Emily Windle, aged 42, and their son Roy Ellis Windle, aged 13 years.
• At number 65 - John Henry Jones, aged 40, husband of Olive Jones, and his two children, John Henry Jones jnr, aged 11, and Pamela Doreen Jones, aged 9 years. Also James Veater, aged 72.
• At number 75 - Raymond Jarvis (visitor), aged 18, son of John and Beatrice Jarvis, of 82 Spring Gardens, Doncaster. 

And on West End Avenue:

• At number 62 - Emma Barker, aged 65, wife of Walter Wilmot Barker.

The following map shows the locations of all these fatalities.

Map showing where fatalities occurred on the 21st of December 1940

The map above also shows the house of one of the rescuers, Charles Allmand, whose remarkable story is told next.

Charles Allmand - Rescuer

Charles Allmand, a 38 year old coal miner lived at number 80 West End Avenue with his wife Lily, 33, and children Julia, nine, and Bertram, six. He had been a part-time Air Raid Warden for around nine months when the bomb hit.

The first men on the scene after the bomb hit at 6.45pm were - P.C. John Sheridan, who was also Head Warden, and P.S. Ritchie - who had set up an Incident Post at Royston Avenue. They were joined by John Tatton, Head Warden of Group 'K' of the Don Valley Air Raid Wardens. The three of them quickly saw that four houses had been demolished by the bomb; numbers 57, 59, 61 and 63, and that a number of people had been buried under the rubble of those and neighbouring houses. Prior to the arrival of rescue teams, they immediately set to work to try to liberate them.

P.C. John Sheridan and two Wardens entered the badly damaged premises of number 65 Royston Avenue to find the interior completely wrecked and the house in a dangerous condition. They heard groans and a woman's voice crying for help. With great difficulty they removed a considerable amount of debris from the woman's head and body. They found that her feet were trapped by a timber beam and they needed a saw to cut it away.   

Outside, Head Warden John Tatton met Charles Allmand, who had just arrived on the scene. Tatton, knowing that miner Allmand was used to heavy work, told him it was evident that some persons were alive but trapped in number 65. Allmand entered the house, saw the position and obtained a saw to cut the beam trapping the woman. While Allmand worked to cut free the woman, Tatton saw that the upper floor of the house was hanging in a dangerous position and warned Allmand of the danger. 

Despite the danger, Allmand continued to work, and after a considerable effort he succeeded in liberating the woman at about 9.35pm. She had been sitting in a chair with her dog on her knees, sadly the dog had not survived.

Once free, the injured woman, Olive Jones, 39, was attended to by Doctor Ashurst, who gave her in injection. She was then removed to Doncaster Royal Infirmary by ambulance.

Allmand continued his rescue work at number 65, from which two men and two children, all deceased, were recovered. These were John Henry Jones, 40, husband of Olive; John Henry Jones jnr, 11, and Pamela Doreen Jones, 9, children of Olive and John; also James Veater, 72, Olive's father. The family had only moved into the house that year.

Members of the Jones family in Bridlington 1939, courtesy of David Hannan.
1. Olive Jones, 2. Pamela Doreen Jones, 3. John Henry Jones jnr, 4. Maureen Helen Jones, 5. May Needham (sister of Olive), 6. Jill Needham (daughter of May), 7. Derrick Needham (son of May)

Olive and John Henry Jones in about 1921,
courtesy of David Hannan

This wasn't the only heroic act carried out by Charles Allmand that night - later on he helped a mother and two children who were trapped in their makeshift bomb shelter under the stairs at another house.

Allmand's own house in West End Avenue was rendered uninhabitable by the bomb, but his wife and children were safe.

Award

The following is a copy of a part of a letter from West Riding County Council to the War Cabinet recommending Charles Allmand for a National Award. 

In a statement written by Head Warden John Tatton to support the application in recognition of Charles Allmand's heroism, the following was written:

'The action of Warden Allmand undoubtedly saved the woman's life, and his courage and determination to liberate the woman, in face of the danger to himself, merits the highest commendation.'

Charles Allmand's actions that night earned him official Government recognition, when he was awarded the British Empire Medal For Bravery by the Civil Defence Office.

The York Road Bomb

The second bomb to hit that night landed just north of York Road, near to the junction with Watch House Lane as highlighted on the map below.

1938 map of York Road area

It is hard to determine the exact location of the bomb strike, but it is remembered as being close enough to the Sun Inn to blow the windows in and injure a man stood at the bar, as well as leaving a sizable crater in the ground. It must also have been close to Watch House Lane as Peter Albert Whittles, aged 16, was badly injured at his home, number 40 Watch House Lane and died in Doncaster Royal Infirmary the next day. 

Number 40 Watch House Lane in 1940 was the second house from the end of the row of semi-detached houses near to the junction with York Road. Sometime between 1961 and 1969 the houses were renumbered and number 40 is now number 140.

A number of pedestrians near the Sun Inn were also caught up in this blast. There was one fatality, Margaret Cadman, aged 21 of 100 Woodlands Road, Adwick-le-Street. Another family, Reginald and Irene Smith, along with their daughter Fay had a lucky escape with just one of them badly injured. The Smith's story is told below.

The Sun Inn and York Road

The Smith Family's Story

The Smiths', Reginald, 27, his wife Irene, 26, and their one year old daughter Fay lived in Scawsby, and on the evening of the 21st of December 1940 they had been visiting Fay's Grandmother on Bentley Road. They were on their way home, heading towards Watch House Lane via West End when the Air Raid siren sounded.

Reginald wanted to go to his brother Rowland's house on Royston Avenue, as they had a brick shelter, but Irene insisted on going home instead. 

The decision saved their lives, as Rowland's house was number 61 - one of the four houses to be completely destroyed by the bomb, killing Rowland (John Rowland Smith), his wife Winifred and son Douglas. However, Reginald and his family weren't completely safe either. 

As they neared the Sun Inn the second bomb hit and Irene was badly injured when a piece of metal, possibly from part of the bomb itself, embedded itself in her leg. Reginald and Fay were uninjured.

Luckily there was an RAF doctor near the site and he tended to Irene before she was taken to hospital. At the hospital Irene asked how long she would be kept in and a nurse said it wouldn't be long. When Irene was eventually discharged the nurse admitted she had thought Irene wouldn't survive. But despite losing her leg, Irene did survive and was given the piece of metal that hit her. Her daughter Fay later became custodian of it.

Fay Mackintosh (nee Smith) pictured with the metal which hit her mother.
Photo from Doncaster Free Press

Story taken from Doncaster Free Press 21 Dec 2015.

Aftermath

Reporting restrictions at the time prevented the full story of the two bombs from being told. To give details of where bombs had hit, the destruction caused or casualty figures would only satisfy the enemy, so when referring to Bentley the newspapers would simply say 'an industrial village in the north'. The true facts would be released much later.

The houses so badly damaged or destroyed by the Royston Avenue bomb were rebuilt. In all, about fourteen houses had to be rebuilt on Royston and West End Avenues. Other houses needed extensive repairs to make them habitable again, a process which took up to a year to complete. Some families were given temporary accommodation in St Peter's Church Hall until they found alternative housing.

This modern image of West End Avenue (below) shows four of the houses which were rebuilt after the bombing. The difference can be seen in the brickwork of numbers 66 (left), which is original, and 64 to the right of it, which was rebuilt. Numbers 62, 60 and 58 (farther to the right) were also rebuilt.

West End Avenue, numbers 66 (left) to 58 (right).
Google Earth image

   

On Royston Avenue, numbers 57 to 63 were the houses reduced to rubble by the bomb. On the image below, number 57 is the bay windowed house farthest left. Number 65, where Charles Allmand rescued Olive Jones is farthest right. This house was also rebuilt after suffering considerable damage. 

Numbers 57 (left) to 65 Royston Avenue.
Google Earth Image

Bentley's Resilience

What happened that night in December 1940 was horrific - ordinary people, sat by their firesides, presents wrapped under their Christmas trees, presents that would end up buried in piles of rubble, and people who would never celebrate a Christmas again. Hitler's presence ripped through Bentley that December night, but these resilient people rebuilt their lives as well as their homes. 

The end of the war was celebrated with the residents holding VE Day parties 'in the backs', as shown in this photo (below) taken in the backs of Royston Avenue and Broughton Avenue.

VE Day party in the back alleyway between Royston Avenue and Broughton Avenue.
Photo courtesy of Steven Walker

Memorial

Memorial to the civilian war dead in Arksey cemetery

This memorial in Arksey cemetery was erected in 1950, in memory of fourteen of the seventeen victims of the Bentley bombing on December the 21st 1940.

The stone seat bears the following inscription:

1939      In Memory of Civilian War Dead     1945

Rowland John Smith

Winifred Smith

Douglas Smith

James Veater

Doris Wyatt

Henry John Jones

Henry John Jones Jnr

Pamela Doreen Jones

Lilian Emily Windle

George William Windle

Roy Ellis Windle

Peter Albert Whittles

Abraham Wheat

Elsie Buttery

Close up view of the inscription

The following names are not included on the memorial:

Emma Barker

Margaret Cadman

Raymond Jarvis

The memorial seat features two 'arms' which bear the victims initials and a pot for floral tributes.

One of the 'arms' on the memorial remembering the Smith family 

  

Another part of the memorial remembering the Jones family

Part of the memorial remembering the Windle family

Part of the memorial remembering Doris Wyatt and James Veater

Memorial Update - July 2021

For the past 70 years the civilian war memorial has stood in Arksey cemetery, but there are two name mistakes on it - John Henry Jones snr and John Henry Jones jnr are both shown as Henry John Jones. 

This is now going to be addressed. David Hannan, a descendant of the Jones family, who tragically lost four family members that night, has gained permission to add two new plaques to the memorial. One will address the name mistakes, while the other will add a description of what the memorial commemorates - something that has been missing from the memorial all this time. The new plaques will appear as follows :

Proposed addition to civilian war memorial,
Photo edited by David Hannan

Plaque 1, to the left of centre will read:

'On the night of December 21st 1940 at approximately 6.45pm a large bomb fell on Royston Avenue in Bentley, killing 14 people. Numbers 57 to 63 took a direct hit and were reduced to rubble. Many others, including those on West End Avenue were also badly damaged.'

Plaque 2, to the right of centre will read:

Sympathetically, mistakes and errors can occur, during and following the chaos of war. In this confusion the names of Mr Jones and his young son John were incorrectly transposed on this memorial. To correct and record the error whilst maintaining provenance of the memorial the correct names are John Henry Jones and John Henry Jones jnr.

The centre inscription will remain unchanged in respect of the others mentioned.

When the new plaques are added to the memorial, Bentley Village, A History will take new photographs to post on this article.

Many thanks to David Hannan for information and photographs.  

 

Other Memorial

Also in Arksey cemetery is this memorial to Abraham Wheat:

Memorial to Abraham Wheat

The above memorial reads as follows:

In Loving Memory of

Sarah Ann

The beloved wife of

Abraham Wheat

Who passed away Jan 28th 1922, aged 58 years

Also Pte John William

Son of the above

Who was killed in action July 1st 1916

Aged 30 years

"Thy will be done"

Also of Abraham Wheat

Killed by enemy action Dec 21st 1940

Aged 77 years

__________

Royston Avenue Residents

From the 1939 Register

A page from the 1939 Register for Royston Avenue

The following list of Royston Avenue residents was taken from the 1939 Register, compiled at the outbreak of WWII. The image below shows the information asked for on the form; each column is explained below: 

Header of each page of the 1939 Register

1. Address, street and house number.

2. Schedule, split into two columns - the first for administration purposes, the second indicates a person's place in the household, e.g.  number 1, the head of the house, 2, his wife, 3, his eldest child and so on.

3. Surname and other names - of every individual. 

4. O.V.S.P. or I, in the case of institutions and letters were used to indicate whether the person was an Officer, Visitor, Servant, Patient, or Inmate.

5. Male or Female.

6. Birth - split into two columns - day and year.

7. S.M.W. or D, marital status - Single, Married, Widowed or Divorced.

8. Personal Occupation.

The forms are available to view at Ancestry.com, however, some information pertaining to possible living persons has been redacted. This is shown by a blacked out entry as below:

Example of a 'closed' record

To show the images of the original forms would be very difficult here because they would be too small to read easily. Therefore I have produced a list showing the main householder of each family and the house number they lived at.

The list is shown in two formats - firstly by surname A - Z, and secondly by house number, so it is possible to see who lived next door to whom. 

Sometimes there were adults of multiple surnames within one household, this was probably either married daughters living with their parent(s) or paying lodgers who lived in. In these cases more than one surname could be shown living at one address.

As only basic information is given here, please contact me if you would like to see the full entry for your family or ancestor. Please note, some people had either moved out of the street or onto the street in the year after this list was compiled, so your ancestor may not be included.

A - Z List

Correction - John Hayes at number 39, should read, John Heyes.

By House Number

Correction - John Hayes at number 39, should read, John Heyes.

__________

Dedicated to the 17 victims of the Bentley Bomb

December 21st 1940

May They Rest in Peace

__________

Alison Vainlo 2020