Thomas Albert Kennedy was born circa 1915 and was baptised on the 4th February 1915 in the Parish Church at Aberaman in the County of Glamorgan. He was the son of Thomas & Dorothy M Kennedy (nee Lewis) who married in the December quarter of 1914, the marriage was registered in the district of Merthyr Tydfil and it spans the boundaries of the counties of Breconshire and Glamorgan. (Merthyr T. Vol. 11a Page 1649). Thomas the elder, was described as a soldier on two baptisms in the Church Registers of Aberaman, once on Thomas Albert’s entry and again on the baptism of
Mervyn George s/o Thomas & Dorothy May Kennedy, 1, Railway Terrace, Soldier on the 2nd March 1916.
The early years of this little family are unknown to me as the next census after the 1911 was 1921 and has yet to be published, so I cannot check where they were in the intervening years, except that Ivy M Kennedy’s birth in 1929 was registered in Bridgend (Vo. 11a Page 1282), so it must have been after that.
Roland who is the webmaster of https://wlssealand.wordpress.com/about/ has told me that Thomas Albert was the big brother of his Auntie Elfie who was born in the March quarter of 1920 (Merthyr T.Vol. 11a Page 2079). Many thanks to Roland for filling in some of the gaps in Thomas Albert’s family history.
I do not know about how or when the family came to live here, except it was after the 1921 census, as they are seen still in Cwmaman, Merthyr. They are living at 1, Railway Terrace and Thomas Kennedy was head of the household, he was 37 years and 10 months old and had been born in Knock, Co. Mayo, he was a Colliery Haulier, below Ground for the Powell Duffryn Coal Coy., Aberaman. His wife, Dorothy M. Kennedy was 24 years and 7 months old and had been born in Cwmaman, Glamorganshire, as had their children, who were, Thomas A. Kennedy, 6 years and 6 months old and Elfie M. Kennedy, 1 year and 5 months old.
The Welsh Land Settlement was created to help the unemployed in the depresses areas of South Wales and other parts of the United Kingdom that were badly hit. Any information would be gratefully received.
Please read :-
https://wlssealand.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/welsh-land-settlement-sealand/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Settlement_Association
The next time we see the family is when they are seen on the National Register which was taken on the 29th of September 1939, living at 17, North Green, Welsh Land Settlement, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. This source gives us vital information, especially their dates of birth. Thomas Kennedy was born on the 14th of August 1884 and he was a Land Worker. His wife Dorothy May was born on the 24th of November 1896 and was also working on the land. Their son Vincent Kennedy’s birthday was the 30th of June 1923 and he was single and a Butcher’s Messenger. Their daughter Ivy M. Kennedy* had been born on the 26th of June 1929 and was “At School.” There were two redacted or closed records, so I do not know who they were, but they wouldn’t have been Thomas Albert as he had been born much earlier and usually, but not always, the redacted records were because they were of a small child.
*Ivy M. Kennedy was to marry a Leonard G. Druce in Willesden in the September quarter of 1951 (Willesden Vol. 5f Page 823), the district Willesden is in the county of Middlesex.
Thomas Albert was to meet his sweetheart Ivy J. Lewis and marry in the December quarter of 1939, which again, confirms that he was already in the R.A.F. and living in the Pembroke area in that quarter, which September is part of (Pembroke Vol. 11a Page 3849).
Thomas Albert was to be trained as a Leading Aircraftsman in the R.A.F., so must have joined really early or even before war broke out as he was to lose his life so early in the war. He was probably at R.A.F. Pembroke Dock, which was a R.A.F. Seaplane & Flying Boat Station: – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Pembroke_Dock He was with 210 Sqdn. Royal Air Force when he went on the fateful tragic journey in 1940.
They were flying in a Short Sunderland Mk 1 Flying Boat N9022 when the accident happened on the 27th December 1940.
His crew were:-
Aircraftman 1st Class
AUDSLEY, JOHN SWINBURNE
Service Number 646551
Died 27/12/1940
Aged 19
210 Sqdn. Royal Air Force
Son of Frank Swinburne Audsley and Beatrice Maud Audsley, of Ely, Glamorgan.
Sergeant
CRAWSHAW, LAWRENCE EDWARD
Service Number 751624
Died 27/12/1940
Aged 21
210 Sqdn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Son of Joseph and Kathleen Crawshaw, of Tilehurst, Berkshire.
Leading Aircraftman
HOFFEN, JOHN GERARD
Service Number 537498
Died 27/12/1940
Aged 22
217 Sqdn. Royal Air Force
Son of John and Mary Hoffen, of Llandaff, Glamorgan.
Sergeant
OGSTON, DOUGLAS
Service Number 817057
Died 27/12/1940
Aged 24
210 Sqdn. Royal Air Force
Son of William Ogston, and of Janet Geddes Ogston, of Aberdeen.
Sergeant
PERKINS, ALFRED KORTRIGHT
Service Number 649616
Died 27/12/1940
210 Sqdn. Royal Air Force
Sergeant
ROBERTS, CLIFFORD CHARLES IVOR
Service Number 968757
Died 27/12/1940
210 Sqdn. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Sergeant
THOMSON, NOEL EDGAR
Service Number 40926
Died 27/12/1940
Aged 24
210 Sqdn. Royal New Zealand Air Force
Son of Arthur Dudley Thomson and Gladys Annie Thomson, of New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand.
Lieutenant (Pilot)
MEGGITT, IVOR HENRY
Service Number 40633
Died 27/12/1940
Aged 24
210 Sqdn. Royal Air Force
Son of John Pogson Meggitt and Elizabeth May Meggitt, of Austinmer, New South Wales, Australia.
INSCRIPTION – ONE OF THE FEW
Buried at OBAN (PENNYFUIR) CEMETERY (Only Ivor Henry was buried here, no more bodies must have been found.)
Location: Argyllshire, United Kingdom
Number of casualties: 70
Cemetery/memorial reference: Sec. I. Grave 23.
Please see:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Sunderland
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Short_Sunderland_I_210_Sqn_in_flight.jpg (Photo in Folder)
And:-
http://www.adf-serials.com.au/sunderland.htm
http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=N9022
The above Forum, which has helped tell Thomas Albert’s story is wonderful and I wish to give my thanks to all there so we can know the story of what happened that fateful day.
On December 27th, 1940, N9022 crashed in a night landing off Maiden Island, north of Oban Bay, when returning from a patrol. The aircraft alighted successfully but immediately hit an object in the water which ripped open the aircraft’s hull and flipped it over on its back. F/L Ivor Meggitt (Australian), and nine of those aboard, including a naval officer, were presumed drowned. The only survivor, though injured, was F/O D.A. Stewart. The object was probably one of the several horse boxes, with dead animals inside, which were lost when a merchant ship. the SS “Breda”, was damaged in a Luftwaffe raid on shipping in Ardmucknish Bay on December 23rd. The dead horses acted as bouyancy aids keeping the boxes near the surface and they were a lethal thing to hit in a thin-hulled Sunderland landing at speed. Meggitt and crew had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Thomas Albert was loved and missed, especially by his widow Ivy J. Kennedy, but also by his large family as they made sure he would be remembered by adding his name to the Hawarden WW2 War Memorial.
Also, on this document – pages 1 and 2, but dated 1st December 1940, so not the crash details, but describes the work they did. Page 8 describes the flight :-
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8393451
Also on :- https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8393452
But although N9022 is mentioned several times re other flights, there is only 1 line that mentions that flight and MEGGITT and STEWART, not the rest of the crew, taking off at 11.5? and landing at 21.17 – “A/C crashed on? ????hting at OBAN.” (Watermark covers the ?’s in the report.) (Page 2)
Thomas Albert Kennedy was loved and missed, especially by his widow Ivy J. Kennedy, but also by his large family as they made sure he would be remembered by adding his name to the Hawarden WW2 War Memorial.
