Died: Wellington III X3336 crashed on Carlside Fell, near Bassenthwaite, Cumberland, during a training flight
Address / Local links: 105 Okehampton Crescent
Family / Relatives: Son of Thomas Bartholomew William and Augusta Louisa Ann Higgins, of Welling
Other Information: https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2361013
Anthony Higgins was born on 19th July 1909 in Hornsey, Middlesex, and was the son of Thomas Bartholomew William and Augusta Louisa Ann Higgins (nee Ryan). When he was three years old the family emigrated to Canada, along with his five-year old sister Marjorie and his baby brother Arthur.
They sailed on the Corsican from Liverpool to Montreal, Quebec, arriving at the end of September 1912, at a time when the number of immigrants to the country was at its peak. Canada experienced the greatest influx of immigrants in its history from 1902 until the beginning of World War One in 1914. During this time, there were approximately 2.85 million newcomers (out of a 1914 population of 7.88 million), over a third of whom had English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh or other British roots.
The Higgins family settled near Toronto in York, Ontario, and Thomas and Augusta had two more children, Raymond, born in 1915, and Claire in 1920. Thomas had been employed as a Clerk in England, by 1921 he was working as a bookkeeper and he owned the family home, a three-bed detached house built of wood.
Sadly, in 1923 Anthony’s mother Augusta died of septicaemia at the age of 44. Anthony was only thirteen years old and later that year left school, but his first recorded job wasn’t until 1925 when he started working at Standard Radio Co. in Toronto, performing manual duties such as coil winding. Unfortunately, he left there within a year due to of lack of work.
It seems that Anthony got his lucky break in 1926 when he was employed as an electric meter assembly machinist by Sangamo Co., Ltd., they also manufactured time switches and sonar and radio equipment. After seven years he become an assistant foreman, and around two years later, when he was 26, he started attending night school to take a four-year technical course in chemistry, mathematics and electricity. He finished the course in 1939, but events were to lead his life in a very different direction.
After the outbreak of war, Anthony remained working at Sangamo, which also started to produce instruments for the war. From August 1940, he served with the Governor General’s Horse Guards, the most senior reserve regiment of the Canadian Army, before joining the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) on 21st October 1941. Anthony must have made a good impression at work, the President of Sangamo gave him a glowing reference for the RCAF, stating that he was “industrious, capable and of excellent character” and that they “would be very pleased indeed to have him back”. However, Anthony was already a keen amateur photographer and didn’t intend to re-join the company, interested instead in chemistry and photographic work.
Anthony also made a good impression on his instructors whilst training for the RCAF. He had his initial training from February to April 1942 and passed with 83%. He then took the Air Navigators course in Winnipeg from April to August 1942, which he again passed with 83%, coming 3rd in his class of 21. He was assessed as “above average”, scoring 75% for character and leadership. His instructor remarked that his navigation work had been of the “highest order” and that he “worked hard and has assisted weaker class members”. The instructor also commented: “highly recommended in all respects. Very keen man, analytically inclined but very practical. Well mannered, has poise. Excellent leader type.”
What seemed like the start of a promising career in the RCAF was cut tragically short when just four months after receiving his Air Navigators’ badge and aged 33, Anthony was killed in a flying accident back in the UK.
Anthony had arrived in the UK on the 18th October 1942 and was posted to 23 OTU (Operational Training Unit) at Pershore, Worcestershire, in November. On the 16th December 1942 Anthony and his crew took off in a Wellington bomber from Pershore at 18:38hrs for a practice bombing exercise but flew off their intended course. The aircraft crashed on Carl Side Fell in the Lake District, part of the Skiddaw range near Keswick, Cumberland. All on board lost their lives. The five other crew members were aged between 20 and 24 years old. During World War II OTUs suffered the loss of 1,619 aircraft, the majority of which were Wellingtons.
Anthony was buried in St. Michael’s churchyard with a cross headstone marking his grave, the inscription read: “FROM TORONTO”.
He was also commemorated on the St. Michael’s Church memorial panel. His father Thomas and sister Marjorie were listed as his next of kin. Marjorie and Anthony had both remained in Canada, but his father and other siblings all moved back to England and by then his father was living at 105 Okehampton Crescent.
It is not known why Anthony’s father Thomas was living in East Wickham, it may be due to his stepmother, Eliza Frances Alice Cook (known as Frances), whom Thomas married in 1926. Frances was eleven years younger than Thomas and was born in Lewisham, London. Details of her life are sparse but the 1911 Census shows her working as a housemaid at Halswell House in Goathurst Somerset (now a Grade I listed building). A 1925 passenger manifest for the Aquitania, which sailed from Southampton to New York, USA, includes an Eliza Frances A Cook with Detroit listed as her destination. Nothing is known of her life between 1911 and 1925 and it is unclear how she came to be working as a domestic in Canada where she married Thomas seventeen months later.
Thomas and Frances moved back to England in July 1931, along with Anthony’s youngest siblings, Raymond and Claire. They moved first to Hammersmith, where Frances’ younger brother had been living in 1926 and later to the Bexley area. Electoral roles for 1935, 1936 & 1938 record Thomas and Frances living at 54 Ramillies Road, and Anthony’s younger brother Arthur is also with them. They had moved to Welling by 1939 and lived at 105 Okehampton Crescent. Thomas was still living at the same address when he died in 1958, aged 78. He left effects of £2,321 19s. 10d. to Frances, but nothing to his children.
Pictured are Okehampton Crescent, just after the war, a Wellington bomber, and the memorial tablet on the exterior of St. Michaael’s Church
……………………………………………………. If anyone is able to add any extra information, provide more family details, or suggest any corrections, please let us know – also, if anyone has any more photos of this individual listed on our memorials, please get in touch. Thank you
Commemorated
- St. Michael’s East Wickham Church Memorial Tablet
- East Wickham (St Michael’s) Churchyard, Welling
This story has been researched by volunteers. We have taken every effort to ensure its accuracy. If you are related to Anthony Higgins, or if you have any further information, please do get in touch.