This cemetery is south of Thornton Road, as show on the extract from the 1934 Ordnance Survey map (reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland for non-commercial purposes).
The cemetery was very overgrown 30 years ago, but thanks to 2 Ukrainian ladies who are clearing it, most of it is much improved. The layout of the cemetery and the Burial register are in the Archive of Thornton Antiquarians at South Square. The late Mr. Duncan Lodge, who researched the war memorials of Bradford, listed details of one monument which refers to James Herbert Waddington whose details are given on the Thornton War Memorial page, and also Kenneth Bateman whose details are given here;
Kenneth Bateman, son of Fred and Jesse Violet Bateman of Crossflats, Yorkshire. Born 26 March 1918. In the 1939 Register he lived with his parents and brother at 60 Durham Road, Bradford. He was a Wholesale Carpet Sales person, and had volunteered as an A.R.P. (Air Raid Precautions) Ambulance Driver. Flying Officer, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, 138 Squadron, #146944, as a wireless operator and air gunner. Died 8 June 1944, aged 26. Grave reference: Block S, Plot 4, Row P, Grave 6, at St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France.
Kenneth Bateman was Wireless Operator / Air Gunner in a Handley Page Halifax V plane, serial number LL466, markings NF-T, which set off from RAF Tempsford on a night mission on 7 June 1944, on Operation Donald 26 (Special Operations Executive) for France. The aircraft crashed on 8 June 1944, and caught fire, on outbound leg at Doudeville, NE of Yerville, France. Further details at International Bomber Command Centre and The Tempsford Special Duties Squadrons website. RAF Tempsford was perhaps the most secret airfield of the Second World War. Home to 138 & 161 Special Duties Squadrons, it was tasked with dropping SOE Agents and supplies into occupied Europe, and the retrieval or ‘pick up’ of personnel returning to England.
He is remembered on a monument, in Kipping Chapel main cemetery on the right hand side of the main path at the very bottom. It commemorates Herbert and Ellen Waddington, and their son James Herbert Waddington, and their eldest daughter, May; and also Fred Bateman and his wife, Jessie Violet, née Waddington, and Kenneth Bateman. He is also remembered on the Bradford Roll of Honour for WW2, located in a glass case in Bradford Cathedral. (Updated 12 June 2023)
© Clive Richardson. May be copied, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes.
(Updated 28 August 2023)
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