Atcherley.org.uk

In July 1939 Squadron Leader David Francis William Atcherley found himself in Belgium, in charge of some of the best of Britain’s military aircraft: a Vickers Wellington, a Hawker Hurricane, and a Supermarine Spitfire. Men and machines from seven other European countries including Germany were there too. They had not gathered to fight however. Instead, practically on the eve of World War II, representatives of Europe’s air forces and aircraft manufacturers had assembled for the Brussels Aero Show. We can only guess what the atmosphere must have been like.

David was at that time Commander of 85 Squadron, which was based at Debden near Saffron Walden in Essex and equipped with the new Hawker Hurricane. On 27 June 1939 this Squadron and No. 87 were brought under the command of 60 (Fighter) Wing, which itself was part of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force. In the event of war breaking out, the BEF’s Air Component was to move to defensive positions in France. With tensions in Europe escalating, 85 (along with other Squadrons) was mobilised on 24 August. A and B Flights were brought to readiness, with their Hurricanes stationed around the perimeter of Debden. War was not long in coming.

A bridge too low?

On 4 September, the day after war against Germany was declared, an advance party from 85 Squadron set off for France. Within five days they had prepared an aerodrome at Boos, near Rouen, which would act as the base for the two Squadrons of 60 Wing. The rest of 85 Squadron was then led from Debden, across the Channel to Boos, by David Atcherley.

Boos was only a temporary home for the Squadrons of 60 Wing, which relocated to Merville, close to Lille and the Belgian border, on 22 September (and then to nearby Seclin on 5 November). Before the move to Merville, the Commanders of 85 and 87 Squadrons decided they would take a look at the base. The story of that day’s events was later told by one of the participants, W J “Spanner” Hendley, then Warrant Officer, Engineer in 87 Squadron:

“… before moving, the two squadron commanders, Squadron Leaders David Atcherley … of 85 and W. Coupe of 87, flew Dan [Newton, of 85] and me over there to ‘case the joint’. We were wined and dined sumptuously at a hotel named the Seraphim. This was renamed the Paraffin when the squadrons arrived. After farewell salutes and handshakes, we left in our two Magisters for the run back to Boos, travelling at nought feet and scaring chicken, cattle and peasants as we went. Approaching Rouen, David Atcherley pointed to the transporter bridge over the river, obviously intending that we should fly under it. … When we got to within 300 or 400 yards of the bridge, I noticed that the transporter was moving slowly, but inexorably, from left to right. My pilot had spotted this too and yanked viciously back on the stick, clearing the right-hand tower by only a few feet. 85 squadron got through with little to spare.”

High jinks (or perhaps in the example described, low jinks) apart, the squadrons of 60 Wing were of course engaged in serious work. Both 85 and 87 carried out defensive patrols over cross-Channel shipping. The first enemy aircraft destroyed by 85 Squadron, a Heinkel He 111, was shot down into the sea on 21 November by Flight Lieutenant Richard “Dicky” Lee during a patrol near Boulogne.

Back from the front

On 8 January 1940, David Atcherley was transferred from his position as Officer Commanding of 85 Squadron, to the Staff of 60 Wing. He was promoted to the temporary rank of Wing Commander on 1 March. Although there are references to David being attached to 349 Squadron in May that year, this seems unlikely as 349 was not formed until 1942. References to David joining 253 Squadron as Officer Commanding in May 1940 however are more reliable, as John Greenwood (a fighter pilot with the Squadron at the time) recalls Atcherley’s brief tenure with that unit.

253 had fought in the Battle of France, and had suffered heavy losses – half of the squadron in fact, including the Commanding Officer and both Flight Commanders. The survivors were evacuated from France on 19 May and returned to their base at Kenley close to London’s border with Surrey. Within days they were off to Kirton-in-Lindsey, Lincolnshire, to reform the Squadron. David Atcherley was the new Commanding Officer. John Greenwood remembers David’s frustration at being unable to take on the enemy over France, a frustration which was not shared by those under his command! Mistakenly referring to David as Batchy (the nickname of his brother Richard), John recalls:

“Each day, as Dunkirk was going on, Atcherley was on the phone trying to get our squadron back down into the fighting, as he wanted to get into it himself, but we didn’t want to go back at all! However, Air Ministry soon got on to that and Batchy was only with us for about five or six days and he was posted north to Wick.”

Did David Atcherley really get on the Air Ministry’s wick? (Pun intended.) Or was he seen as the right person to be the first Commanding Officer of a strategically important and newly-established RAF station? Either way, Wing Commander Atcherley found himself heading north, arriving at Castletown in Caithness to take command on 8 June 1940.

Commander Atcherley on the deck

RAF Castletown had officially opened on 28 May 1940 as a satellite of RAF Wick. On 7 June however, the day before David’s arrival there, it became an operational station in its own right, part of 13 Group. Although seemingly a long, long way from the action that David sought, the station was a vital part of Britain’s defences both during and after the Battle of Britain. The reason for this was the close proximity of the Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, for which RAF Castletown was to provide air cover. It was from Scapa Flow that British ships patrolled the North Sea, and this made the naval base a prime target for German air attacks (and potentially even land invasion). This was particularly so after the fall of Norway on 8 June 1940.

The station in its early months was basic to say the least, described by one author as “little more than three grass runways and a centralised collection of wooden and Nissen huts”. Conditions were particularly difficult during the severe winter of 1940-41. The bitterly cold weather prompted David to order the twice daily issue of a tot of rum to all the men.

The first squadron to be based at Castletown was 504. Their stay, which lasted until October 1940, is said to have been uneventful. However, with an Atcherley in command of the station, life was rarely dull for long. During the stay of another unit, 801 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm, its naval pilots were instructed to practice deck-landing on a carrier then cruising near Orkney. Station Commander Atcherley decided to fly on ahead in a Miles Magister and try a deck-landing himself, having never performed one. He timed his departure so that he could introduce himself to the carrier’s captain and then be on hand to greet the pilots from 801 when they arrived. He did not however communicate his intentions to the ship and arrived unannounced. His landing was perfect – up to the point where his aircraft disappeared down an open lift shaft and into the carrier’s hangar. Atcherley emerged none the worse for his unscheduled inspection of the ship’s innards. Sadly, the same could not be said of his aircraft. The lift operator sent both plane and pilot back up to deck where, before the wrecked Magister was dropped over the side, it was photographed. David used the picture for his Christmas cards in December 1940.

Outgunned

Other Atcherley antics at Castletown were prompted by the fact that David’s brother Richard was then commanding another Scottish RAF base, at Drem near Edinburgh. In a bout of friendly sibling rivalry, the twins set about outdoing each other in improving the defensive capabilities of their stations. Ultimately David trumped his brother with typical Atcherley resourcefulness.

David had, while flying along the coast one day, discovered a beached ship on which was perched a 47-inch naval deck gun. He wasted no time in rounding up some men to board the stricken vessel and recover the weapon. The gun was hauled away and mounted on a concrete base at the west end of Dunnet Beach within about a mile of the RAF station, where it was christened “Big Bertha”. Although one source (which attributes the acquisition of the gun to Richard Atcherley) states that 500 rounds of ammunition were recovered with the gun, the Atcherley twins’ biographer John Pudney states that David somehow managed to obtain 130 rounds from the Royal Navy at Chatham.

Responsibility for firing Big Bertha fell to a corporal of the Pioneer Corps. The corporal had arrived at the station, along with the rest of his company, by way of an unfortunate mix-up which David Atcherley took full advantage of. The Pioneers turned up at Wick by train one day and were unsure where they were to go next. Once David heard of their plight, transport to Castletown was soon arranged and the company was put to work around the RAF station. The Pioneers should in fact have been sent to Hampton Wick in London! When the mistake was discovered and the company was re-routed to its correct destination, the gun-firing corporal remained – in exchange for a bacon slicer from the Castletown officers’ mess.

It is said that when the ammo ran out, Atcherley put in a requisition to the Royal Navy for more. At this point “the Admiralty investigated, got quite huffy and demanded their gun back. [Atcherley] at first refused, on the grounds that it was his by right of marine salvage. He gave in when it became apparent that, if necessary, the Navy would send the Home Fleet.” I suspect the use of a little poetic licence in the conclusion to that account.

The gun’s ‘tour of duty’ at Castletown certainly came to an end at some point, as did that of David Atcherley who moved on to take command of 25 Squadron at Wittering in February 1941. Big Bertha’s concrete mount, with its ring of bolts and the letters ‘RAF’ picked out in pebbles close by, remains on Dunnet Beach to this day.

Image: Hawker Hurricane, by ‘Arpingstone’. Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

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References

[1] Flight, 6 Jul 1939, page 18: Britain in Brussels.

[2] The Battle of Britain London Monument (website): F/Lt. J E Marshall.

[3] W J Hedley, quoted in: Laddie Lucas (1985), Out of the Blue. The Role of Luck in Air Warfare, 1917 – 1966. Page 48.

[4] Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation (website): Air Vice Marshal D F W Atcherley.

[5] Royal Air Force (website): 349 Squadron.

[6] London Gazette, issue 34866, 7 Jun 1940, pages 3435-3436.

[7] Battle of Britain 1940 website: Come One – Come All.

[8] Andrew Guttridge (undated), A brief history of RAF Castletown. In: Castletown Recalls: 1939 – 1945.

[9] Wikipedia: RAF Castletown.

[10] John Pudney (1960), A Pride of Unicorns. Richard and David Atcherley of the R.A.F. pages 167-8.

[11] Scott Young (1963), The Atcherley Legend. In: The Globe and Mail (Toronto), 4 Apr 1963, page 6.

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“Miss Ethel Atcherley was one of the most gifted of the brilliant circle of Manchester artists. She studied painting and modelling at the School of Art, in London and in Paris. She was a frequent exhibitor at the Paris Salon, at the New Gallery …” [1]

Ethel Atcherley, second daughter and fourth child of grocer Roger Atcherley and his wife Mary Ann, was born on 30 January 1864 at Eccles in Lancashire, and baptised at nearby Pendleton on 13 March the same year. In 1871, ’81 and ’91 she was living with her family at Wheatland, 5 Victoria Crescent in Eccles. She is missing from the 1901 census and in 1905 at the age of 41, Ethel died, in Shropshire, and was buried at Church Stretton. [2 – 9]

This picture of Ethel’s life, drawn as it is solely from parish, birth, death and census records, is rather basic and does not do justice to its subject. However, if we add other sources of information to our palette – particularly local newspaper reports – we can paint a richer and more vivid portrait of Ethel Atcherley.

Ethel’s artistic interests actually extended beyond her use of oils and watercolours, at least in her earlier years. One of the first appearances of her name in print, dating from 1880, is in a list of students granted certificates in Local Examinations in Elementary Musical Knowledge. Ethel Atcherley of Eccles was awarded Second Class Honours in the Senior Division. [10]

It was however painting (and also sculpting or modelling) rather than music that Ethel pursued academically, as a student of the Manchester School of Art. She was probably there from at least 1885, being amongst the prize winners at the school’s Sketching Club Prize Distribution which took place on 13 January 1886. On that occasion the club’s vice-president, Mr. T. Worthington, F.R.I.B.A., and Robert Crozier, president of the Manchester Academy, both urged the members of the club “to use untiring effort in developing their talent and sustaining the prestige of the institution with which they were connected.” [11]

Ethel certainly seems to have taken the advice of Messrs. Worthington and Crozier to heart. In 1891 her sculpture Reduced Copy of ‘The Slave’ by Michelangelo was exhibited at Manchester Art Gallery’s First Exhibition of Arts and Crafts. The following year she was presented with prizes of £3 for an oil painting, and of £1 for a “modelled head from life.” Before long, her work was attracting comments in the local press. One of the earliest such mentions, in 1895, stated that “Ethel Atcherley may be seen to advantage in a bright drawing of a scene on the Anglesey Coast.” The painting referred to may have been Ethel’s Anglesea Village which was exhibited at The Royal Academy of Arts that year. Later in 1895 her painting The Silent Hours of Love was sold at the Autumn Art Exhibition in Manchester for £31. 10s. [12 – 16]

In 1896 Ethel was elected an Associate of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, and her work The End of the Day was exhibited by The Royal Academy of Arts. The following year her work was being exhibited not only by the Royal Academy (Rest, Saturday Evening, Tarbert) but also by The Royal Society of British Artists and The Manchester City Art Gallery. She was elected to full membership of the Manchester Academy in 1900. I have found nothing which would confirm when she studied in Paris, but she is known to have worked there under M. Raphael Collin and M. Girodat – perhaps in 1901 when she was missing from the census? [15, 17, 18]

A picture is said to be worth a thousand words. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of Ethel Atcherley’s artwork which I can share here, and there are few to be found online to which I can link (one is Wild Roses by a Stream). So here are, if not a thousand words, then certainly a few hundred, from the columns of the Manchester papers. I hope (as no doubt the original authors hoped) they will provide the reader with a feel for the quality of Ethel’s work:

“Miss Ethel Atcherley is an artist of whose work we have spoken in these columns in terms of praise. In the present exhibition she is represented by one of the best drawings in the collection. (No. 54) The Monnow Bridge, Monmouth, is a large and important work, and represents a mediaeval piece of fortification, with truth and great strength. The colour is admirable throughout, and the focus of light on the old town gateway is a happy artistic inspiration. … Miss Atcherley has got the true grip on water-colour art, and this fine drawing is worthy of all praise.” [20]

“Miss Atcherley’s Exhibition of Watercolours.—At Messrs. Grundy and Smith’s galleries in Exchange-street, Manchester, Miss Atcherley is exhibiting 68 examples of her work as an artist in watercolours. During the summer of this year she stayed at St. Monans, a quaint fishing village in Fifeshire, and as a consequence there is a strong Scottish flavour about many of her pictures and studies. One of the largest of her works, The Harbour of St. Monans, is an interesting nocturne. Deepening twilight gathers around the cottages of the fisherfolk, and the lights from within them are cleverly reflected upon the water and the boats in the harbour with almost weird effect. A few figures flit through the growing darkness, and altogether the composition conveys a poetic sensation of the close of a quiet day in a spot where there is more of the hush than of the rush of life. A Sunny Morning at St. Monans, St. Monans on a Showery Day, and St. Monans from the East, are other Fife subjects, having more daylight in them, and are smaller than the one just referred to. Their mention serves to indicate one direction of Miss Atcherley’s industry in a locality whose charms she has striven artistically and with success to convey. They are only a few of her gleanings from the North. On this side the border she has exercised her vocation in parts of the country far and near. Richmond, a large drawing, in which the lower part of the hill is enveloped in a bluish haze, A Berkshire Home, The Wye at Monmouth, Warkworth Bridge, The Farne Islands, North Hill, Clovelly, On the Kennett and Old Cottages, Warwick, are a sufficient number of titles of her pictures to name in order to show that she has laboured over a wide area in her studio from Nature. Of the interiors which she shews three are specially interesting in this part of Lancashire, namely, Eccles Old Church, Manchester Cathedral, and Chetham’s College, the last-named being the most commendable of the trio.” [21]

“Prominent amongst the watercolours was The Harbour, by Miss Ethel Atcherley, representing that mysterious hour of the gloaming, half-day, half-night. A rising sea-mist slowly envelopes a row of fisher cottages on a quayside. As the lamps are lighted their reflections quiver in the calm waters of the harbour. There is a refreshing breadth and an absence of trickery in Miss Atcherley’s work.” [22]

“Where all are so good it is difficult to single out examples as illustrations of this, but we are bound to draw attention to Mr. Cyril Ward’s grand Welsh landscape (No. 91), and to Miss Ethel Atcherley’s Sweep of Scythe in Morning Dew. These two examples are totally different in subject and treatment; yet they are equally strong in manipulative power and fine colour scheme. Miss Atcherley has achieved a great triumph in the sweeping attitudes of her mowers. They are most powerfully drawn, and moreover, they take most interesting colour from the atmosphere of the ‘dewy morn.’ … These two drawings may be ranked amongst the strongest works in water-colour …” [23]

Finally, one of the last reviews of Ethel Atcherley’s work, printed in the year of her death:

“Nowhere are women more strenuous in social work, in art and literature and music, than in Manchester. At the City Academy of Art we find them taking foremost places in the Exhibition. Miss Ethel Atcherley’s Summer Noon and her Quiet Coloured Eve, are delightful examples of her style.” [24]

After Ethel’s father Roger retired from the grocery trade the family moved from Eccles to Roger’s native Shropshire, probably around 1904-5 as Roger was still listed at Victoria Crescent in Eccles in a 1904 directory. The family lived at All Stretton Hall, which is probably where Ethel passed away. Administration of her effects, valued at £1,921 10s., was granted to her father. Three years later in 1908, one of Ethel’s paintings (The End of an Autumn Day) was presented to the Manchester City Art Gallery by her mother, where it remains to this day as an reminder of one of city’s most talented young artists. [19, 25 – 27]

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References.

[1] Ada S. Ballin (1905), Womanhood. Volume XV, page 26.

[2] Birth of Ethel Atcherley registered at Barton, March quarter 1864; volume 8c, page 512.

[3] FamilySearch shows baptism of Ethel Atcherley, parents Roger Atcherley and Mary Ann.

[4] 1871 census of England and Wales. Piece 3969, folio 20, page 34.

[5] 1881 census of England and Wales. Piece 3881, folio 64, page 13.

[6] 1891 census of England and Wales. Piece 3153, folio 62, page 19.

[7] Death of Ethel Atcherley registered at Church Stretton, December quarter 1905; volume 6a, page 389; age given as 41.

[8] Church Stretton parish register shows burial of Ethel Atcherley of The Hall, All Stretton, age 41 Years, on 28 Oct 1905. Copy viewed at Shropshire Archives.

[9] Monumental inscription at Church Stretton St Laurence shows Ethel, daughter of Roger Atcherley, of All Stretton, born 30 Jan 1864, died 25 Oct 1905. Source: Shropshire Family History Society.

[10] Trinity College, London. The Calendar for the Academical Year 1881-2. Pages 251-2.

[11] Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 15 Jan 1886, page 7.

[12] Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011.

[13] Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 20 Dec 1892, page 8.

[14] Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 13 Feb 1895, page 8.

[15] Algernon Graves (1905), The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and Their Work from Its Foundation in 1769 to 1904. Page 74.

[16] Manchester Evening News, 22 Nov 1895, page 2.

[17] A C R Carter (1898),The Year’s Art. Pages 332 and 336.

[18] The British Architect, 21 Feb 1896, page 139.

[19] Anon (1910), Handbook to the Permanent Collection of the Manchester City Art Gallery.

[20] Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 28 Feb 1900, page 10.

[21] Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 10 Nov 1900, page 7.

[22] Arthur F. Phillips (1902), The Art Record: A Monthly Illustrated Review of the Arts and Crafts, volume II, no. 44 (April 1902), page 780.

[23] Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 11 Mar 1903, page 9.

[24] Ada S. Ballin (1905), Womanhood. Volume XIII, number 77, page 283.

[25] The Prestwich, Whitefield, Crumpsall, and Neighbourhood Street Register (1904), page 276.

[26] National Probate Calendar, 1905. (Copy viewed at Ancestry.)

[27] Manchester Art Gallery website.

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