In 1939 Britain and her Empire went to
war once again and, just as they had
a generation earlier, the young men of
Shilton were called upon to serve their
country. Once again not all of those
who answered the call were to return
home when the war ended in 1945 and
a further three names were added to
the village war memorial.
Ronald Bond, the son of Albert and
Alice Bond, served with the 7th Bn.
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The
cause of his death, on 25th October
1944, is unknown but the cemetery
where he is buried in Nederweert,
Holland, was close to the front line at
the time and many of the deaths in the
area were caused as a result of patrol
activity and from the daily German
shelling of the British positions.
Sergeant (Wireless Operator/Air
Gunner) Arthur Warbey, served with
the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
and was attached to No. 1654 Heavy
Conversion Unit at RAF Wigsley
in Nottinghamshire. On the night
of 3rd/4th March 1945, whilst on a
training exercise, he and the rest of his
crew were killed when their Lancaster
bomber was intercepted and shot
down by an enemy aircraft over
Stapleford, Notts.
Arthur’s body was brought to
Shilton, where he had lived with his
grandparents, Mr and Mrs William
Hambridge, and was buried in the
village churchyard. His grave is today
marked by a Commonwealth War
Grave headstone.
The third and final casualty of World
War Two recorded on the memorial
is Leslie Trinder. Again information
regarding this man has been hard to
locate but it is likely that he was Leslie
Victor Newman Trinder (born in the
Witney district in 1920 and married to
Winifred Tanner in late 1940). Leslie
served with the Royal Engineers in
North Africa and was killed in action
on 26th October 1942 as his unit
undertook mine clearance operations
prior to the Second Battle of El
Alamein. His connection with Shilton
has not been verified.
After the Second World War it
is presumed that the names of
the casualties of both wars were
amalgamated onto a single brass
plaque, as seen on the memorial today.
Copies of Jeff’s books, ‘Remembered,
the Men on the War Memorials of
Witney, Crawley and Hailey Vols 1 &
2’ are available from Waterstones in
Witney and Blackwell’s in Oxford.
Harry (Henry) Godwin in uniform c. 1915
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