Open Bolt Posted 9 March , 2020 Share Posted 9 March , 2020 (edited) This man seems to have had an interesting story - can anyone add to it? Pierre Clifford or Peter Clifford or simply Clifford Campbell-Martin was born in India (Qwandego?; one of his Red Cross papers records him as from 'Loch Llommond') 6th November 1896 (or '98 in error) to Henry Torrence and Adeline Ellen Mabel Campbell-Martin, 11 Hastings St, Calcutta or c/o Grindlay & Co, Calcutta, India (a bank also of 54 Parliament St, Westminster). He was gazetted 2/Lt from a 'Gent. Cadet' Royal Military College into the Sherwood Foresters (3rd then 2nd Bn) 19th July 1916 (London Gazette 18th July 1916) and attached RFC. As a Lt Observer in 25 Squadron RFC on DH4s he was in a couple of accidents, and was practising photography in September 1917. Then on 3rd February 1918, DH4 A7873 went missing on a bombing raid on the sidings at Melle, Belgium 'behind formation, recrossing lines over Ypres.' They were attacked by Fokker Triplanes at 15,000 ft and dropped their bombs and attempted to make for the lines, but their fuel line had been cut and they came down near Ghent. Leutnant Loffler was credited with shooting them down [see Fallen Eagles]. Campbell-Martin had been hit in the neck. He was taken prisoner at Courtrai and became a PoW at Karlsruhe and Landshut and in May 1918 was sent to Holzminden from where he was part of the famous escape. He made it on foot to the Netherlands and back to the UK on 16th August 1918, and was awarded the MC as Flying Officer (Can. Fd. Arty.) in recognition of gallantry in escaping from captivity whilst Prisoner of War (London Gazette 16th December 1919). He was first married to Monica Mary O'Hea 6th August 1919. According to his MIC he was on the Suspense List, 'Dismissed from the RAF by sentence of GCM 5.1.21.' In October 1939 he returned to the UK from India as 'Forest Off.' and married Emily Barbara Walsh on 15th September 1940, Kensington. He served as Flying Officer (Air Gunner) 78357 RAFVR, 264 Squadron attd 40 Squadron, Vickers Wellingtons at RAF Alconbury. On a raid on Duisburg, Campbell-Martin was killed on 17th October 1941 age 44, and was buried at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery. The aircraft (Z8862) was flown by S/Ldr Thomas Kirby-Green, born 28 February 1918, part of the Second World War great escape, murdered in 1944. A link between the two great escapes... https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/87966-holzminden-escapers/?tab=comments#comment-817524 https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/12349-british-pows-escape/?tab=comments#comment-109949 MIC on Ancestry with address 45 Courtfield Gardens, South Kensington https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/6865220 Fallen Eagles by Norman Franks https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/3884907/3/2/ https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/4891309/3/2/ https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/1802079/3/2/ http://www.airhistory.org.uk/rfc/people_index.html http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/archive/campbell-martin-c http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/archive/martin-p.c.c http://www.thepeerage.com/p68724.htm https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2035443/campbell-martin,-peter-clifford/ http://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/details.php?qnum=60975 Edited 9 March , 2020 by Open Bolt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf mcm Posted 9 March , 2020 Share Posted 9 March , 2020 Pierre's baptism record is on Findmypast. The parent's abode looks like 'Purandeep', so probably his place of birth. His father is Henry Thomas Campbell Martin. https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=BL%2FBIND%2F005137587%2F00102&parentid=BL%2FBIND%2FB%2F268509 Regards, Alf McM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airshipped Posted 9 March , 2020 Share Posted 9 March , 2020 Some sources show his father as Henry Torrence [?] Campbell Martin and his brother as Henry Campbell Martin. In various passenger list for journeys between the UK and India they're recorded as 'Scotch'. Pierre would appear to have been involved in some sort of payment fraud at RAF Baldonnel in Dublin. Nothing shows up in the local newspapers in 1920 but that wouldn't preclude a write up elsewhere in 1921, e.g. at the time his dismissal was gazetted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alf mcm Posted 9 March , 2020 Share Posted 9 March , 2020 Pierre's father was named Harry Thomas Campbell Martin when he married in 1895. His wife's father's name was Pierre. https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=BL%2FBIND%2F005137583%2F00359&parentid=BL%2FBIND%2FM%2F82777%2F2 Regards, Alf McM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 10 March , 2020 Author Share Posted 10 March , 2020 Thank you both. The payment fraud is interesting. I've been wondering how much Campbell-Martin and Kirby-Green discussed the Holzminden escape and how much of a direct influence it might have been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 10 March , 2020 Author Share Posted 10 March , 2020 (edited) 20 hours ago, Open Bolt said: born in India (Qwandego Not found much... north of Bengal is Khanchengyao…. 19 hours ago, alf mcm said: Purandeep I can't google past this being a given name! Poor skills. Edited 10 March , 2020 by Open Bolt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmsk212 Posted 10 March , 2020 Share Posted 10 March , 2020 Hi Here is his RAF Casualty Form :- https://www.casualtyforms.org/form/14853 Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 10 March , 2020 Author Share Posted 10 March , 2020 34 minutes ago, hmsk212 said: RAF Casualty Form Thanks. Joined RFC 15.7.17, re-embarked and dis 21.8.17, attd 25 Sqn 22.8.17, leave 7-21.12.17, missing 3.2.18. Officially reported Prisoner of War. Reported as having escaped from Germany and being sent to England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 16 March , 2020 Author Share Posted 16 March , 2020 'In early 1918, Campbell-Martin was shot down west of Brussels. He escaped from a German encampment in a small village the day he was captured, only to be nabbed nine days later while trying to make it to Holland. At his first prison camp, he escaped again.' 'The Escape Artists' by Neal Bascomb There is more in this book about the actual escape - 'All of his crew, including Flying Officer Peter Campbell-Martin MC, the 44-year-old rear gunner, were killed when they were attacked by a night fighter on the way home.' 'Bomber Command: Reflections of War' by Martin Bowman This suggests the crew all bailed out just before Kirby-Green but with insufficient height over some high ground, and K-G himself only survived because the ground level was lower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 1 December , 2020 Author Share Posted 1 December , 2020 Adding from AIR 76/336/172 but a little hard to read: 19 T.S. at Curragh February 1919, to 105 Sqn in April, to ? 2 Sqn [105 Sqn in Ireland until 1 Feb 20, disbanded and became 2 Sqn at Oranmore, Army cooperation in Ireland] Awarded MC LG 16.12.19 GCM held at Baldonnel [Casement] on 28.11.20 found guilty of 4 charges under sect 25(1)(a) in a pay list the contents of which it was his duty to ascertain the accuracy being... to making a false statement. Dismissed from HM Service. 5.1.21 published LG 1.3.21 - WO 161/96/115 (4 pages): Lieut. Clifford Campbell-Martin, 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Nottingham and Derbyshire Regiment) and Royal Air Force Captured Grand Saint Bigard (near Brussels) 3rd February 1918, very slightly wounded in neck and leg by shrapnel Detained Ghent 3rd Feb from 10am to about 7pm when escaped, being recaptured on night of 12th, held Ghent until 2nd or 3rd March. Then held in solitary confinement at Ingelmunster to about 16th March. At Courtrai one day about 17th March. Karlsruhe 19th March to about 25th March. Landshut two or three days, then escaped. End of March until about 9th April at Landshut in solitary confinement, transferred Holzminden and served remainder of 14 days solitary. Holzminden 10th April to 23rd July 1918. 'I was a flight observer, and we were brought down at about 9.40, and touched the ground at Grand Saint Bigard, a small village about two kilometres on the west of Brussels, and my pilot, Lieut. L.E. Green, was wounded by two explosive bullets, one of which struck him in the stomach, and the other struck him in the lower part of the back... We were captured by the German Air force, and I was very well treated, as the officers wished to get information from me. I was taken to the officers' mess and given plenty to eat and still more to drink... About the third day after I arrived at Landshut I escaped. I was recaptured on the second night and brought back to Landshut... I found a party of 16 other British officers waiting, and we were all sent through to Holzminden... All our boots were taken away and put in a sack in the N.C.O.s' compartment. In spite of these precautions, however, two officers managed to escape from the train... On the 10th April 1918 I arrived at Holzminden... Ulrich was quite a decent chap for a Hun, but Niemeyer's character is well known in this country,..' Mentions Lt LE Green RFC, Lt Mullerbeck, Lt Doherty RFC, Lt Carr RNAS, Lt McKeown RFC, Lt Ulrich, Hauptmann Niemeyer. PCC-M means Ernest George Green not LE Green, of the latter I cannot find much - ? Lawrence Elmer Green 15.3.1897 , ? class of 1918 Harvard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 14 June , 2021 Author Share Posted 14 June , 2021 Another listing for this man https://losses.internationalbcc.co.uk/loss/204321/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 21 April , 2022 Author Share Posted 21 April , 2022 P.C. Campbell Martin @PRC kindly pointed us at this graduation photograph - D Coy, Royal Military College, March 1916 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nieuport11 Posted 21 April , 2022 Share Posted 21 April , 2022 Interesting family background here: http://www.koi-hai.com/Default.aspx?id=490734 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open Bolt Posted 25 April , 2022 Author Share Posted 25 April , 2022 Thank you Nieuport, that is very interesting - tales of tea, forests and elephants. Just to pick out some biographical details from the link and from Monica (Campbell-)Martin's book 'Out in the Midday Sun' (variously 1948/1949//1951 - but which I have not read...) https://archive.org/details/outinthemiddaysu006765mbp Mother's maiden name was Augier, Alf tells us her father was Pierre. The family had mining interests in minerals, coal and mica in Bihar. 'Clifford' was schooled by Jesuits at North Point School, Darjeeling. He went to Sandhurst, joined the RFC, was shot down but escaped from Holzminden. This suggests he was decorated, MC and Croix de Guerre. After the war he married Monica, and they went to India [~1922, he was 25, Monica 20 and with nine month old daughter Rene] but after a few years in the mica mining business, he became a forest officer 'administrating the vast territory of lands and forest, the hereditary owner of which was the Maharaja of Bettiah in the State of Bihar.' He was badly injured by an elephant named Temi Bahdur, this seems to be 1939. Monica, in poor health, returned to England and spent time with their daughter, on her holidays from boarding school. When war broke out, Monica writes that Peter 'cabled to say he was leaving for England immediately. As soon as he arrived at the flat, I knew from his familiar pacing up and down, backward and forwards, that he would not rest until he was in the affair up to the hilt. He chose the Royal Air Force, as might have been expected, and volunteered for night flying.' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topgun1918 Posted 25 April , 2022 Share Posted 25 April , 2022 He certainly received the Military Cross, this being gazetted on 16 December 1919: War Office, Whitehall, S.W. 1., 16th December, 1919. His Majesty the KING has been pleased to approve of the undermentioned rewards being conferred on Officers and other ranks of the Royal Air Force in recognition of gallantry in escaping from captivity whilst Prisoners of War: — Awarded the Military Cross. ... Flying Officer Peter Clifford Campbell Martin (Can. Fd. Arty.). ... So far, I've not been able to track an award of the Croix de Guerre. Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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