Local History with a Global Focus: The War Graves of Hornchurch

The town of Hornchurch, Essex holds many war graves, representing the global scope of World War service. Discover the stories of the servicemen commemorated here today.

Hornchurch War Graves

Hornchurch Cemetery

Image: Hornchurch Cemetery where international servicemen are commemorated. Note the Czech headstone with its different shape amidst the Commonwealth grave markers

Hornchurch Cemetery was opened by Hornchurch Urban District Council in 1932. During the early months of the war, a portion of ground in Section A was set aside by the Urban District Council specifically for war graves. 

This is now the War Graves Plot and contains 58 graves. The rest are scattered in various parts of the cemetery. 

Immediately adjoining it, at the rear, the Council have created a Garden of Rest as a memorial to the servicemen buried in the cemetery, with a bronze memorial panel set in a bay in the low boundary wall, which they extended to enclose also the plot of graves. 

The Cross of Sacrifice stands near the graves between flower beds, with the bay containing the memorial panel as a background.

The Commission maintains 105 war graves and 4 non-war graves in this cemetery. Many of the airmen came from the RAF Station at Hornchurch, one of the Battle of Britain stations.

CWGC casualties at Hornchurch Cemetery

Nine International Airmen buried in Hornchurch

Hornchurch Airfield was crucial in the defences of London during the Second World War. 

Many airmen sacrificed their lives. Some of these international volunteers are buried in the Commonwealth War Graves section of the Hornchurch Cemetery. They fought and died fighting for the liberation of Europe with the RAF.

Czech Airmen

After Czechoslovakia was invaded by the Nazis in 1939, many Czech pilots escaped with their aircraft to France. After France fell in spring 1940, they came to Britain and joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve. 

There were about 88 Czech airmen in the RAF, two of whom are buried in the Hornchurch Cemetery War Graves section.

Blazej Konvalina was aged 23 when he died in January 1942 in a flying accident at Purfleet. Josef Valenta died during take-off at Hornchurch in January 1942.

The Czechs wanted to continue the war against Hitler, but New Zealanders fought because, as a British dominion, New Zealand was obliged to join the fight.

Kiwi Aviators

New Zealand contributed seven squadrons to the RAF as well as 135 airmen. They have three men in Hornchurch cemetery.

Samuel David Earwaker was aged 26. He was killed when his Spitfire plunged to the ground at Chelmsford in January 1943.

Earl Joseph Kean was aged 33. He was shot down near Maidstone in April 1941 by a Bf109 whilst on patrol.
Francis MacKay Laing was aged 29. After combat, he was returning to base and crashed near Hawkinge in July 1941.

A Canadian, a South African, and an Argentinian

Like the New Zealanders, Canada joined the Second World War as a Dominion of the British Empire. They subsequently became the fourth-largest air force in the war. 

Canadians suffered tremendous losses in bombing raids over Germany and they contributed to every aspect of the air campaign. There is one Canadian buried in Hornchurch Cemetery: Russell Norris Langley. He died in a crash in February 1942, aged 24.

The sole South African buried in Hornchurch is Claude Waller Goldsmith was aged 23. He was shot down by a German Me 109 over Maidstone in October 1940.

Claude had lived in England for an extended period of time. He was a university student of mining, which is appropriate as he came from the Transvaal, the South African centre of gold mining. 

Thomas Wilton Smith was born to British parents in Rosario, Argentina, making him technically Argentinian. He came to Britain in 1940 and died in a plane crash in Chelmsford in 1943.

Flying Officer Raimund Sanders Draper

Image: Flying Officer Raimund Sanders "Smudge" Draper (copyright unknown)

Among the international airmen commemorated at Hornchurch is Flying Officer Raimund Sanders “Smudge” Draper.

He was born on 27 December 1913, in London, the son of American parents Paul and Muriel Draper (née Sanders). They had moved to London in 1911 so that Paul could study under lieder singer Raimund von zur Muhlen.

It was reputed that Raimund was actually the biological son of pianist Arthur Rubenstein. Raimund’s brother, Paul, was a prominent tap dancer. Hailing from a showbiz family, the Drapers were related to actresses Joyce Grenfell and Ruth Draper.

Raimund volunteered for the Royal Air Force before the United States entered the Second World War. He was commissioned as a pilot officer on 17 September 1941.

On 24 March 1943, while serving with 64 Squadron, Raimund’s Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane developed engine difficulties shortly after taking off from RAF Hornchurch. 

With his craft lurching towards a nearby school, Raimund took evasive action to avoid catastrophe. He managed to steer his failing Spitfire away from the school buildings, before nosediving into a nearby playing field.

Raimund was killed on impact.

A naval casualty at Hornchurch

Image: a newspaper clipping of the East Dudgeon Light Vessel

Trinity House Master Mechanic James Scott Bell is one of the many CWGC war graves commemorated at Hornchurch Churchyard.

On 29 January 1940, James was one of the crew manning the East Dudgeon Station lightship off the east coast of England. The Dudgeon itself is a series of shoals and sandbanks lying beneath the sea between the Humber and Norfolk.

East Dudgeon lay someway out to sea, making it one of the most remote light vessels in British waters at the time. This would have tragic circumstances.

On the morning of the 29th, a German Heinkel He111 approached the light ship. The crew weren’t initially alarmed as on previous occasions German pilots had waved to them and passed by. 

However, on this occasion, things changed dramatically. The Heinkel strafed and bombed the unarmed light vessel with the last bomb striking the vessel, she immediately began to heel over but somehow remained afloat.

The crew took to the single lifeboat with one ill shipmate carried from his bunk. As they were so far from shore (Ca25 miles) they faced a row of some hours in one of the worst winters for decades. 

Despite the horrendous weather and biting cold, the East Dudgeon crew made landfall at 02:30. 

It was here when events took a tragic turn, the breakers were so strong that the boat capsized tossing all eight crewmen into the icy water. Sadly, seven of the seamen were lost, including Master Mechanic James Scott Bell.

James is buried at Hornchurch Cemetery. 

German radio later claimed that same day that they had sunk the British Naval Patrol Vessel East Dudgeon. 

The attack prompted Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to issue a statement in the House condemning the attack: “It was a falsification intended to cover up from the world a deliberate and savage attack on a lightship, to seafaring folks of all nations the East Dudgeon is well known as a Lightship and its identity was unmistakeable, she was naturally unarmed."

Hornchurch (St. Andrew) Churchyard

Image: Hornchurch (St. Andrew) Churchyard 

The churchyard at St. Andrew’s Church, Hornchurch, also holds Commonwealth burials from the First and Second World Wars.

Amidst the British casualties resting forever in tranquil surroundings of St. Andrew’s lie four Māori soldiers buried 10,000 miles from home:

• Private Vasau
• Private Filitoua
• Private Taleva
• Private Moki

The four soldiers were Māori from the island of Nieu, some 1,500 miles northeast of New Zealand.

Hornchurch and the Māori

102 Niuean Māori passed through the New Zealand Convalescent Hospital set up in Grey Towers Mansion by 1916.

The arrival of so many Māori soldiers to the small Essex town must have had quite an impact, but it’s reported the locals went to great lengths to make the Nieuans feel welcome.

A local, Charles Perfect, described a performance by the Māori servicemen at the Drill Hall in March 2016: “Wonderful war dance or Haka performed by Maoris [sic] who fought at Gallipoli. We were held spellbound by the fantastic movements.”

One of the performers and soldiers was Private Moki, also known as His Highness the Prince Rangitira.

While he was not related to Togia, the Patuiki (King) of Niue, Moki was a major leader on the south side of Nieu. His position was not hereditary, but Moki was granted the title of “Rangitira” (Chief).

Combat wasn’t the only hazard facing the Niueans on the Western Front. Illness was a major threat, and with the Pacific Islanders unsuited to damp, cold climate of the UK, many became ill with pneumonia.

By May 1916, some 82% of the Niueans had been hospitalised in Hornchurch. Sadly, Moki and the three other Māori servicemen mentioned above, succumbed to illness and rest eternally in Hornchurch.

In June 1919, the New Zealand contingent left Grey Towers. But their experiences would not be forgotten.

In a letter to the vicar of Hornchurch, the High Commissioner of New Zealand Thomas Mackenzie, said: “Those of our soldiers who had never seen this country before looked forward [to visiting] with pleasurable anticipation. Their expectations have been more than realised. The hospitality you have extended will be remembered.”

Do you have a story of a servicemen we commemorate at Hornchurch? Share it on For Evermore

For Evermore: Stories of the Fallen is our online resource for sharing the memories of the Commonwealth’s war dead.

It’s open to the public to share their family histories and the tales of the service people commemorated by Commonwealth War Graves so that we may preserve their legacies beyond just a name on a headstone or a memorial.

If you have a story to tell of a casualty in our care in Hornchurch, we’d love to hear it! Head to For Evermore: Stories of the Fallen to upload and share it for all the world to see.

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