Gordon Frederick Hopewell
Educated at the Nottingham High School.
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Gordon was the son of Fred Hopewell and his wife Phoebe May Elizabeth (née Rhodes).
Fred was born in Nottingham in 1897, the son of Arthur and Amelia Hopewell. Phoebe was born in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire, also in 1897. The couple were married in 1919 and their daughter Dorothy Thelma was born the following year and their son Gordon in 1922.
At the time of the 1921 Census, Phoebe and their daughter were living at 38 Ealing Avenue, Kimberley. Also in the household were three boarders, a married couple and their son. Fred was recorded on the Census in Yorkshire, and probably living in, or close to, the city of York; he was one of five boarders in the household of an elderly widow. His occupation was given as 'writer, RAPD York' and given his later employment as a sub postmaster, he may have already been working for the Post Office.
In 1939 Fred, a sub postmaster and senior ARP warden in Carlton, was living at the Post Office, 65 Victoria Road, Carlton, with his wife, who was assisting in the post office, and their two adult children. Dorothy was a clerical assistant (Post Office Telephones) and also carried out clerical duties at the ARP Communications Centre, while her brother, who had left school and was 'seeking work', was an ARP Warden. Both, like their father, were based with the ARP in Carlton.
The later CWGC record gave Fred and Phoebe's address as Wollaton.
Dorothy married John M Scammel in 1943; they had a son, Gordon FH, in 1944 and a daughter, Gillian E, in 1948.
Fred Hopewell died in May 1967 aged 69; he was then living on Arleston Drive, Wollaton. His widow Phoebe was still living in Wollaton, on Wollaton Road, at the time of her death in July 1973, the day before her 76th birthday.
Royal Naval Air Station Inskip (HMS Nightjar), Lancashire, was a wartime airfield between Preston and Blackpool for training anti-submarine and two-seat strike crews. It was commissioned on 15 May 1943.
Gordon served with 747 Naval Air Squadron, a Fleet Air Arm Naval Air Squadron, which was formed in March 1943 and became an Operation Training Unit. The squadron moved to HMS Nightjar in the July becoming part of No. 1 Naval Operational Training Unit. Operated various aircraft including the Fairey Barracuda Mk II torpedo and dive bomber (March 1943-December 1945). The Squadron was disbanded in December 1945.
Gordon was the pilot of a Barracuda II (P9828) which, on 20 December 1943, 'crashed into high ground at Skelwith Bridge near Coniston, Cumberland, when the aircraft lost the rest of a formation during a night flight'. Also killed were T/Acting Sub Lieutenant (A) William Herbert Rostron Young RNVR, observer, and Acting Leading Air Mechanic Dennis Buttery RN, wireless operator/air gunner. (See 'Extra information').
He is commemorated on Nottingham Crematorium (Panel 3), Southern Cemetery, Wilford Hill, West Bridgford, Nottingham. Sub Lieutenant Young was buried in Inskip (St Peter) churchyard and Leading Airman Buttery in Ruddington (Vicarage Lane) Cemetery, Nottingham.
Gordon's father, Fred (b. 1897), was the brother of Ernest Arthur (b. 1894) and John Thomas (b. 1899), who died in the First World War. R/2874 Rifleman Ernest Arthur Hopewell 9th Bn Kings Royal Rifle Corps, died of wounds on 22 August 1916 (Peronne Road Cemetery, Maricourt, France) and 93153 Private John Thomas Hopewell, 2/7th Battalion Sherwood Foresters, was killed in action on 14 April 1918 (Ploegsteeert Memorial, Belgium). See records on this Roll of Honour.
The two other members of the Barracuda II crew were:
CWGC 2699075. Sub Lieutenant (A) William Herbert Rostron Young RNVR, HMS Nightjar d. 20 December 1943 age 19. Buried Inskip (St Peter) Churchyard (Sec. P. Grave 16). Son of Charles Lawrence Rostron Young and Lilian Alice Young of Bath, Somerset.
CWGC 2703655. FX86846 Leading Airman Dennis Buttery RN HMS Nightjar, 20 December 1943 aged 19. Buried Ruddington (Vicarage Lane) Cemetery (Sec.B. Grave 91). Son of Stanley and Gladys Hilda Buttery, of Ruddington. (See record on this Roll of Honour)
www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk) Extract: 'During the night of 20th December 1943 the crew of this aircraft were flying low in the Lake District, the aircraft had just flown the full length of Coniston Water with its navigation and landing lights on and was seen to pass over Coniston village heading north-east. Little else about the incident is known other than the aircraft had just made a climbing turn to starboard when it flew into rising ground, narrowly missing farm buildings, hit a drystone wall and exploded. The aircraft was completely destroyed and the crew of three sadly killed. The crew were attached to HMS Nightjar which was based the Fleet Air Arm airfield of RNAS Inskip in Lancashire.' The website includes a photograph of the crash site.
CWGC Additional information: Son of Fred and Phoebe May Elizabeth Hopewell, of Wollaton.
Nottingham Evening Post, ‘In Memoriam’, 20 December 1946: ‘Hopewell. December 20th, 1943. In affectionate memory of Sub. Lt (A) Gordon Frederick, our dear son and brother, and of our happy times together. Mummy, daddy, Dorothy [Scammell], baby Gordon.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Nottingham Evening Post, ‘In Memoriam’, 20 December 1947: ‘Hopewell. Memories of our dear son and brother, Gordon Frederick, and his crew, December 20th, 1943. Always remembered. Mummy, daddy, Dorothy [Scammell], John [husband], Gordon [son].’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Additional information RF (Aug. 2025)
Photo of Gordon Frederick Hopewell
Commemorated Nottingham Crematorium, Southern Cemetery. (www.cwgc.org)