Maurice Graham English

Lieutenant Maurice Graham English
Born 1898
Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Died 16 July 1918
Zevekote, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Buried Ramscappelle Road Military Cemetery, Nieuwpoort, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch  Royal Navy
 Royal Air Force
Rank Lieutenant
Unit Royal Naval Air Service, No. 202 Squadron RAF
Airco de Havilland DH.4 soaring above the clouds in France.

Maurice Graham English was a World War I Irish aviator who was shot down by German flying ace Hans Goerth.

Background

Maurice English was the second son of John Graham English and his wife Ellen "Nellie" Jane English of Marlborough Street in Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.[1][2][3][4][5] A native of Derry, he was born in the second quarter of 1898 and attended Foyle College in the city of Derry.[3][6] English was a member of the First Derry Presbyterian Church, and was with Brown's Engineering Works before he joined the service.[3]

Military career

RAF roundel at the time of World War I

During World War I, Maurice English initially served in the Royal Naval Air Service, joining in early 1916.[1][2] He received a commission as an observer in 1917.[3] After the 1 April 1918 merger of that branch with the Royal Flying Corps, he served as a lieutenant in the No. 202 Squadron of the 61st Wing of the newly formed Royal Air Force.[1][2][3][7] The aviator's aircraft was Airco DH.4 (A7868).[7] He flew with English flying ace Lieutenant Lionel Arthur Ashfield, as well as Lieutenant N. H. Jenkins.[7] Not long before his death, he was wounded while engaged in perilous photographic work over Ostend.

Death

Diamond War Memorial

On 16 July 1918, Lieutenant English's Airco de Havilland DH.4 with serial number A7868 was shot down while returning from Bruges by Vizeflugmeister Hans Goerth over the village of Zevekote in West Flanders, Belgium.[1][2][8][9][10] The twenty-year-old, who had been acting as observer, died in the aerial combat, as did the pilot Lieutenant Ashfield.[2][8] During World War I, the German flying ace Hans Goerth was credited with seven aerial victories.[8][9] The downing of English's de Havilland was the third of seven victories for Goerth.[8][9] Maurice Graham English was interred at the Ramscappelle Road Military Cemetery near Nieuwpoort in West Flanders.[1][2] However, the Irish aviator is also represented on a cenotaph, the Diamond War Memorial, in the center of Derry, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.[3]

References

Ramscappelle Road Military Cemetery
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 The War Graves Photographic Project - English
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Commonwealth War Graves Commission - English
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Diamond War Memorial Project - Maurice Graham English
  4. ↑ The National Archives of Ireland - 1901 Ireland Census
  5. ↑ The National Archives of Ireland - 1911 Ireland Census
  6. ↑ Ireland, Civil Registration Births Index
  7. 1 2 3 The Aerodrome - The Aircraft of World War I - A7868
  8. 1 2 3 4 Fokker D VII Aces of World War I, Part 2, by Norman Franks and Greg VanWyngarden, p 24-25
  9. 1 2 3 The Aerodrome - Hans Goerth
  10. ↑ AIRFIELDS AND AIRMEN - The northern part of West-Flanders

External links

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