Henry James Hall

Leading Aircraftman - Service No.62125 - Royal Flying Corps/R.A.F.

Henry James Hall was born on 15th October 1898 in Swardeston, Norfolk, the son of Charles Brighten Hall and his wife Anna Eliza (Chapman). He was one of six children born to Charles and Anna following their marriage on 9th November 1880 at Swardeston. Their first son was born in August 1881 and named after his father but, tragically, lived only two months and was buried, at Swardeston, on 13th October. On their 1911 census return the couple claimed to have been married 28 years and had 6 children of whom 2 had already died. In fact they had been married over 30 years and records have only been found, so far, for 5 children although there is a very large gap between Charles, their first child as already mentioned and their second known child, Jane Letitia, born 6th July 1890 some nine years later so it does seem likely that their second child, born somewhere in this 1881-1890 period simply died before the 1891 census and, possibly, not in Swardeston. The search continues. After Jane Letitia, apparently called Jenny, came Frederick (1896), then Henry James and finally Alma Ellen at the beginning of 1900. Charles was a farmer and the family lived at Ivy Farm (now Ivy House) overlooking the common where Charles exercised his allocated grazing rights on the common as well as on his own pasture. Charles died in 1931.

Henry, always known as Harry, was educated at the village school in Swardeston and, after leaving school, at the age of 15, took a 3-year apprenticeship with Duff, Morgan and Vermont at Victoria Garage, Norwich (by St. Stephen's Gate, where the roundabout is today at the top of St. Stephen's Street). Duff Morgan & Vermont were almost entirely responsible for the design and manufacture, in their London premises at 48 Dover Street, Piccadilly, of every armoured car used by the British Navy in WW1. Armoured cars initially operated under the command of the Navy as the Army commanders considered their cavalry as totally superior to anything mechanical. Commander Locker-Lampson, the Vermont in the company name, was a close friend of Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty during WW1, and he persuaded Churchill of the value of armoured vehicles. Mr Delmar Morgan, the "engineer" of the company, was responsible for the design of a wide variety of armoured vehicles and many other ground-breaking developments well ahead of his time.

On 23rd February 1917, just days after having completed his apprenticeship and become a motor engineer, Harry enlisted for Short Service (4 years with the Colours and 4 years with the Reserves) in the Royal Flying Corps Military Wing which, at that time, was part of the Royal Navy. Given his training, he enlisted, somewhat unsurprisingly, as a mechanical fitter with the rank of Air Mechanic 2nd Class. On 1st April 1918 the RFC merged with the Royal Naval Air Service to form the RAF and Harry became an Air Mechanic 3rd Class in the RAF, an obvious clerical error as, the very next day, he was reclassified as Air Mechanic 1st Class. Hopefully, he was compensated for loss of a days pay at the higher rank. With the war over Harry still had over two years of his service to complete. On 1st January 1919 all RAF ranks were reclassified yet again and Harry now found himself a Leading Aircraftman. On 1st August 1919 the, up until now temporary, RAF was made permanent by the government and Harry was among those retained in the reduced force. On 7th January 1920 Harry was sent to France and served with the British Army of the Rhine for a period. By February 1921 Harry was back at Henlow and, on 12th April 1921, he was transferred to the Henlow Reserve Pool. On 24th June 1921 he was transferred to the reserves and sent home. On 22nd February 1925, with his time expired, Harry was discharged from the RAF. On 17th April 1939 Harry enlisted for another 4 years in the RAF Class 'E' Reserves, was mobilised and spent time as a Flight Sergeant at Milford Haven, among other places, working on Sunderland flying boats.

On 29th October 1927 Harry Hall married Annie King, from Swardeston, the daughter of Thomas Alfred King and his wife Annie (Page). Harry and Annie settled in Norwich where they had four children, Bryan (1928), Arthur (1929), Nancy (1932) and Barbara (1935). In 1942 Harry, Annie and their family moved back to Swardeston to live in The Croft by High Common where they remained. Harry died in 1975 and Annie in 1987.

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