Steve Brew
12th July 2008, 18:34
As some of you may have seen in posts on the main board, I have had recent contact with the RAF Chaplains office in regard to a Chaplain in Llanbedr during WWII.
An excellent source has proven to be Rev. (Sqdn. Ldr.) Eleanor Rance, who prefers to be called Eleanor (not Reverend or Ma'am!) and was extremely helpful. Her contact information is:
Reverend (Squadron Leader) Eleanor Rance
Chaplaincy Services (RAF)
Mil: 95221 6693
BT: 01494 496693
E-mail: eleanor.rance356@mod.uk
Internal: AIR Chap-Staff
Further to this, and potentially of interest to other forumites, is something Eleanor wrote in her last e-mail to me, which was:
"We've just handed our archive across to the RAF Museum at Hendon for safekeeping. Mr Peter Elliott, who is responsible for all documents, might be able to find a list of chaplains who served at [various locations]. There is one file in the Anglican chaplains' records which lists locations with chaplains' names against them. There is also a CSFC* file which does the same. But I can’t guarantee that we have any complete record I'm afraid. Our archives are somewhat piecemeal!"
*The CSFC is the "Church of Scotland and Free Churches" section of the Chaplaincy Branch, which replaced the WWII-era PMUB (Presbyterian, Methodist and United Board). The Congregationalists were part of the United Board, and had a reasonable representation within the branch during the war.
Eleanor added that Padres Cecil Pugh and Dewi Henri James were both killed in action during WWII, and that all chaplains during the WWII were commissioned as Reverend Squadron Leaders.
I thought this might suit the 'Reseach Materials' section of this forum, for researchers' future reference.
Regards
Steve
An excellent source has proven to be Rev. (Sqdn. Ldr.) Eleanor Rance, who prefers to be called Eleanor (not Reverend or Ma'am!) and was extremely helpful. Her contact information is:
Reverend (Squadron Leader) Eleanor Rance
Chaplaincy Services (RAF)
Mil: 95221 6693
BT: 01494 496693
E-mail: eleanor.rance356@mod.uk
Internal: AIR Chap-Staff
Further to this, and potentially of interest to other forumites, is something Eleanor wrote in her last e-mail to me, which was:
"We've just handed our archive across to the RAF Museum at Hendon for safekeeping. Mr Peter Elliott, who is responsible for all documents, might be able to find a list of chaplains who served at [various locations]. There is one file in the Anglican chaplains' records which lists locations with chaplains' names against them. There is also a CSFC* file which does the same. But I can’t guarantee that we have any complete record I'm afraid. Our archives are somewhat piecemeal!"
*The CSFC is the "Church of Scotland and Free Churches" section of the Chaplaincy Branch, which replaced the WWII-era PMUB (Presbyterian, Methodist and United Board). The Congregationalists were part of the United Board, and had a reasonable representation within the branch during the war.
Eleanor added that Padres Cecil Pugh and Dewi Henri James were both killed in action during WWII, and that all chaplains during the WWII were commissioned as Reverend Squadron Leaders.
I thought this might suit the 'Reseach Materials' section of this forum, for researchers' future reference.
Regards
Steve