410805 - Unaccounted airmen - 5-8-1941

[Henk Welting]

What were the places of death registration for:

LAC Angus H. BIRCH - 1257344;
AC1 James COPNEIGH - 1356487, and
AC2 Harold WOODS - 1091646.

Any connection to the following aircraft losses this day:

Master III - W8467 - 60 OTU - crashed East Fortune.
Oxford I - P1954 - 14 FTS - damaged byond repair; no further details.
Beaufighter IC - 2 (C)OTU - crashed on take-off Catfoss.

Regards and thanks for your help.
Henk.

[dennis_burke]

LAC Angus H. BIRCH - 1257344; Registered Age 27, Richmond District - There is an LAC H Birch listed DOAS in FLight magazine Sep 25th 41, no matching CWGC name so I think this is our A H Birch.
AC1 James COPNEIGH - 1356487, See below
AC2 Harold WOODS - 1091646. Age 35 in Scunthorpe District. (Another H Woods died this day but his age of 31 matches 1292823 H Woods in July 1941.) Cannot find a match for this second AC2 H Woods in Flight magazine.

Theres a James F Copneich age 30 registered in Cambridge District. Copneigh does not seem to return on Scotlands people.
FreeBMD don't return any Copneigh's but they do have a Copneich born in 1910. I wonder if the surname is wrong on CWGC?

Flight does not recognise Copneigh or Copneich.

regards

Dennis

[Henk Welting]

Thanks Dennis for your quick response.
Regards,
Henk.

[wwrsimon]

Hello

AC1 James COPNEIGH - 1356487 - the Nottingham Evening Post of August 8th 1941 reported the following:

R.A.F. MAN'S SUICIDE
Girl Who "Did Not Know Meaning of Love"
Depressed because thw girl with whom he had gone through a form of marriage would have nothing more to do with him, A.C.1 James Copneigh, 30, of the R.A.F., of Lammas Road, Ealing, committed suicide by taking an overdose of aspirin.
At the inquest at Cambridge today, when a verdict to this effect was returned, a letter addressed to the girl by Copneigh, which was read, referred to to his decision to take his life, "all becasue of a worthless girl who did not know the meaning of love and loyalty."

A post-script to this story, from the Fulham Chronicle of October 24th 1941:

Bound Over for Bigamy
Reference to a marriage at Fulham register office was made at Cambridge Assizes yesterday during the trial of a woman for bigamy. In the dock was Jean Ann Maurice...indicted for bigamously marrying Aircraftman James Copneigh, of Lammas Road, Ealing. Witness cried bitterly when refernce was made to Aircraftman Copneigh, who had committed suicide by taking an overdose of aspirin.
When prsioner was 17...she had a baby. The man who became her husband...took pity on her and married her at Fulham register office in June, 1935. From the start the marriage was a failure. After attempting to live together several times prisoner and her husband parted in 1938.
[After] she met Copneigh...they became fond of each other, and when Copneigh joined the Air Force he persuaded prisoner to go and live near him. They eventually went through a form of marriage at Cambridge in April.
The bigamy came to light when prisoner wanted a new ration card and the police inspected her identity card. She then made a clean breast of matters and stated the reason she committed bigamy was that she met someone who told her her legal husband had been killed in an air raid. He was, in fact, an air raid warden.
"I am very suspicious, she is not so innocent," the judge said. "In other words, I am doubtful she ever believed her husband was dead."

Regards

Simon

[jonheyworth]

Harold Woods 1091646, a medically discharged airman at the time of his death, had been admitted seriously ill to RAF hospital Kirkham on 22 April and was later medically discharged, dying of pulmonary tuberculosis