BACKLER, Gertrude Joan


No.85688, Wren, Gertrude Joan BACKLER
Aged 19


HMS "Blackcap", Women's Royal Naval Service
Died in an Accident on Active Service on Thursday, 4th May 1944


Gertrude Joan BACKLER (known as Joan) was born on 29th August 1924 at 23 Duddery Hill, Haverhill (Risbridge Q3-1924 4A:1467), daughter of Albert Percy and Gertrude Florence BACKLER (née BIGMORE).

She was baptised in the Old Independent Church on 28th September 1924. Both of Joan's parents had associations with Haverhill dating back at least 5 generations (and possibly more) to the early 1700s. Many of her ancestors worked in the town as silk, cotton or hair weavers and bear the family names of many people who still live locally. (Backler, Bigmore, Scott, Basham, Farrant and Page, to list just a few.).

Joan was a pupil at Haverhill Secondary School and attended the Old Independent Church Sunday School, later joining the Church choir. As she grew up she had wide ranging interests and became involved with several local organisations. She was one of the first cadets in the Women's Junior Air Corps, attaining the rank of Unit Sergeant which was the highest rank possible for her age. She was a member of the Dramatic Society and also played cricket for JWAC.
On leaving school she was employed in the Egg Department of Mr F Sainsbury, Little Wratting.

The 1939 register records her father Albert P [3-5-1896] boot and shoe assistant and her mother Gertrude F [7-9-1897] were at 53 Withersfield Road, with her brother Albert Peter [8-1-1928].
On leaving school, before enlisting in the W.R.N.S in 1943, she worked in the egg packing department for F. Sainsbury, in Little Wratting.





In 1943 there was a government appeal to women to 'release a Sailor for Active Service' by enlisting in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) and in October Joan signed up as a Wren Telegraphist. To join the Women's Royal Naval Service you had to have achieved the School Certificate which, in those days, meant you had to gain passes in English Language, Arithmetic and one foreign language. Wren Telegraphists were trained at HMS Cabbala, Lowton St. Marys, Leigh, Lancashire. It was a 6 month long course and they had to pass out in six subjects - Procedure, Coding, Receiving, Transmitting, Technical and Theory. They were trained to transmit and receive at 24-25 words per minute.
At the end of April, having completed her training as a Wren Telegraphist, Joan was posted to RNAS (Royal Naval Air Station) Stretton, known as HMS Blackcap , a "stone frigate" (All Royal Naval Air Stations are named after birds) situated at Appleton Thorn, 3 miles South East of Warrington in Cheshire.

Thanks to George Rose, Birkenhead RBL, we have the folowing details
On the 4th May 1944, just three or four days after joining HMS Blackcap, Joan was taking a message by bicycle to the Control Tower during a heavy rainstorm. Somehow, she got onto the perimeter track and collided with a Miles Master (training aircraft) of 798 Squadron. Joan died from the injuries sustained in this accident, aged 19 years.

She was buried in Haverhill Cemetery (Sec. U, grave 24) with Full Military Honours. Her coffin, which was draped with the White Ensign, was carried by nine soldiers of a Scottish Regiment. Following a service in the West End Church, the cortege was preceded to the cemetery by the Regimental Pipe Band who played the dirge "The Flowers of the Forest".
The South West Suffolk Echo 13 May 1944 reported that "the very large concourse of friends and sympathisers who gathered in the West End Church and at the cemetery bore testimony to the high regard in which Joan was held in the town".





Gertrude Backler is buried in Haverhill Cemetery, Sec. U, grave 24

click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details


BACK to Haverhill home page