ID: BOX005_009 / Compiled by the Editorial Staff of Essex County Standard and edited by Hervey Benham

TitleEssex at War
AbstractThe Story of World War 2 in Essex, written soon after the end of the war

Page 38: On 6 May 1941 it was Mersea's turn when a plane came in low and dropped a bomb. "Freak Bomb" stories were at this time treasured by A.R.P. personnel in most towns. The story of this bomb is known to the folk of West Mersea. A bouncer by nature, it ricocheted off the mud and in its flight passed from end to end of a house-boat, taking a bite out of a yacht as it passed. It then plunged into the sea and exploded, opening the seams of the smack WATERLILY, and sinking it.
Page 92: The smack LILY of West Mersea exploded a mine while trawling off Bradwell Point in June 1942, and was blown to pieces with her owner, Mr Stoker, and his wife. Another smack, the TEASER, of Maldon, blew a mine in the Blackwater but the crew escaped.
[But, note by Tony Millatt Mar 2009: The name LILY does not agree with an account given by Bobby Stoker, who says the smack was MAGGIE].

AuthorCompiled by the Editorial Staff of Essex County Standard and edited by Hervey Benham
Published1945
SourceMersea Museum
IDBOX005_009
Related Images:
Essex at War, compiled by the Editorial Staff of Essex County Standard and edited by Hervey Benham. There is also a copy of this in Hervey Benham cupboard in Resource Centre BOX005_009_C001
ImageID:   BOX005_009_C001
Title: Essex at War, compiled by the Editorial Staff of Essex County Standard and edited by Hervey Benham.
There is also a copy of this in Hervey Benham cupboard in Resource Centre
Date:1945
Source:John Leather Collection
Girls of the Royal Observer Corps 18 group inspected by Air-Commodore Finlay Crerar, CBE (Commandant R.O.C.) at Birch aerodrome, on stand-down. </p><p>From Essex at War, page 105. BOX005_009_P105
ImageID:   BOX005_009_P105
Title: Girls of the Royal Observer Corps 18 group inspected by Air-Commodore Finlay Crerar, CBE (Commandant R.O.C.) at Birch aerodrome, on stand-down.

From Essex at War, page 105.

Date:July 1945
Source:John Leather Collection
Women's Institute jam-makers at Birch. </p> <p> From Essex at War by Hervey Benham, page 121. </p><p>This is in the kitchen at Birch Hall. See <a href=mmphoto.php?typ=ID&hit=1&tot=1&ba=cke&bid=PBR_118>PBR_118 </a> for more background. BOX005_009_P121
ImageID:   BOX005_009_P121
Title: Women's Institute jam-makers at Birch.

From Essex at War by Hervey Benham, page 121.

This is in the kitchen at Birch Hall. See PBR_118 for more background.

Date:cDecember 1940
Source:John Leather Collection