On the the night of the 11th to 12th April 1941 one hundred and fifty three German Luftwaffe bombers targeted Bristol and Avonmouth in what has become known as the 'Good Friday Raid'. Over the course of almost four hours the two waves of aircraft dropped 193 tons of high explosive (HE) bombs and 36,888 incendiaries. This was the sixth and final large-scale raid on Bristol, a campaign during which - in totality - caused 1,299 civilian deaths and 3,305 recorded injuries. Underpinning these grim statistics it is worth noting that over 85,000 Bristol homes were damaged, with 3,000 completely destroyed.
Amongst the fatal casualties of the Good Friday raid was a fireman from Clevedon, Archibald Hancock. He was one of eight fireman killed that night. The total loss of life was 180 civilians killed, including 40 Civil defence workers - a category which included Fire Guards, Fire Watchers, Air Raid Precautions (ARP) Wardens and Firemen.
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| George A. Campbell - The Blitz: Then & Now Vol. 2 |
In April 2025, family and friends gathered around Archie's recently refurbished grave in St Andrew's Church cemetery in Clevedon, to reflect on his heroism. This event was the culmination of a project led by local Clevedon firefighter, Andy Farnden. Andy, a career fireman, had stumbled across a press cutting about Archibald Hancock whilst sorting out some archive material at the local fire station. Intrigued, Andy investigated the story and discovered that Archie had been interred locally. After contacting the Hancock family via a lead from the Cricket Club, Andy located the grave which, despite the sterling efforts of relatives, had recently fallen into a state of disrepair. He made it his mission to restore the grave and the results of his endeavour are depicted later in this post - in a sequence of three photographs.
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| Family & Firefighters at Archie Hancock's Grave - April, 2025 |
The press cutting provided the outline of the story. In the Clevedon Mercury and Courier, April 19, 1941 the headline was 'Clevedon AFS Volunteer Killed'. Underneath in bold letters reference was made to 'many tributes by Civil Defence Services' and a gravesite salute by comrades. The Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) was formed in 1938 in anticipation of the conflict to come. Twenty eight year old Archibald Charles Hancock of 'Medina', Walton Road, was one of the first to volunteer. He had been employed at Hale's Home Bakery since leaving school and was described in his obituary as 'a keen and conscientious worker'. Archie was, apparently, a popular figure and outside of work he was a keen sportsman. Indeed, Archie was Captain of Clevedon Cricket Club for two seasons and was a prominent member of the Bowls Club.
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| AFS Fireman, Archie Hancock |
The sporting interest obviously ran in the family, as his father George Hancock was Clevedon Town's goalkeeper for many seasons. Archie's parents lived in one of the Glebe Cottages on Strode Road in Clevedon.
The funeral at St Andrew's Church was quite an event by all accounts. The coffin was draped in a union jack surmounted with the deceased's helmet, belt and axe. It was carried to St Andrew's on one of Clevedon's fire engines and was borne through a guard of honour at the church entrance. Three members of Archie's crew were on point - Patrol Officer H. King, Leading Fireman J. Selwood and Fireman S.Bray. The entire Clevedon fire station contingent attended along with twenty firemen from Bristol. There was senior representation from Bristol and from the South West Region. Also present were representatives from the St John's Ambulance Brigade, the Home Guard and the Clevedon Special Constabulary. The press reports goes onto list dozens of family members and friends who attended, including Archie's widow, Ella, and his parents. Hales Bakery was closed for the afternoon and many of Archie's co-workers were present.
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| Archie Hancock's grave before, during and after restoration |
The attack on Bristol during which Archie was killed, was perhaps the most sophisticated of the Luftwaffe raids on Bristol. On the map of Avonmouth reproduced below, one can make out the two aiming points in the docks - the Royal Edward Cold Store and the Transit Grain Silo. Both had been marked by
X-Verfahren navigational radar beams, although weather conditions on the night allowed the Luftwaffe bomb aimers to target visually. Whilst many of the bombs fell on central Bristol, Avonmouth suffered considerable damage from the second wave part of which arrived over the docks shortly after midnight - the early morning of the 12th April 1941.
The Fire Liaison Officer reported 174 major incidents across Bristol and Avonmouth - 28 small fires, 144 medium ones and 2 major conflagrations. Fire and ARP services were brought in from areas around Bristol and at the height of the attack 262 fire pumps were in action. When the gasometer at Canons March was hit, German crews of 1/KG 55 noted flame rising to 1500 metres. Luftwaffe losses were mounting at this stage of the bombing campaign and on this particular mission, five aircraft were lost - four from nightfighters - one of which was a Bristol Beaufighter from 604 Sqn operating out of RAF Charmy Down near Bath. Groud defences were active too. The local HAA guns fired 6765 rounds that night and 'Starfish' decoy sites in the surrounding area attracted 34 HE bombs which would otherwise have been dropped on the city.
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| Luftwaffe Target Map 45 54/55 - Avonmouth |
According to the Commonwealth War Graves record, Archibald Charles Hancock died in the High Street, Avonmouth. One can only begin to imagine the drama of that night as the fires caught hold and the firefighters fought to bring the situation under control.
It is a salutary reminder of the critical role firefighters play in peace time as well. In recognition of this, the project that Andy embarked upon includes not only the firefighters who served during time of war but also all of those who have worked to protect the public and property in peacetime.
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| Clevedon Fire Brigade, Clevedon Court, 1883 |
Whilst the commemoration of Archie Hancock was really important, the scope of the project went beyond the wartime service of Clevedon's firefighters. An area inside the fire station was put aside for various historical artefacts and presentations. The Clevedon Fire Brigade was founded by Sir Arthur Elton and a local businessman, Alonzo Dawes, in 1883 following a major fire at Clevedon Court. The black and white photo above shows the original complement of men with their horse drawn appliance outside the Court. Andy retrieved the original helmets from a store, refurbished them, and arranged for them to be displayed in a custom built cabinet.
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| Andy Farnden and his commemoration of the Clevedon Fire Brigade |
In recognition of those firefighters who have served in Clevedon more recently, Andy came up with the idea of using replica brass BA Tallys to record when individuals joined the service, and when they left. These are displayed on the large board on the right hand side of the picture above. For those of you who, like me, are unaware of what a BA Tally is I now know that it is a personal identification tag which is handed into an Entry Control Office (ECO) when a firefighter enters a hazardous or toxic environment. It records the name, station and level of air supply for each person - along with the time they entered. How appropriate that a replica tally should be used to mark the beginning and the end of a firefighters service.
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| The carefully considered words at Clevedon Fire Station |
My final thought is that it is so important to recognise those who died in the service of their country, but that we should also remember to express our gratitude to those who work to keep the public safe - day in and day out.
With thanks to the University of the West of England (UWE) and the Avon Fire & Rescue Service for much of the information revealed above.
