Beverley North Patrol

Locality

The historic market town of Beverley lies 7 miles north-west of Hull.

Patrol members
Name Occupation Posted from Until
Sergeant Charles Wright

Tannery foreman

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Corporal William Smith

Baker

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Corporal Roy Musgrave Wilson

Machine & glue worker

Unknown Unknown
Private Kenneth Barton

Manager of food provider

Unknown Unknown
Private George Arthur Higgens

Valuer

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Private Horace Lenton

Baker

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Private Percy Padget

Plater in ship yard

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Private William Edward Shaw

Electric welder in shipyard

Unknown Unknown
Private Charles Percival Sykes

Transport manager

Unknown 03 Dec 1944
Operational Base (OB)

The OB was built into the side of a chalk quarry to the west of Victoria Road. It was a Nissen type structure with a concrete culvert pipe tunnel as an escape route. The site is now a large retail development.

OB Status
Destroyed
Location

Beverley North Patrol

Patrol Targets

It could be that these Patrols both Beverley North and South would have been deployed to cause havoc around the Town of Beverley. The Beverley North and South Patrols were only three quarters of a mile apart and 2 miles from the Walkington OB.

Another local target would include RAF Leconfield, a Bomber Command Airfield.

Training

Training was carried out at the Bluestone Quarry with both the Beverley South and the Walkington Patrols and transport for the Patrols was provided by a Mr Tattershall, a William Hodgesons employee using the firms transport.

Weapons and Equipment

Weapons would have included;.303 Rifles, Tommy Guns, .22 Sniper Rifles with telescopic sights and silencer. .38 Revolvers, and a special dagger with a curved blade. Hand Grenades, Fuses of different burning rates, Pull Switches, Pressure Switches, Time Pencils of different time spells ranging from 10 minutes by 30 minute intervals to 12 hour delays. Sticky Bombs, Phosphorus Bombs.

Other information

Although the 1944 list shows two Patrols of Beverley North and Beverley South, an earlier Home Guard transfer list shows there was possibly one Patrol to start with.

Mr G.W. Hardy explained as a 15 year old he acted as a messenger boy between Captain Carrington and Sergeant Sykes, who was replaced at some stage by Sergeant Wright who appears in the 1944 list as a Private. Also Private Micklewaite, listed in the Walkington Patrol, is often referred to as a member of the Beverley Patrol.

In a written story by Auxillier Eddie Shaw, (his name appears on the Nominal Roll for the Beverley South Patrol) he states that his OB was the Beverley North Patrol. We can only conclude that there was indeed one Patrol for this area in the early set up days. He says that the OB was very damp and not fit for the storage of explosives and it was Eddie's job was to store the explosives but he doesn’t say where.

The whole Patrol was sent to the Isle of Wight and Eddie states that they arrived by ferry at Freshwater and stayed in Lord Tennysons House. They were detailed to march around the Island, a ten mile route march twice a day, in shifts and were on the Island for ten days. They took the place of Canadian Troops who had somewhat wrecked the house.

References

TNA ref WO199/3389

Hancock data held at B.R.A

1939 Register

Andy Gwynne

East Ridings Secret Resistance by Alan Williamson,

Stephen Lewins,

A Saboteur in Wartime – Eddie Shaws own story. Held at East Riding of Yorkshire Archives and Local Studies Service ref zDDX599/2/1