Selected Biography

Ridpath, Frederick George – Born: Stratford-le-Bow, Essex on 28.2.1918.[1]  Parents: George Edward Ridpath (Hammerman) and Ada [née Sansum] of Long Melford.  Family Connections: Nephew of Jack Sansum [b1889] and Sydney Charles Sansum [b1893]; also, brother-in-law of Charles William Drury [b1905].  Home: 45 Trevelyan Road, Stratford-le-Bow, Essex (1921), 12 Martins Rise, Long Melford (1939).  Occupation: Sailor.  Married: Tressie Alice Drury of Long Melford in 1939.  Service Record: Frederick enlisted as C/JX 140124, joining the destroyer HMS Harvest which played a part in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of British, French, and Belgian troops off the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940.  By 3.3.1943 he had risen to the rank of Petty Officer when his ship, which was defending Convoy HX 228, forced the German submarine U-444 to the surface, before ramming and sinking it.  Her luck ran out days later when she was hit by a torpedo fired from U-432, fatally damaging the destroyer.[2]  Died: Aboard HMS Harvester when she sank off the west coast of Ireland on 11.3.1943.  Frederick is commemorated, together with 144 of his shipmates, on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent.[3]

Related Biography

Drury, Charles William – Born: Long Melford, Suffolk on 10.12.1905.[4]  Parents: Charles Drury (Coconut Mat Maker) and Mary Ann ‘Polly’ [née Brewster].  Family Connections: Brother-in-law to Frederick George Ridpath [b1918]; also, nephew of Frederick Drury [b1884], George Drury [b1876] and Robert Drury [b1890].  Home: Bull Lane, Long Melford (1911), High Street, Long Melford (1921), Cordell Cottages, High Street, Long Melford (1939).  Occupation: Mill Attendant for George Whittle’s Coconut Matting Factory (1921), Builder’s Labourer (1939).  Service Record: Charles was a member of ‘H’ Company, 10^th Battalion, Suffolk Home Guard when it was formed in August 1942.  His name is recorded in the official tribute to the organization entitled The Lion Roared his Defiance, photographed in and around Long Melford in 1944.[5]  Died: Sudbury, Suffolk in 1984.

Notes – [1] Date of birth from his RN Death Record.  [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Harvester_(H19).  [3] British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960 and Commonwealth War Grave Commission.  [4] 1939 Register.  [5] Published by Marten & Son, Ltd., of Market Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk in 1946.