Name
Hubert William Ransom
6 July 1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/03/1918
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
Royal Flying Corps
70 Squadron
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
MARTINSART BRITISH CEMETERY
I. A. 3.
France
Headstone Inscription
“Willingly he went and bravely gave his all".
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin
Pre War
Hubert was born on 6 July 1896 in Hitchin and was the third son of parents, Francis and Priscilla Maud Ransom (née Lucas). They married in Hitchin in 1891.
In the 1901 census the family home was The Chilterns, Wymondley Road, Hitchin, however both parents were absent and have not yet been found. The census records the household (present) as, Francis and Priscilla’s children, John (8), Philip (7), Hubert William (4) and Christopher (1). Also present were governess - Margaret G Harris (25), domestic nurse - Lizzie Wilsher (29), cook - Clara Bean (36), parlour maid - Edith Mashford (21) and housemaid - Beatrice J Ambron (22). Without further information we presume the parents were away visiting and had left the children in the charge of their governess.
By 1911 the family were living at the same address, however both parents were now present Francis (51) and Priscilla Maud (40). The census recorded they had been married for 19 years with 7 children, of whom 2 had died. The only child present was Richard Francis aged 4. Four servants were also present. We know that two children had died, and it is presumed the rest were away at schools or with the parents. With further investigation John was found boarding at Rugby School and Hubert, now 14, boarding at Grove House, Leighton Park School, Shinfield Rd, Reading, Berks.
Hubert enlisted into the Royal Navy on 22 October 1914, for the period of Hostilities. He was 5’ 10” tall with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion.
Wartime Service
He had enlisted into the Royal Naval Air Service Armoured Cars, as a despatch rider and served in the South West African and East African campaigns for two years. He returned to the U.K. in March 1917 when the R.N.A.S.A.C. was disbanded and he joined the Royal Flying Corps in May 1917.
For this period his service record shows that he was in training at Pembroke III. He was there until 31 March 1915. Then listed against President II (*1) until 10 April 1917, then President II (German East Africa) and President II (Crystal Palace) until 6 May 1917. However, a note in his service record states “25.4.17 approves of the discharge of the P.O. x? not desirous of transferring to the R.N.A.S.”
He trained at the R.F.C. Cadet School in Oxford and at Catterick and Montrose. He received his wings in December 1917 and was posted to France on the 24th February 1918. His rank was Cadet, effective 6 June 1917, Flight Lieu (possibly) ‘On Probation’ from 16 August 1917 (Gazetted 11 September 1917) and 2nd Lieutenant (Flight Officer) from 17 November 1917 (Gazetted 12 December 1917). There is also a RFC notice of discharge dated 15 August 1917, when Hubert William Ransom no. 83622 3rd Class Air Mechanic was discharged from South Farnborough, aged 21, “his services being no longer required having been appointed to a temporary commission, as 2nd Lieut (on probation) on the general list for duty with Royal Navy Flying Corps.” – His character was noted as “Keen & Efficient.” This record shows him as enlisting on 2 March 1916, previously he had been a student.
In the service record covering this period which commences on 18 June 1917 his home address was given as The Chilterns, Hitchin. There are then 9 entries which are difficult to read but appear to be movements between training establishments and active squadrons, until he was posted as missing on 29 March 1918.
We do know that he joined 70 Squadron Royal Flying Corps based at Marieux south east of Doullens in France from where the Squadron had been flying Sopwith Camels since the 15th March 1918.
On the day of his death the R.F.C. lost 39 aircraft over Albert and he was flying a Sopwith Camel with serial number C8234. Thirteen aircraft were shot down by the famous J.G.I. commanded by Baron Manfred von Richthofen who accounted for three of them. It was on this day that 2/Lieut McLeod R.F.C. won his V.C.. Hubert is thought to have been brought down by ground fire.
His body was not recovered until August 1918 from where it had been buried behind the German lines. He was then buried in Martinsart British Cemetery near Albert in Plot 1, Row A, Grave 3. A private inscription on the headstone reads “Willingly he went and bravely gave his all".
Additional Information
*1 President II was the accounting base for the RNAS. Sometimes the clerks would write where the person was in brackets after it, as is the case above.
An In Memoriam notice appeared in the Herts Express on 7 June 1919 acknowledging that after being reported missing was now presumed killed in action.
His brother, John known as Jack, was a Captain in the Royal Berks Regiment and died on 4 September 1919 and another brother, Philip serves with the Hertfordshire Regiment and survived.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
