Saturday 25 February 2012

Healing's War Grave - Cyril Porri

As I was looking through the graveyard at Healing church today, I found another war grave. I was surprised by this, as I thought I would quickly find all the war graves in such a small churchyard. The reason for this is that the CWGC cleans and maintains the graves, so they are usually bright white, often with a little red poppy.
As you can see, this one is not, and is covered in dirt and mould. The inscription reads:

"Group Captain
CYRIL PORRI
Observer
Royal Air Force
(Retired)
23rd May 1950, Age 57."

This would explain why he is not listed with the CWGC (as he was retired), however, why he was buried with a military headstone. Searching through archives and records, I've found some newspaper clippings of Group Captain Porri's rise through the ranks:
THE LONDON GAZETTE, 1 JANUARY, 1929.

Note that the same person, Frederic Stammers, O.B.E is listed with Porri:

THE LONDON GAZETTE, 31 DECEMBER, 1935

Can we safely assume the two men were both friends? 
Having checked the census records, we can see that Porri was born in 1893, was 18 at the time of the 1911 census, and he lived in Grimsby. 

Lest we forget,
James

6 comments:

  1. James,
    very interesting article and if I may contribute a little . . .
    From a list of absent voters in Grimsby & Cleethorpes in 1919:

    PORRI, Cyril
    46 Lambert Road
    1 A.D. R.A.F. (Capt.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank You James, Cyril's grandson Have pictures of WW1 fighter planes taken by Cyril.

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    2. Thank you Fleshertonian, and I hope the article is to your liking.
      Would there be any way of sending the pictures to me please? My email address is under the 'Get in Touch' heading at the top of the page.

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    3. Sorry so long in response. Lost the site. I donated pictures to the Royal Canadian Legion. I will borrow from them and scan. Once done will forward copies

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  2. I think also he was very involved in aerial photography and even published on the subject

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  3. Rod,
    Thanks for the comments, and the really great information.
    James

    ReplyDelete

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