Auction Catalogue

25 March 2015

Starting at 10:00 AM

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Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria to include a Fine Collection of Napoleonic Medals

Washington Mayfair Hotel  London  W1J 5HE

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Lot

№ 826

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25 March 2015

Hammer Price:
£2,200

Three: Flight Lieutenant W. P. Cambridge, Royal Air Force, who was killed in the Battle of Britain in September 1940, while serving as temporary C.O. of 253 Squadron

1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, together with original Air Ministry condolence slip in the name of ‘Flight Lieutenant W. P. Cambridge’, this last with small tear and creased, the medals virtually as issued (3) £400-500

William Percival Cambridge was born in India in 1912, the son of Sydney John Pelham and Agnes Helen Cambridge. His father, a member of the Auxiliary Forces of India, was then employed as an engineer for the Indian Government. Educated at Bromsgrove School, Worcestershire, William returned to India to pursue a career in the sugar business, but in February 1936, owing to a keen interest in aviation, he entered the Royal Air Force on a short service commission.

Having gained his “Wings” he was posted to No. 29 Squadron at Debden, in which capacity he was advanced to Flight Lieutenant in September 1938. In October 1939, however, he transferred to No. 253 Squadron as a Flight Commander, a Hurricane unit then based at Turnhouse in Scotland, but in late August 1940, it was ordered South to Kenley. Quickly in action, Cambridge claimed a Me. 110 destroyed on the 30th and, following the loss of his C.O. and a fellow Flight Commander, assumed temporary command of the Squadron 24 hours later. Over the next few days he led 253 on numerous sorties but on 8 September 1940, he baled out of his Hurricane and was killed, the aircraft crashing near Kingsworth.

Cambridge, who was an all-round sportsman and a member of the Berkshire Wanderers Football Club, had married Mary Margaret Blackwell on the outbreak of hostilities, and she was living at Caversham, Reading, Berkshire at the time of his death. He is buried in Reading (Henley Road) Cemetery.

For further awards to the Cambridge family, including his father’s O.B.E., see Lots 307, 309 and 600.