Hinchliff | Patrick
Biography
Patrick Hinchliff (Service No. 4541557) died of wounds on 3 November 1944 in the vicinity of Overloon. He was aged 26 and a Private in the Army Catering Corps attached to the 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment. He was initially buried at Cemetery Huijsmans Rieterdreef, Overloon and re-interred on 12 May 1947 in Grave I. E. 14. at the CWGC Cemetery in Overloon. His grave is inscribed “Thy Kingdom Come Thy Will be Done Jesus, Mercy! Mary, Help!”
Military Career
Patrick Hinchliff enlisted in the West Yorkshire Regiment on 15 February 1940. He stated that he was born on 28 April 1917 in West Melton, Wath on Dearne which is near Rotherham in Yorkshire. He gave his address as 42 Albert Road, West Melton, Wath on Dearne. He was single and named his mother, N. Hinchliff, of the same address as his next of kin. He was described as 5 ft 8 ¼ in tall, weighed 148 lbs and had blue eyes and brown hair. He was declared Grade 1 fit on enlistment. He gave his religion as Roman Catholic.
Patrick was a butcher by trade. He stated that, more specifically, he was a Slaughterman. He was employed by D Hinchliff of 42 Albert Road who was his father. Patrick worked both in the shop and in the slaughter house.
On enlistment he was posted as a Private to an Infantry Training Centre. On 9 June 1940 he was transferred to the 2ndLincolnshire Regiment at Castle Cary in Somerset.
In October 1939, the 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment had embarked for France with the 9th Infantry Brigade attached to the 3rd Infantry Division commanded by Major-General Bernard Montgomery. They served with the British Expeditionary Force and managed to return from Dunkirk after the battles of France and Belgium. After returning to England, the Battalion spent the next four years training in various parts of the United Kingdom.
On 7 May 1941 Patrick was attached to No. 2 Army School of Cookery at Chiseldon Camp near Swindon in Wiltshire which he attended until 21 June 1941. He attended an “Emergency Cookery Course” and passed the Class II test for Cook Group B. On 29 April 1942, he was upgraded to a Temporary Non Tradesman Class I Cook while at Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire. Two weeks later on 13 May 1942 he was transferred to the Army Catering Corps with the rank of Private but as a Non Tradesman Class I Cook. He was now permanently attached to the 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment.
In early 1943 Patrick committed a couple of minor misdemeanours. On 7 January he forfeited 2 days’ pay for an absence and on 13 May he was tried by the Area Commandant of 3 Division Battle School and confined to barracks for 14 days for Prejudicial Conduct. His “crime” was that he made 1 ½ gallons of tea without permission! It seems that this occurred while he was attending 3 Division Battle School where he achieved the qualification of Tradesman Cook Group B Class III on 14 June 1943.
The 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire regiment took part in the D-Day landings in June 1944. Patrick himself embarked for France on 10 June. The battalion was then engaged throughout the Normandy Campaign, taking part in Operation Charnwood and Operation Goodwood.
On 28 August 1944 Patrick passed the test to be upgraded to Tradesman Cook Group B Class II while in France.
Following the failure to capture the bridge at Arnhem at the end of September 1944, the Allied forces were left in a precarious narrow salient through the Netherlands. The 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment were one of many who then took part in Operation Aintree with the aim of widening the salient by taking Overloon to the south and then Venray before finally eliminating a German bridgehead on the River Maas near Venlo.
On 9 October 1944 the Battalion found itself in Haps, just south of Nijmegen in the Netherlands and North of Overloon. They were ordered to move south to St Anthonis on 11 October, but this was postponed to the following day due to bad weather. The move was completed on 12 October.
On the 14 October, the Battalion was ordered to carry out an attack to clear the enemy from the woods around Overloon. Despite having to retreat part way through the attack because they came under such heavy fire with a great many casualties, they later resumed the attack, again incurring many casualties, but succeeded in reaching their objective. Patrick will have been present during this attack and will have played his part ensuring that the troops were fed, often in very difficult circumstances.
The Battalion spent the next few days reorganising until they moved forward again on 19 October to take over from the 1st Norfolk Battalion between Overloon and Venray. The days from 20 October to 1 November were relatively quiet with some increase in enemy shelling on 27 to 29 October. On 2 November the Battalion received instructions to lay two minefields forward of “D” Company’s positions which they succeeded in doing without accident. On 3 November, the forward Companies were subjected to light shelling. “D” Company lost one Other Rank killed and one wounded. It was on this day that Patrick received a shot wound to the arm. He survived long enough to be transferred away from the field but died of the wound later that day.
He had served for four years and 263 days of which 148 days were in North West Europe. He was awarded the Defence Medal, 1939-45 Medal, France and Germany Star and the War Medal 1939-45.
His personal effects were sent to his father, D Hinchliff, at 42 Albert Road. They consisted of a cap badge, a cigarette lighter and a photograph.
Family History
Patrick Hinchliff was born on 28 April 1917 to Denis and Norah Hinchliff in West Melton.
Denis was the son of John and Susan Maria Hinchliff. John was a Pork and Beef Butcher born in 1856 in Dalton Parva in Yorkshire. Susan Maria was born in 1856 in Doolough, County Mayo in Ireland. They had five children as follows: Alexander William 1881/3, John Victor Bingham 1885, Dennis Robert Bingham 1887, Samuel Bingham 1890 and Maria in 1898. Alexander was born in Dalton Parva and the rest in West Melton.
In 1891 John and Susan Maria were living at 8, Victoria Road, Wath on Dearne, but by 1901 they had moved to 42 Albert Road, West Melton where they were still living in 1921.
In 1901 all five children were still at home. Alexander and John were also working as Pork and Beef Butchers. By 1911 Alexander and John had left home. Denis was working as an assistant, presumably to his father. Samuel was an Undergraduate in Theology. By 1921 all the children had left home and John had retired.
Throughout this time, they were able to afford one or two young girls as domestic servants and also, in 1901 and 1911, a young butcher who lived with them. In 1921, even after John had retired, they had a young girl from Susan Maria’s home town of Doolough in County Mayo living with them and working for their son Dennis Hinchliff as a Butcher’s shop assistant.
John Hinchliff died in 1931 in the Rotherham district and Susan Maria Hinchliff the following year.
An obituary in the Mexborough & Swinton Times of 17 April 1931 gives more information about John Hinchliff. He was described as the “Father” of the Wath Urban Council and was a famous cattle judge. He had served an apprenticeship with a Sheffield butcher and came to Wath in his early 20s. He set up a business initially in Winterwell Road, West Melton, then took over premises in Albert Road, where he had resided for 40 years. During that time, he opened branches at Wath and Brampton. He was known at all district markets and at Birkenhead as an excellent judge of cattle and often judged at Rotherham and Doncaster shows. He had retired in 1921 and went to live
in Fitzwilliam Street, Wath.
From 1919 he was elected to the Urban District Council, of which he was twice chairman and had various other roles both on the Council and in many other bodies including the Wath and District Butchers Association and supported local charities. He believed in strict economy. “Never waste” was his slogan.
His wife, who died the following year, was too ill to attend. His sons Alexander, John and Dennis and married daughter Maria attended his funeral as did four of his grandchildren, John, Alec, Pat and Bessie as well as many other mourners including staff of Hinchliff and Sons Ltd.
John’s son, Denis Hinchliff, had married Norah Duddy in Wath upon Dearne on 6 December 1915. They married in the Roman Catholic faith. Norah was born on 18 May 1896. Little is known about her family. One census shows that she was born in West Melton, but no such record has been found.
Patrick was the second eldest of twelve children as follows: John 1916, Patrick 28 April 1917, Elizabeth 19 July 1918, Alexander 11 April 1920, Denise 1922, Mary 6 May 1923, Denis 1924, Joseph Peter 1926, Catherine 1927, Terence 24 August 1928, Brian 1934, Norah 1939. They were all born in the Rotherham district, most probably in West Melton, except for Norah (Jnr) who was born in the Don Valley district.
In 1921, Denis and Norah were living at 15, Broomhill, Wombwell with their first four children, including Patrick. Wombwell is adjacent to West Melton. Denis was a Butcher with his own business. They had a domestic servant, Mabel Horsley, born in 1900 in Sheffield.
In 1932, following his father’s death, there was an advertisement in the Eckington, Woodhouse and Staveley Express of 03 December 1932 for Denis Pat Hinchliff, Family Butcher of West Melton. This suggests that John’s son, Denis, and his son Patrick had taken over the running of the business.
In September 1939 Denis and Norah were living at 42 Albert Road, Wath Upon Dearne. It seems that they had taken over the property previously occupied by Denis’ parents. Their eldest son, John, was not present, but Patrick, Elizabeth, Alexander and Mary were there together with the remaining six children who are unnamed in the record. Denis was shown as a Butcher Shop Keeper and Patrick was also a Butcher. Elizabeth was undertaking paid domestic duties. Mary was described as an invalid.
Patrick’s experience as a butcher no doubt meant that he was well equipped to join the Army Catering Corps.
It is possible, given their ages, that Patrick’s brothers John and Alexander may have also served in WW2. It is known that his sister Elizabeth’s husband, Thomas William Snowdon, served in the Royal Artillery. He was an Acting Lance Bombadier when he was reported as a Prisoner of War in Germany on 25 September 1944 and was held at the Fallingbostel Camp. He survived the war.
Denis R B Hinchliff died in 1952 in the Rotherham district. Norah Hinchliff died on 11 December 1962. Her address was given as 27 Newfield Crescent, Wath Upon Dearne.
It is understood from the family that Patrick’s brother, Joseph Peter Hinchliff, took over the butcher’s business from his father.
