Silvertop | David Arthur Henry
3 men, 3 British soldiers, buried in 2 different cemeteries. But still forever connected. Because of that one fateful afternoon, that one fateful minute, there in that Brabant village.
Hubert Orr (1910 – 1944)
Buried in the CWGC cemetery in Overloon, grave number 14, section III, row E
David Silvertop (1912 – 1944)
Buried in the Roman Catholic churchyard in Sint Anthonis, grave number 4
Maurice Lock (1915 – 1944)
Buried in the Roman Catholic churchyard in Sint Anthonis, grave number 3
The fatal fork junction
“We’ve got a troop attachment on that other road, haven’t we?”
“Yes, of course we have.”
“But I don’t think that was one of ours. It sounded a bit like a German machine gun.”
“Yes, it did a bit.”
(Source: quote from ‘Roscoe the bright shiner’, Biography of Charles Barnet ‘Roscoe’ Harvey)
In the bright sunlight, the monument in Sint Anthonis casts its shadow over the stones.
A few cars, cyclists and pedestrians pass this spot.
Now it is a rustic spot in the village.
But at the same time, it is the spot that was the dramatic finale of a series of rapidly successive events all those years ago. Where the liberation of the village seemed to go without too many problems, but where that day suddenly turned into a very dark day.
And where 3 men would totally unexpectedly become forever connected: Hubert Orr, David Silvertop and Maurice Lock.
Biography
David Arthur Henry Silvertop is born on Wednesday 10 January 1912 in Southsea, near Portsmouth. He is the son of Arthur Edward Silvertop and of Dorothy Silvertop, maiden name Dalglish, who is born in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. The family also consists of 2 sisters. David’s eldest sister Diana Mary Caroline is born on 22 August 1907 and his younger sister Pamela Mary Dorothy is born on 12 April 1913.
David comes from a very wealthy Catholic family from the county of Northumberland.
In the 18th century, his ancestor Albert Silvertop buys a number of fields and cottages near the town of Consett, about 14 miles southwest of Newcastle upon Tyne, in County Durham. At that time the Silvertop dynasty is already a prominent Catholic dynasty that has overcome centuries of religious persecution and prospered in the coal trade in the Newcastle upon Tyne region.
Read the continuation of the biography and file on Hubert Orr, David Silvertop, Maurice Lock and the drama at Sint Anthonis in the full version of “Faces from the Past” below.
Silvertop and Orr: the hand grenade and cover up theory
The truth behind the Sint Anthonis drama, 25 September 1944
Even though an OWC file appears to have been definitively compiled because all available information about the soldier, his history and the circumstances has been included, definitive is sometimes not definitive. Because memories or facts that have not yet been described can still emerge. Memories and facts that still deserve to be told and will then be added to a new version of the file.
If there is one file that is still being developed intermittently, it is the joint file on Orr, Silvertop and Lock and the dramatic events in Sint Anthonis on Monday afternoon 25 September 1944.
On this afternoon 25 September 1944 around 4.30 pm, the British officers Lieutenant Colonel Hubert Orr and Lieutenant Colonel David Silvertop, while consulting with 2 other British officers on a fork junction in the Dutch village of Sint Anthonis, are suddenly fatally hit by German bullets. Those bullets are fired from suddenly passing German half-tracks fleeing from British troops, then end up in the village and, in panic, look for a way out of the village by shooting heavily.That is a fact. Or not?
Because is the truth completely different, as a persistent rumour and several publications still claim? And is it even true, as some claim, that there is even a cover up and the real truth should not be told?
This investigation will be a journey through unexpected things, a dive into known and completely unknown material. And even exclusive material that has never been made public, but which has been made available especially for this investigation.
Read the complete investigation report and results below.
