My Maternal Uncle Roy Scholes

 Roy Scholes was my Maternal Uncle and had a varied and interesting life. In this blog. I am concentrating on his involvement in WW11, as a member of the Royal Navy. 

He enlisted on November 29, 1938:

R Scholes  Rank:  Stoker, 1st Class, Army Number:  D/KX95753  Regiment:  Naval Forces.

Uncle Roy is 3rd from the left in the middle row.

  

H.M.S. Empire Mace

In November 1939 he was supposed to be serving on H.M.S. Gipsy, however, was not on board due to Injury or Illness (not sure Which).  On the 22nd November 1939 H.M.S. Gipsy, all 39 Officers, and men lost their lives when the ship was sunk due to striking a Mine off the east coast of England.

Memorial for Officers and Men from H.M.S. Gipsy

In 2018 I was contacted by Phillip Mills, PhD, who wrote about the Raid on Dieppe.

The following are extracts from information received from  Phil about the Dieppe Landings (Operation Jubilee) - 19 August 1942:

"... Your uncle was Stoker 1st Class onboard HMLCT159 (renumbered no. 3 for the Dieppe Raid). So far, I have now spoken to the families of over 70 crewmen from the Flotilla, including a few from LCT159.  Of the ten LCTs that landed, 5 were lost and three so badly damaged they had to be re-fitted after the battle. LCT159 was one of those ships lost in the action. The Flotilla suffered about 70% casualties. Your uncle's craft was the second LCT to touchdown. They successfully unloaded the three Churchill tanks and an armoured car, as well as most of the troops they were carrying, but while doing so the ship took a terrible pounding from artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire. The engine room, where Roy was working was badly damaged and the engines were knocked out of action. Roy was quite badly concussed and had his arm broken. Despite the attempts of some of the surviving crew LCT drift just offshore for a while, still under heavy fire, before it eventually drifted back onto the beach to settle near the East end next to the harbour mole. ... .    

The normal crew of LCT Mark IIs was twelve, two officers and ten ratings, but at Dieppe, this ship had a few extra naval personnel on board, such as Sick Berth Attendants, RN Beach Parties, RN Signallers, etc. There were also three tanks, an armoured car and about seventy Canadian troops (35 Fusilier Mont-Royal Infantry, some RCE, and some small detachments of other units). I have found the names of a lot of individuals who were on board LCT159 that day and have dozens of eyewitness accounts so have a good idea as to what happened. I know the names of most of the naval personnel, but for reasons explained above I cannot be 100% I have everyone. Of the 'normal' standing LCT159 crew, ie people your father would have known quite well, I know that the skipper, Freddy Cooke was killed and the first officer, William Handsaker was badly wounded. As for the rest of the crew, despite the tremendous hammering, the ship took only one other crewman was killed. However, seven of the other nine were wounded. Part of this fine survival rate is due to the marvellous work carried out by one of the Sick Berth Attendants (SBA), Ernest King, who was also the man who patched up and looked after your uncle. Of the four SBAs, one was killed and two were wounded. The other 'extra' naval passengers suffered heavily, with three officers being killed and two wounded. The ratings suffered similar casualties ... . "

After several years of not being able to find or get access to Uncle Roy's, war service records I found a Facebook Group called 'Stalag V111B/344 Lamsdorf Prisoners of War'. On March 16, 2022, I posted the details I knew about Uncle Roy, and today March21, 2022 I received a post and information from the same Philip Mills from 2018.

The information from Phil, with a promise of more to come, confirms that Uncle Roy was taken prisoner at Dieppe on August 19, 1942.

Officers & Ratings  POW Number:  43037  Camp Type:  Stalag  Camp Number:  344  Camp Location:  Lamsdorf (Oberschkesein), Poland  Section:  Naval Forces. He was released by the Americans in 1945.

The following is an extract from the information received via Philip Mills:

Hopefully, I will have more information to post in the near future, with grateful thanks to Philip Mills PhD.

Jeremy and the Ultra520K

 Reprinted from Richmond News 27 August 2022

  Maria Rantanen 

Steveston man wins three-day ultra triathlon event

The heat reached 44 degrees Celsius during the Ultra520 race, based in Penticton.

A fire along the Keremeos Creek over the B.C. Day long weekend rerouted a race equivalent to a double Ironman, but it didn’t stop a Steveston man, Jeremy Hopwood, from taking first prize.

The Ultra520, based in Penticton – which Hopwood calls the “triathlon heart” of B.C.  – was on his bucket list to do when he was turning 40. This was delayed by a few years because of the COVID-19 pandemic but this year he completed it despite a medical setback, that being a bout of Bell’s Palsy in the spring.

The Ultra520 takes place over three days and Hopwood's time was 27:38:06, well ahead of the second-place finisher.

On day one, the competitors swim 10 kilometres and cycle 145 kilometres. Day two is a 275-kilometre bike ride and day three is a double marathon – 84 kilometres in length.

Preparing for the Ultra520 – or any other long race – includes getting ready psychologically as well as physically.

During the nine-hour days in the gruelling heat, Hopwood said he needed to break down what he had to accomplish into small chunks as not to be overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the race.

He compares it to his kids doing school projects, and breaking them down into achievable pieces.

“I think that’s a really important mental skill … otherwise, it can be nearly impossible as a whole,” Hopwood said. “But if you break it down, it’s a lot more doable.”

This means focusing on what you have to do, not how far you have to go, he added.   

Especially given the heat, which got up to 44 degrees Celsius, there was a lot his crew had to do around to keep him cool, Hopwood explained.

“It was a lot about working with my support crew, what do we have to do in the next 15-20 minutes around my heat management, what do I need to eat, what do I need to drink,” Hopwood said.

Training for the Ultra520 meant doubling his training time, from his regular 10 hours a week to 20 hours of week of swimming, running and cycling.

Hopwood started this regime in May in anticipation of the July long weekend event.

Hopwood said he has a natural aptitude for endurance races, which attracted him to doing Ironman and other long-form events.

But part of his motivation is the “good community feel” among the athletes and their crew, especially in Penticton, which is known for its Ironman community.

Hopwood, who works for Telus as an IT program manager, finds training for endurance sports keeps him “grounded” and works as a stress release.

Without any distraction, training days are “very simple” with just trying to reach the next tree or the next post along his route.

In his spare time, Hopwood has gotten involved in coaching cross-country racing with the Kajaks, Richmond’s track and field club, and he hopes to learn more about coaching.

Having achieved this bucket list item, Hopwood is now gearing up to do an Ironman this weekend to round out this season’s races.

Ironman Canada started in Penticton in 1982, after a 10-year hiatus from the central Okanagan city, it’s back in Penticton again this year.

My Maternal Granduncle Frank Scholes

 

Uncle Maurice Bleackley Hopwood

I never met my Uncle Maurice, who was born in October 1917 in Cheadle, Cheshire, England 

In March 1941 he married Marguerite Dutton. 

During WW11 Maurice (HOPWOOD, Cpl. Maurice Bleackley, 2340070) served in the Royal Corps of Signals. XXX Armed Corps Signals.

He died in India on 23 July 1942 aged 24 and only around 16 months of marriage. 

To make matters even worse, he was not killed by a human enemy, but a flying one in the form of mosquitoes.

He died of malaria and is buried in the Gauhati War Cemetery, Guwāhāti, Assam, India.

Memorial Certificate for 

Corporal Maurice Bleackley Hopwood

A section of the Gauhati War Cemetery, 

Guwāhāti, Assam, India

War Memorial in Cheadle Hulme.

This photo courtesy of Chris Gleave - https://wargravesandmemorials.blogspot.com/

A very busy Hopwood

I have just 'discovered another branch of my family tree.

Ann Hopwood - 1775 - 1833 (my 2nd cousin 5 times removed (2C5R)) married Robert Bleazard - 1768 - 1841. They had 11? Children one of them was John Hopwood Bleazard - 1803 - 1871 (3C4R).

John moved to the USA in 1841.

He became a Polygamist and had a total of 9 wives and 21 children.

John Hopwood Blazzard (Bleazard; Blazard)

LIFE SKETCH OF JOHN HOPWOOD BLAZZARD Written by Effie Blazzard Syphus in 1958 And read by her in the Dixie Camp Meeting of D.U.P. on May 12th, 1958 at St. George, Utah John Hopwood Blazzard was born in Newton, Yorkshire, England on February 26, 1803, and lived in England until he emigrated to the U.S. in 1842. He was a son of Robert Blazzard (born about 1777 and son of John Blazzard) and his mother was Ann Hopwood (born July 13, 1777 in England, and her parents were James Hopwood, born 21 March 1741 and Margaret Smith born 1744.) He had the following brothers and sisters: Joseph born 1792, Mary born 1796, James born 1798, Robert born 1804, and Margaret (Marcy) born 1809. He joined the L.D.S. Church as one of the very early converts, and we have record of his volunteering for missionary service at Cornslaw, England, and also where he was orgained an Elder July 6, 1840. He came to America on the ship “North American,” but the number of his family who came over with him is not certain. From Uncle Mark’s diary, we find that he brought a wife Ann and a young daughter, Ann. (Kate Curtis—in her records—has the names of two boys and two girls---Robert, John, Mattie and Ann, and thnks they remained in the East, but none of them came to visit Grandma Blazzard (Sarah Search Miller Blazzard Pectol) in Washington, Utah or Salt Lake City. In England, John was a wheelwright and ship’s carpenter. But how he spent his early life up to his baptism, is unknown to us because we have no records of that time. After coming to America, and to Nauvoo, he belonged to the Nauvoo Legion and played a clarinet in the Nauvoo Band. (This Clarinet is owned now by some of his descendants.) His son Mark’s family has his tool chest. Wes Blazzard says he has seen the chest and that the name is spelled Blazzard on it rather than Bleazard, as some of the family spell it. Some of the relatives claim that Grandma Sarah Searcy Blazzard was the one who changed the spelling. John married (1) Ann Knowells in England, and she died in Nauvoo. (2) He also married Betsy Pool who died in Nauvoo (from Uncle Mark’s diary.) Then he married Sarah Searcy Miller, a widow with five children, in Winter Quarters (sealed to him 30 March, 1848) and he also married her daughter (4) Mary Jane Miller the same day. Mary Jane had two children by him—Sarah Jane (born 14 Oct 1849), and Mary Ann—then she left him and married Isaac Hill and had ten children. (5) His next marriage was to Lydia Davis and she bore him five children. (6) He married Margaret Birch but they had no children that we know of—sealing date is 15 October 1851. (7) He married Matilda Murch Penny 17 January 1855, a widow and she bore him one son whom they called Tom Penny Blazzard. She soon left him, and after that the boy went by the name of Tom Penny. (8) Another wife was Mary Ison (or Isom) whom he married 16 November 1867, but no children that we have record of. (9) Another wife was Mary Matilda Holdem, who was sealed to him 7 Feb. 1863, and no record of any children. Kate Curtis has the name of another wife (10) Mary H. Blazzard who was baptized in England March 10, 1846, and came to Salt Lake City 1866, and lived in the 14th Ward. His children also claim that he married (11) Martha Miller—daughter of Sarah Searcy Miller but she soon left him, and married another man, then also married Isaac Hill—the husband of her sister. Wife (3) Sarah Search Blazzard had six children—three boys and three girls. These were: John (born Dec 1848), Marian (born 1850), and in Salt Lake City, James (1852), Dorcus , Ellen and Thomas (born 14 August 1857.) Then she left him and married George Petol and moved to Southern Utah, and made her home in Washington until her death March 15, 1889. John, born 1848, came to Salt Lake City but never married. He was injured when a child so that he wa not able to learn to read and write. He spent the last twenty years of his life with his brother Thomas and family. He got his leg broken by an old buck sheep and only lived one week and died. He was buried in Washington, Utah. Marion was born in Winter Quarters in 1846. She married James Petol and had three children when he died a young man. Two of thes boys, James and LeRoy, married and raised families in Southern Utah. Marian later married E. M. Steers and had five or six children. We have had no contact with any of her children for a ong time. She died in Idaho. James Blazzard was born 7 August 1852 in Salt Lake. He was raised in Southern Utah and married Mary Catherine Jolley 30 Nov 1876. They spent most of their married life in Luna, New Mexico. They are both buried at Thatcher, Arizona. Dorcus and Ellen, two girls we know very little about. Both died very youing and are buried in the Washington Cemetery where their Mother is buried. Thomas was the last child born to them August 14, 1857 in Salt Lake City. When he was only four years old his mother had separated from John and married George Pectol and they moved to Southern Utah to raise cotton. Thomas married Eliza Melzena Averett in St. George Temple January 19, 1882. They raised a family of nine children, all but two lived to marry and raise families. Hazel died at age 21 of typhoid and George eighteen was killed with a horse. Thomas died 3 July 1924 in St. George, Utah and is buried at Washington, Utah. Eliza (Dean) died February 22, 1935, and was buried in the Washington Cemetery beside her husband. Wife (4) Mary Jane Miller was sealed to John Hopwood Blazzard by Brigham Young 30 March at 6 p.m. Witness Wilford Woodruff. They had born to them Sarah Jane and Mary Ann. Sarah Jane was born 14 October 1849 at Holt, Mo. And she died in 1921 at Moab, Utah. She married Walso Kinnison. Later she married Randolph Stewart, the first Bishop of Moab and had a family by him. Four years ago I went to Moab and met Irene Emmaline Berry Powell, one of her daughters, who was very feeble and too weak to tell me very much about her mother. I also met Brother and Sister McConkie who knew Sarah Jane and helped get her ready for burial and preached her funeral sermon. Lydia Davis (5) bore him five children: Joseph Davis (born 17 April 1860), Mark Hopwood (21 March 1861), Lucy Davis Watts (30 March 1863), Caleb Davis (1 March 1865), and Orson (1 Jan 1867). Joseph died as a small boy. Mark married Annie Danks and raised a large family in Salt Lake City. Lucy married Alford Linford Watts, no family that we have record of. Caleb married Elizabeth Diana Merritt, and they raised a family at Afton, Wyoming. His wife is still living. Orson married Carrie Fisher and they have nine children. These families all spell their name Bleazard. John was the father of eighteen children. The Blazzard and the Bleazard children never met and knew each other until they met in court to break their father’s will or to make a settlement of his property. After reaching Nauvoo, John evidently got together a good outfit for the move to Salt Lake City, but when they reached Winter Quarters, some of the Church Officials (we believe it was Brigham Young) instructed him time after time “Brother Blazzard, let me have this outfit of yours now, so the first immigrants can go on. Some of the wagons are broken down and some of the oxen and teams have died. You can build other wagons and get together a new outfit and come later.” It is believed that he was instructed to stay and build and fix wagons for two years. He did finally reach Utah in 1850 or 1848. Whatever the Church Officials asked of the members in time or money, they were willing to give it to further the work of the Lord. While in Nauvoo, he was baptized in the river for about fifty of his relatives, and from the baptismal records, we were able to get names of his parents, and family. According to Church History, on April 6, 1855, Pres. Brigham Young called twenty men to open a mission in Las Vegas, and on May 10, they left Salt Lake. They had forty wagons drawn by oxen and had fifteen cows and some saddle horses. They followed the Old Spanish Trail part way, possibly from Parowan down. William Bringhurst was placed in charge of the Mission and the men. They arrived on June 1, and immediately began work. Their Camp was where the remains of the Old Fort is to be seen now. The Fort was made with a foundation of rocks, and on these was placed the large adobe s. The Fort was 150 feet square and the walls were two feet thick at the bottom and one foot wide at the top, and the wall was 14 feet high. There were loop holes to shoot through, if necessary. On large opening on the north was left where the oxen could bring the wagons inside the fort. This fort was just above the stream Fremont wrote about. Those missionaries were sent there for a number of purposes; to teach Christianity to the Indians, to make a Treaty with the Indians which would allow them to build a fort on their ground (for they knew the Indians owned the land); to teach those Indians how to raise livestock and grain, and to have a sort of half-way place for emigrants going to and coming from California. In the Fall, a school was started and both Indians and white children attended. In January, a Post Office was established. From a newpaper we got the following information: POST OFFICE APPOINTED: Thursday, Jan. 10, 1856. Early this morning, brothers Benjamin R. Hulse and John H. Blazzard arrived at Las Vega from the Vallies. Three other brethren also arrived at sundown, viz; George Reed, Rovert Reed, and John alllen, they having been sent from Cedar City by Erastus Snow. They were all in destitute circumstances, and had but little or no provisions. Brother Hulse brought the documents appointing a post office at Las Vegas to be called Bringhurst Post Office, Las Vegas County, Territory of New Mexico, Wm. Bringhurst, postmaster. This would be convenient after the postmaster took the necessary measure for making the appointment legal. (Editor’s Note: the reason for calling the post office Bringhurst was because Las Vegas was at that time in the territory of New Mexico and there was another Las Vegas, News Mexico, farther to the South. The name of the post office here was probably changed to Las Vegas with the formation of the State of Nevada in 1864. In another clipping dated Thursday, August 26 – a portion of it reads: Brother John Hopwood Bleazard gave the brethren an exhortation to faithfulness, and perseverance in their duties as missionaries, etc. The mission was abandoned in February, 1857, and the missionaries returned to their homes, but shortly after this others came to the mission. A clipping from the obituaries of the Deseret News, dated Jan 13, 1871 states: “Died: in the city last night about 12:00, typhoid fever, John Hopwood Blazzard—age 67 years. He was taken sick on the 28th of Nov. last. He was born in Newton, Yorkshire, England and was one of the first to embrace the Gospel in that land. Funeral services will take place on Sunday at 10:00 am in the 14th Ward meeting house. Friends of the family are invited to attend. From an old Millenial Star we copied the following: Conference held Preston, England, April 15, 1840, of Samsbury, Ordained a priest after various remarks and addresses given by the Elders. Pres. Fielding and his counselors proceeded to orgain Broer Bleazard to this office, July 6, 1840. John Bleazard and six others were ordained Elders and volunteered to devote time to the ministry. John appoint ted to labor at Cornslaw, July 7, 1840. Other information about John Hopwood Bleazard in life of John Taylor and Parley P. Pratt. The property he owned in Salt Lake City is very valuable now, and was when he died, but the long drawn ouit court proceedings lasted so long that some of this buildings were condemned and had to be removed, which left little value to the heirs. His heirs were offered $71,000 for one piece of the property. In his will, he did not leave any of his property to Sarah’s family, but Marian (Steers) had the will broken and the property partly dividd, and that was quite a hep to his children who had been raised in Southern Utah where everyone was so poor. He was one of the first to get his endowments in the Nauvoo Temple in 1846. I received this information from W. Blazzard just recently. He left Winter Quarters May 1, 1848 in the first company of Brigham Young’s, lande3d in Salt Lake Sept. 20, 1848. This was taken from the diary record of the trip. Written by Effie Blazzard Syphus in 1958. Note: The above was copied by Ella J. Seegmiller, Camp Historian of Dixie Camp of D.U.P. June 1, 1960, at St. George, Utah.

Hopwood's Move to Canada

Arrival in Canada 23 April 2019

On 23 April 2019 my wife and I made the huge move from Australia to Canada. It has been years in the planning. Our son, Jeremy, Moved to Vancouver, BC Canada in 2005. He Married in 2006 and has 2 daughters. He decided to 'bring us out' on the Family Sponsorship Program under which you can sponsor your relatives, including your spouse, partner, children, parents, grandparents, and others to immigrate.

Following many forms; payments and medicals, we were given the advice that our applications had been approved. We had to be in Canada on or before 28 May 2019, being 12 months after the date of the medicals.

We had to sell up; furniture, appliances, car, etc what started as a steady, we still have plenty of time, became a we need to get it sold, given away or tossed before we left.

Luckily, Jeremy made to trip to Australia for the last couple of weeks to help with the final selling; organising of Documents; packing and Shipping some boxes of Magic Books; Playing Cards; Magic Tricks and props; Photographs; Nick Nacks and sundry other items, prior to use leaving. Still had to pack and weigh and unpack and re pack and weigh and ... to ensure that all cases and carry on bags are within the strict weight limits.

After vacating the house we spent 2 nights complimentary (for services rendered)  stay in a Hotel in the city. 

We flew out of Hobart to Melbourne on Saturday 20 April, and drove the Bendigo for 2 nights for a family get together. Back down to Melbourne on Monday 22 April, with 1 night in the Airport Travel Lodge. Time to spend a couple of hours catching up with a very good friend ... a couple of beers, pizza and good conversation.

Finally the day has arrived, we board our Air Canada flight for the 15 hour flight to Vancouver.

On arrival at YVR it took several hours to get through the airport, most of it in Emigration.

Eventually we made it out and started our life in our new country - Canada. 

Thank you Robert

A huge thank you to Robert from WestEndVancouver.wordpress.com for supplying me with a heap of information about Frank Hopwood and his family  

I sent an email yesterday 17 November and received a reply completed with a 49 page Word document.

This has advanced my family research immeasurably.

Thank you, Robert.