Cunningham Clifford 1898

Clifford Cunningham

 

1898-1980

Father Nm: Frederick Cunningham was born in 1873

Mother Nm: Fanny Dodgson was born in 1874

Marriage Dt:2 Oct 1920 in Sheffield,

K comments:
Spouse comments: Evelyn Ida Philomena Blencowe [4558] was born 13 Apr 1897 at Wincobank, Yorkshire, England. died in 1982 at age of 84 years in Sheffield.

Children. Evelyn Cunningham was born on 4 Jul 1921 in Sheffield., Miriam J Cunningham was born in 1923 and died in 1925 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, Sylvia I Cunningham was born 1928 in Sheffield., Evolyn Cunningham was born 1935 in Sheffield, Stanly Cunningham was born in 1938 Sheffield.

Born 1898

28 Sep 1898 Sheffield. Baptised 2 Nov 1898 Sheffield, St Silas, Gilcar

1901 Census

Chester Street in Ecclesall Bierlow, Yorkshire

First name(s)	Last name	Relationship	Marital status	Sex	Age	Birth year	Occupation	Birth place
Frederick	Cunningham	Head	Married	Male	28	1873	Bricklayer	Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Fanny	Cunningham	Wife	Married	Female	27	1874	House duties	Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
William Hy	Cunningham	Son	–	Male	4	1897	–	Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Clifford	Cunningham	Son	–	Male	2	1899	–	Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Eva	Cunningham	Daughter	–	Female	0	1901	–	Sheffield, Yorkshire, England

1911 CENSUS

 

First name(s)	Last name	Relationship to head	Marital status	Sex	Age	Birth year	Occupation	Birth place
Frederick	Cunningham	Head	Widower	Male	38	1873	Bricklayer	Sheffield York
Frederick	Cunningham	Son	Single	Male	18	1893	Cutter	Yorks
William Henry	Cunningham	Son	–	Male	14	1897	Painter house	Yorks
Clifford	Cunningham	Son	–	Male	12	1899	School	Yorks
Eva	Cunningham	Daughter	–	Female	10	1901	School	Yorks
Gladys	Cunningham	Daughter	–	Female	8	1903	School	Yorks
Stanley	Cunningham	Son	–	Male	6	1905	School	Yorks
Horace	Cunningham	Son	–	Male	3	1908	–	Yorks

WW1

Clifford Cunningham, Private Army , Aircraftsman 1230060 RFC, RAF.

Synopsis

Clifford’s RAF record can be positively identified as father Frederick given as next of kin. the record says he joined 1918 the Royal Flying Corps which at the time was an Army flying service, the record says he had served with the Army. No other details are given and no medal card or other records that can be him have been identified. There are two good reasons for this, firstly most of the service records for WW1 were destroyed in a fire, and secondly, if he finished his career with the RAF then they would have issued any medals he had qualified for. But as to when he served with the Army it may well have been before the war because of the fact that he served until 1920 with the RAF and this was usually for his rank due to the fact he joined late in the war.

1914-1917 ?

1918

• 30 January. Enlisted as a 3rd class Air mechanic which covered a lot of the less skilled jobs such as driver, field transport etc. Clifford begins induction and training in the Reserve Depot.
• 14 April. The RAF is formed and Clifford is transferred
• 4 May. Transferred to 150 Squadron which was based in Salonika Greece. Clifford saw out the war with the Squadron.

  

• 7 December. Transferred to 17 Squadron which was in Salonika but In December 1918, the squadron was re-equipped with twelve DH9s and six Camels, sending A Flight to Batum to support the White Russian forces and B and C Flights to Constantinople.

1919

• 22 September. Transferred to the 47 Squadron. which had been operating on behalf of the White Russians against the Bolsheviks. At the end of World War I, in April 1919, the squadron was sent to Southern Russia to help General Denikin‘s White Russian forces in their fight against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. While the RAF’s ostensible mission was purely to provide training to Denikin’s forces, No. 47 Squadron was included in the mission in order to carry out operational sorties.^[7] It was equipped with a mixture of aircraft, with flights equipped with Airco DH.9 and DH.9A bombers and Sopwith Camel fighters. The squadron’s flights operated independently, carrying out bombing and strafing missions against Bolsheviks. military Wiki

Background note from RFT at the Great War Forum how the 47th got to South Russia

47 “A” Squadron RAF South Russia –

With the exception of those that elected to return to the UK the answers is YES they were volunteers.

The officers and other ranks who formed the early backbone of the squadron (in the spring of 1919) had been shipped to S. Russia from Salonika and many of these war weary men only wished to get back to the UK and did not relish another lengthy campaign of fighting.  In the UK, Raymond Collishaw was selected to take charge of 47 Squadron and he was tasked with pulling together officers and ranks for a short service campaign (about a year) in S. Russia.  It is well known (and documented) that he personally selected many of the pilots and ground crew for service in S. Russia.  In June 1919 Collishaw and a ‘half a dozen’ officers together with 175 other ranks (volunteers) travelled across Europe eventually coming to disembark at the Black Sea port of Novorossisk on the 9th July.  A further 2 days travelling inland took the group to their H.Q. aerodrome located on the outskirts of Ekaterinoadar, S. Russia.  A fair number of those who had earlier arrived from Salonika elected to embark for the UK. Others continued to embark throughout 1919.  Save for illness (and loss of life) those ranks who formed the 175 volunteers continued to serve well into March 1920.

• 15 November. Transferred back to 17 Squadron.

1920

• 7 February. Discharged to Reserves

Medals

Sources

1. 1. Find my past  and BFA database
   2. Aerodrome web site
   3. https://archive.org/details/over-balkans-south-russia/page/n7/mode/2up

After the War

1921 Census

12 Seventh Rd, Sheffield

Clifford	Cunningham	Boarder	Male	1898	22	Sheffield, Yorkshire, England	Labourer General	Thomas Firth & Sons Steel Works
Evelyn Ida Philomena	Cunningham	Boarder	Female	1897	24	Sheffield, Yorkshire, England

1939 Census

08 Buchanan Road, Sheffield. 3 other listed minors . Confusion exists in the recording Evelyn Ida is said to be the daughter Evolyn born in 1935 transcribed as ??? as the error is noted.

Clifford	Cunningham	28 Sep 1898	Male	Charge Hand Steel Examiner	Married	139	1
~??? Evelyn Ida	Cunningham	13 Apr 1897	Female	Unpaid Domestic Duties	Married	139	2
Evelyn	Cunningham	04 Jul 1921	Female	Saw Etcher	Single	139	3

Death 1980

May 1980 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England

Gallery

Clifford is remembered for his Service by his employer John Crossley & Son at the WW1 memorial to all employees now located at :

Industrial Park
Dean Clough Industrial Park
Dean Clough
Halifax
Calderdale
West Yorkshire
HX3 5WD
England

There are service records in the National archives for this person they can be viewed and download from their website https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/