Foster, William

Sub-Lieutenant (A)

HMS Daedalus, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

Killed in an aircraft accident on Tuesday 24 November 1942 (aged 22)

Buried:

Belfast City Cemetery (Glenalina Extension Section D Joint Grave 22)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Chislehurst War Memorial, Kent

BIOGRAPHY

William Foster’s birth was registered in the fourth quarter of 1920 in Hendon, Middlesex and he was a son of Herbert William Foster and Martha Higginson Foster (nee Barker).  Herbert William Foster worked as a cashier for a public works contractor and his marriage to Martha Higginson Barker was registered in the third quarter of 1905 in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire.

In the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour website it is recorded that Herbert William Foster and Martha Higginson Foster lived in Chislehurst, Kent.

During the Second World War Sub-Lieutenant (A) William Foster served with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and in November 1942 he was based at RAF Kirkistown.  On 24 November 1942, a Fairey Fulmar aircraft (BP821) of 887 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, based at Kirkistown made a steep turn when approaching the airfield, went out of control and spun into the ground near the airfield.  Both crew members were killed.  They were the Pilot, Sub-Lieutenant (A) John Richard Mathers who died the following day in Bangor Military Hospital and his Observer, Sub-Lieutenant (A) William Foster (aged 22) who died on the day of the crash.  On 28 November 1942 both men were buried together in Belfast City Cemetery (Glenalina Extension Section D Joint Grave 22).  There is an inscription on their CWGC headstone:

BECAUSE OF YOU

WE WILL BE GLAD AND GAY

Sub-Lieutenant (A) William Foster is commemorated on Chislehurst War Memorial in Kent.