Sinton, Arthur Buckby (Arthur)
Flying Officer
No. 119279, 515 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve
Killed on active service on Saturday 26 June 1943 (aged 28)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England (Panel 129)
RAF Hunsdon Memorial Plaque, Hertfordshire (unveiled 22 May 2005)
Royal County Down Golf Club, Newcastle, Co. Down
Family grave headstone in Friends Burial Ground, Moyallan, Co. Down
Rockport School Craigavad
BIOGRAPHY
Arthur Buckby Sinton was born on 3 August 1914 in Banford House, Knockagore, Gilford, and he was a son of Frederick Buckby Sinton and Hannah Maria Sinton (nee Woods) who were married on 6 November 1912 in Friends Meeting House, Churchtown, Dublin. Frederick Buckby Sinton, who was born on 27 July 1870, was a widowed linen manufacturer from Gilford and he was a son of Thomas Sinton, a linen manufacturer. Hannah Maria Woods, who was born on 1 April 1884, was from Rathgar, Co Dublin and she was a daughter of Frederick William Woods, a merchant.
Frederick Buckby Sinton had previously been married to Hannah’s sister, Edith Uprichard Woods. They were married on 8 March 1899 in Friends Meeting House, Churchtown, Dublin and they had five children:
Annie Dorothy (born 14 January 1900; died 4 December 1988)
Elizabeth Maud (born 17 February 1901; died 6 February 1971)
Edith Marjorie (born 13 June 1902; died 1997)
Frederick Maynard (born April 1904; died 16 May 1936)
Rosemary Buckby (born 8 August 1907; died 20 September 2005)
Edith Uprichard Sinton (nee Woods) died of tuberculosis on 26 February 1909 (aged 34).
Frederick Buckby Sinton and Hannah Maria Sinton (nee Woods) had three children:
Thomas Tertius (born 13 January 1913 in Banford House, Knockagore, Gilford; died 16 August 1963)
Arthur Buckby (born 3 August 1914 in Banford House, Knockagore, Gilford; died 26 June 1943)
Margaret Greville (born 12 June 1917; died 29 March 1999).
Their father, Frederick Buckby Sinton, died on 25 June 1943). Their mother, Hannah Maria Sinton, died on 23 May 1968.
Arthur Buckby Sinton was educated at Rockport School, Craigavad and then at Shrewsbury College. He was a keen golfer.
After leaving school Arthur joined his father in the Sinton linen business and then, in 1938, he went with friends on a motoring trip across Europe. At the outbreak of war, Arthur joined a Royal Artillery Searchlight Battalion.
Arthur Sinton and Vera Wilson Smyth, who was born on 1 April 1916, were married on 2 May 1940 in Belfast, and they had two children:
David Frederick
Vera May (born four days before her father died)
Their home address was Gilford, Co Down although Arthur was rarely there because of his war service.
During the Second World War Arthur Buckby Sinton was transferred to the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and he served in 515 Squadron. From October 1942 this Squadron used Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) to jam enemy radar installations. Flying Officer Arthur Buckby Sinton (No. 119279) was one of a two-man crew aboard a Boulton Paul Defiant Mark II aircraft (AA572) that took off from RAF Coltishall in Norfolk and was shot down over Zeeland in the Netherlands by a German night fighter. Flying Officer Sinton was the pilot and the other crew member who died that night was the air gunner:
- Pilot Officer Leonard Arthur Johnson (aged 31) from West Bergholt, Essex
Pilot Officer Johnson’s body was recovered and buried in Amsterdam New Eastern Cemetery.
Flying Officer Arthur Buckby Sinton (No. 119279) was 28 when he died on 26 June 1943 and his body was never recovered. He is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey; on the RAF Hunsdon Memorial Plaque, Hertfordshire (unveiled 22 May 2005); in Rockport School; in Royal County Down Golf Clubhouse and on the family grave headstone in Friends Burial Ground, Moyallan, Co. Down.
Vera Sinton died on 18 August 2006.