Williams, Newton Hunter Middleton (No. 1490507)

Williams, Newtown Hunter Middleton (Tony)

Sergeant

No. 1490507, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

Killed in an aircraft accident on Monday 23 August 1943 (aged 19)

Buried:

Watford North Cemetery, Hertfordshire, England (Section B Consecrated Grave 1373)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Campbell College Belfast

Queen’s University, Belfast

Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club Holywood

Nephew of Civilian Ann Emily Hazel (Nancy) Payne

BIOGRAPHY

Newtown Hunter Middleton (Tony) Williams was born on 4 December 1923 and he was a son of Captain Newtown Middleton Williams and Eleanor Purdon Williams (nee Payne).  Captain Newtown Middleton Williams of 114 Tollington Park, London, who was serving with the Gloucestershire Regiment, and Eleanor Purdon Payne from Marino, Holywood were married on 7 May 1919 in Holywood Parish Church of Ireland Church (St. Philip and St. James).  Captain Newtown Middleton Williams, who was born in Rathdown, Dublin on 13 February 1890, was a son of Newtown Williams, Secretary of the Great Northern Railway (GNR) Ireland.  Eleanor Purdon Payne was a daughter of George Payne, a cashier.  Captain Williams had been mentioned in despatches on 20 August 1918 and awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in Abadeh, Persia (now Iran).

Tony Williams attended Campbell College, Belfast from 1937 until 1941 and he was a Lance Corporal in the Officers’ Training Corps.  His brother Brian Middleton Williams, who was born on 18 October 1925, also attended Campbell College and, during the Second World War, Brian served in Europe and the Far East.

During the Second World War Tony Williams served with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and early in 1942, when he was on home leave, he visited Campbell College when it was relocated at the Northern Counties Hotel in Portrush.

Tony Williams was 19 and stationed at RAF Lulsgate Bottom in Somerset when he died in a flying accident on 23 August 1943.  His death was registered in Weston-Super-Mare and his mother’s address was Iva Craig Cottage, Craigavad, Co. Down.

Also killed in the same accident was the pilot of their Airspeed Oxford AS.10 Mark II aircraft (AB771), Sergeant Gideon Barsky (No. 1394515) from Haifa, Palestine (aged 27).  Gideon was a son of Joseph and Jeanne Barsky and he was buried in Bristol Jewish Cemetery.  Their airplane flew into high ground on the east side of Foel Fras, one mile north of Llyn Dulyn Reservpir, Caernarvon.

Sergeant Newtown Hunter Middleton Williams was buried in Watford North Cemetery, Hertfordshire on 27 August 1943 and four other family members were buried in the same plot:

  • His aunt, Ann Emily Hazel (Nancy) Payne who died on 28 May 1941 (aged 41) and was interred on 3 June 1941.  Nancy lived at 27 Conduit Street, London and she was a daughter of Katharine Payne of Marino, Holywood and the late George Whateley Payne.  Nancy served in Westminster Division ARP and was injured in Conduit Street during a German Luftwaffe air raid on 10 May 1941.  She died 18 days later at Leavesden Emergency Hospital and there is an inscription on the headstone below her name:

SHE LOVED LONDON AND DIED IN ITS DEFENCE

  • His father, Newton Middleton Williams who died on 7 May 1945 (aged 55) and was interred on 11 May 1945.
  • His mother, Eleanor Purdon Williams (aged 92) who was interred on 24 June 1985 (cremated remains).
  • His brother, Brian Middleton Williams (aged 70) who died on 7 May 1996 and was interred on 27 November 1996 (cremated remains); below Brian’s name there is an inscription:

HIS LIFE WAS AUSTRALIA

Sergeant Newtown Hunter Middleton Williams (No. 1490507) is commemorated in Campbell College Belfast; in Queen’s University, Belfast, and in the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club Holywood.