Identity area
Reference code
AR149/2
Title
Date(s)
- 1992 (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
1 item
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
John Kenneth Hill was born in 1918 and lived in Craigan Avenue, Addiscombe, until the Hill family moved to Shirley Road in 1934. Around the age of 4 or 5, he developed polio, though within a few years was able to walk without the use of an iron splint. Both John and his brother Colin Hill attended Hadley House preparatory school and then went on to Whitgift. In 1934 John left school and became a junior Insurance Clerk for the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company.
John soon applied to join the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR), but due to his impaired health from the polio was refused on his first application, but was then accepted on his second attempt in 1938.
Pilot Officer John Kenneth Hill was killed on 17 April 1941 when the bomber he was piloting came down in County Wicklow, Ireland, on return from a raid on Berlin. All four crew on board died in the crash.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The obituary consists of background notes to the photograph album and an obituary of John Kenneth Hill.
The background notes to the photograph album provide an insight to John Kenneth Hills life and hobbies. They describe John Kenneth Hills interest in photography, the holidays the family went on and the cars they owned, as well as general family information on where they lived, school and work. There is also a photocopied page of photographs of the various family cars the Hill family used to go on holiday between 1922 and 1939.
The obituary of John Kenneth Hill, describes his school and work life and how his interest in planes developed and eventually joined the RAF. It then goes on to describe the circumstances around the plane crash in which John Kenneth Hill died. It includes two photographs of the memorials to the crew, in Blessington, Co Wicklow, Ireland, where the plane came down.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Some of the records in our collections contain sensitive and personal data that we have a legal responsibility to control access to. In these circumstances, staff may search the collection on your behalf, having received consent or proof of death of the individual concerned.
Please contact us at archives@croydon.gov.uk for further information regarding the particular collection you wish to access.
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