Anniversary of an Execution

350 years ago on 30 January 1661 Oliver Cromwell was executed; 2 years after his death.

Cromwell died on 3^rd September 1658. His body was embalmed and lay in state from 18^th October to 10^th November before being interred in Westminster Abbey. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 Parliament decreed that men who had cheated the executioner in life were not to cheat him in death.

Cromwell’s body was exhumed and transported to the Red Lion inn at Holborn. Tradition has it that Oliver’s ghost haunts the spot.

Early next morning the body was carried on a hurdle from Holborn to Tyburn where, clad in green cloth, it was gibbeted until 4 o’clock in the afternoon. When the body was taken down its head was hacked off; the executioner took eight blows to sever the neck. The trunk was consigned to a deep pit below the Tyburn gallows.

The head, stuck up on an iron-tipped oak pole, was exhibited until 1684 on the roof of Westminster Hall. Towards the end of the reign of King James II, it was blown down in a gale. The head passed from hand to hand before coming into the possession of Josiah Wilkinson and then a Canon Wilkinson.

Wilkinson left it to Cromwell’s own college, Sidney Sussex at Cambridge University.

Eventually the head received a proper burial at Sidney Sussex where a plaque proclaims:

The actual location is a closely guarded secret.

Twelve years prior to Cromwell's execution  on 30 January 1689, King Charles I was executed.

The Kipper Patrol

Louise Wilkinson, author of the book ‘The Kipper Patrol,' explained how 608 Squadron Auxiliary Air Force became known by this name to a Books and Banter audience at Stockton on 5th August 2009.

Julie's book came into being following research she had undertaken for a higher degree. 608 Squadron were based at Thornaby aerodrome in North East England.

The squadrons making up the Auxiliary Air Force before WWII were essentially gentlemen's flying clubs. Membership was by discrete invitation only. 600 and 601 based in the London area were almost aristocratic with 601 being known as the ‘Millionaires Mob.'

At Thornaby membership of 608 was drawn from important families and the sons of prominent business men. Louise's book deals with the history of 608 Squadron, the stories of the pilots and airmen as well as the history of Thornaby aerodrome. Their role as part of Coastal Command was to protect shipping convoys and to look for submarines. They referred to their unglamorous role as "the kipper patrol."

Louise's research brought her into contact with survivors of the veterans and their families. The book includes many photographs from their personal collections. 608 was formed in 1930 and was active once or twice a week and at weekends. If they did not like an instruction then they just went home. This was to change with the start of the war when the members became full time members of the RAF. In 1942 the squadron moved to Scotland and later to North Africa.

Other RAF squadrons based at Thornaby during the war included Polish and Canadian pilots. The Hudson aircraft became the workhorse for Coastal Command work. It was 220 Squadron from Thornaby that found the German ship, the Altmark, off the Norwegian coast near Egersund; this find led to the rescue of the British prisoners aboard in what has become known as "The Altmark Incident"

After the war 608 Squadron was reformed in 1946 but was eventually to be disbanded in 1957. Thornaby aerodrome has been swallowed up by the ‘new' town of Thornaby. Some of its buildings remain in use. A bronze statue of an airman has been erected and a controversial replica spitfire stands on a roundabout at Thornaby ‘gateway.' Although spitfires flew from the base, many still argue that the replica should have been of Thornaby's iconic Hudson.