Gt Bookham War Memorials - WWII - P/O John Charles Cunningham RAFVR, 50 Sqn

John Cunningham was the son of of Sir Charles Banks Cunningham CSI, and of Lady Cunningham (née Macnish) of Great Bookham. They had another son and a daughter.

In the Forthcoming Marriages section of The Times of Wednesday 30th April 1941:

The following report of his funeral at Bookham was published in the Surrey Advertiser, Saturday 6th June 1941:

SURREY MEN IN THE FORCES
LOCAL OFFICERS
Shortly after his engagement was announced, Pilot Officer John Charles Cunningham, elder son of Sir Charles and Lady Cunningham, of Flushing House, Great Bookham, was killed on active service. His bride was to have been Miss Lorna Robertson, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Robertson, of The Barn, Effingham. Pilot Officer Cunningham, who was 24, was educated at Dorset House, Littlehampton, and Tonbridge School, and subsequently entered the firm of Gray, Dawes and Co. He was due to sail for India when the war broke out, but instead joined the R.A.F. He was a member a famous squadron, and his commanding officer, in a written tribute to the parents, described him as a first-class pilot. Sir Charles and Lady Cunningham came to Great Bookham about two years ago. An R.A.F. burial party attended the funeral at Great Bookham Parish Churchyard on Monday, and the lesson was read by a brother officer. The Rev. A. M. Hughes (rector) officiated, and the chief mourners were Sir Charles and Lady Cunningham, Air Vice-Marshal Sir David Munro and Lady Munro (uncle and aunt), Mrs. Mac Michael and Miss Cunningham (aunts), Lieut. A. T. Darley, R.N., and Mrs. Darley, and Miss K. Mac Michael (cousins). Others present included Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Robertson and Major and Mrs. J. A. Cruickshank.

Flushing House is in Church Road, Bookham. John Cunningham's grave is in St Nicolas' Churchyard.

A 50 Sqn Hampden - used with the permission of the Air of Authority website

30 May 1941: 50 Sqn: Hampden I AD867 VN- : Air Test
Stalled while turning and crashed at 1120 some 50 yards from Hale Hill Farm, between Hatfield and Hatfield Woodhouse, 2 miles NW of Lindholme [RAF Lindholme was where 50 Sqn was stationed at the time].

source: RAF Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War - 1941, WR Chorley (Midland Counties Publishing, 1993)

His father, Sir Charles Banks Cunningham CSI, was one of the Acting Inspectors of Constabulary 1939–45: he had been in the Indian Police since 1904, and was Inspector General of Police of the Madras Presidency between 1930 and 1938. He died in 1967.

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page added 2 Mar 2009: updated 6 Mar 2009: 3 Mar 20