George Bevil Grenfell was the son of Arthur Gordon and Winifred Grenfell, who are listed as being of Capetown, South Africa on the CWGC database. He was born on 4th July 1906 in Francistown, Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana). George was educated at St.Andrew's College, Grahamstown, South Africa but little else is currently known about his early life. In April 1934 he was recorded as living in Cheadle, Stockport in the passenger list of the "Winchester Castle" when he sailed from Southampton to Capetown and where he stated then that this was where he intended to live. In July 1934 the passenger list of the same "Winchester Castle" listed him as travelling from Durban to back to Southampton possibly to live in England, he gave his intended permanent residence as being "The Beeches", Parmoor, Henley on Thames.
George Grenfell enlisted into the RAFVR on 12th February 1941 and later received his commission in the RAFVR on 25th October 1941 (with seniority of 8th August 1941) to the rank of Acting P/O on probation in the Administration and Special Duties Branch of the RAF. During 1941 he underwent trainng as a ground-based radio operator at No.1 Signal School and then served at Peterhead, Lossiemouth and Tain airfields. He was joined the staff of the Operations Room at Ayr airfield in November 1941. He was graded as P/O on probation on 25th December 1941 and later promoted to F/O on probation (war subs) on 1st October 1942. By the time of his death he had been promoted to the Station Controller of Operations at RAF Ayr.
George is buried Lane End (Holy Trinity) Churchyard, Buckinghamshire. He was thirty six years old. Shown below is the war memorial inside Lane End Church.
His wife Elizabeth and young daughter Joan lived in St.John's Wood, London at the time of George's death which is very close to Hendon airfield. Through correspondance with George Grenfell's daughter it seems likely that he had been granted leave and he had obtained permission to grab a lift to London as a passenger in the aircraft to see his wife and daughter in London. I thank his daughter Mrs Joan Anderson for contacting me in September 2014, and for kindly allowing the photograph of her father to be shown here.
His younger brother served in the British Army in the Second World War and was killed while serving in North Africa; 2nd Lt Arthur Winfred Gordon Grenfell (174454) served in the 1st Btn Kings Royal Rifle Corps and died on 21st November 1941 and is buried in Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma, Libya. Arthur had also lived in Stockport, research suggests that their father had died by 1941 and that their family were originally from Chen Hall, Gulval, Cornwall. Their mother Winifred had previously lived in India and had re-married John Peter Cardiff-Watson, of Caragh Lake, Co.Kerry, Ireland. Winifred and her second husband appear to have emmigrated to South Africa in 1960.