Memorial details

Memorial type
Board / Plaque / Tablet
District
Chichester
Town
Tangmere
County
West Sussex
Country
England
Commemoration
Second World War (1939-1945)
Ceremony
  • Presented
    Date: 17 April 2004
    Attended by: Wendy Bryan and family, museum staff.
Lost
Not lost
WM Reference
89091

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Current location

In the Battle of Britain Hall
Tangmere Military & Aviation Museum Trust
Gamecock Terrace
Tangmere
Chichester
West Sussex
PO20 2ES
England

OS Grid Ref: SU 90564 06065
Denomination: Undefined

View location on Google Maps
Previous locations
  • Shangani
    Zimbabwe

    OS Grid Ref: Undefined
    Denomination: Undefined
Description
A square brass plaque mounted in a grey nowy headed wooden frame. At the head a photo of C B Hull is mounted in a small round brass frame, beneath is a typed, detailed information card with the history of C B Hull and the plaque. The plaque has been cast with a raised plain lined border and inscription.
Inscription
Plaque: TO THE MEMORY OF/ A BRAVE MAN/ SQUADRON LEADER/ CAESER BARRAND HULL D.F.C./ (ROYAL AIR FORCE)/ BORN AT LEACHDALE FARM,/ SHANGANI 26TH FEBRUARY 1914/ KILLED IN ACTION OVER LONDON/ 7TH SEPTEMBER 1940./ "WE HONOUR THE BRAVE" Information card: Flight Lieutenant Caesar Barrand Hull D.F.C./ Caeser Hull was born in Shangani,/ Southern Rhodesia and brought up in/ South Africa. He was accepted for an/ RAF commission in 1935 and, after pilot/ training at No 3 Flying Training School,/ joined No 43 Squadron at RAF Tangmere/ in August 1936. In early 1940 following/ the outbreak of war, he destroyed a He/ 111 and shared in the destruction of two/ others before in May 1940 being posted/ to No 263 Squadron flying Gladiators./ He deployed immeadiately to Norway with/ the unit and before the end of the month/ destroyed 5 enemy aircraft; in the final/ engagement, he was hit and wounded/ by enemy fire and evacuated to the UK./ He returned to No 43 Squadron at Tang-/ mere on 31st August to take command/ after the previous CO was killed on the previous/ day. He claimed three enemy aircraft/ destroyed during his first week with/ the Squadron but on 7th September was/ killed in action whilst attacking a large/ force od Do 17s escorted by Me109s. His/ Hurricane crashed in the grounds of/ Purley High School and his body was/ interred in St Andrews churchyard,/ Tangmere. He was 27 years old./ After his death, the citizens of Shan-/ gani clubbed together to erect a memo-/ rial in his honour. This consisted of a granite plinth into which was affixed this/ brass plaque./ Many years later, the road system was/ changed and the monument became iso-/ lated, overgrown and largely forgotten./ Attempts to relocate it in July 2003 failed/ but, in January 2004, Alistair Hull (a/ second cousin to Caeser) visited the/ scene and found it intact. In order to/ thwart Mugabe's so-called war veterans/ taking the olaque for its brass, he tried/ to recover it but, on being shot at by/ nearby squatters, withdrew hastily from/ the scene. It was at this time that the/ Hull family, including Caeser's sister in/ England, Mrs Wendy Bryan, decided that/ Tangmere should be the plaque's ideal/ 'resting place'./ Sometime later, two patriotic Zimbab-/ weans delivered it to Alistair in Harare./ It was then air-freighted to the UK and/ presented to the Museum by Wendy/ Bryan on 17th April 2004.
Inscription legible?
yes
Names on memorial
Hull, Caesar Barrand
See details
Commemorations
  • Second World War (1939-1945)
    Total names on memorial: 1
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 1
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: Surname, forenames, rank, service, regiments, family history, relationships
    Order of information: Undefined
Components
  • Plaque
    Measurements: depth c10mm, height c650mm, width c650mm
    Materials: Brass
Listing information
Condition
Trust fund/Scholarship
No
Purpose: Unknown or N/A
Sponsorship
Private
Responsibility
Tangmere Military & Aviation Museum Trust

This record comprises all information held by IWM’s War Memorials Register for this memorial. Where we hold a names list for the memorial, this information will be displayed on the memorial record. Please check back as we are adding more names to the database.

This information is made available under a Creative Commons BY-NC licence.

This means you may reuse it for non-commercial purposes only and must attribute it to us using the following statement:

© WMR-89091

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