Collection BEAUMONT - BEAUMONT, Gp Capt Stephen Gerald (1910-1997)

Born 1910; educated at Oundle and New College, Oxford; worked as a solicitor with his father's firm, Greaves, Atter and Beaumont, 1934-1939; joined Yorkshire Flying Club, 1935; Pilot Officer, Auxiliary Air Force, 1936; service with 609 (West Riding) (Bomber) Sqn, No 6 (Auxiliary) Group, Yeadon, Yorkshire, 1936-1938; Flying Officer, Auxiliary Air Force, 1937; conversion of 609 Sqn to fighter aircraft, Dec 1938; served in World War Two, 1939-1945; served at RAF Drem, Haddingtonshire, and RAF Kinloss, Elginshire, Scotland, 1939-1940; Flight Lt, 1940; RAF Northolt, Middlesex, and RAF Warmwell, Dorset, and RAF Middle Wallop, Hampshire, 1940; served over Dunkirk beaches, France, May-Jun 1940; provided RAF fighter escort for Prime Minister Rt Hon Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, on visits to Briare and Tours, France, Jun 1940; acting Commanding Officer 609 Sqn, Battle of Britain, 1940; Instructor, No 7 Operational Training Unit, Hawarden, Flintshire, 1940-1941; Sqn Ldr, 1941; Chief Instructor, Operational Training Unit, Turnhouse, Edinburgh, 1941; Sqn Ldr (Organisation), Headquarters, No 9 Group, Fighter Command, Preston, Lancashire, 1941-1942; Wg Cdr, 1942; commanded RAF Andreas, Isle of Man, 1942-1943; commanded RAF Woodvale, Lancashire, 1943; commanded RAF Zeals, Wiltshire, 1943; Gp Capt and Deputy Air Officer, Administration, No 84 Group, 2 Tactical Air Force, 1943-1945; served in North West Europe, 1944-1945; awarded OBE, 1945; demobilised, 1945; Clerk to the Governors of Charities, Wakefield, Yorkshire; Clerk to the Commissioners of Tax; Secretary of the Wakefield Chamber of Commerce; Deputy Coroner for Wakefield and Chairman of the Wakefield Hospital Management Group; Deputy Lieutenant, West Riding of Yorkshire, 1967; High Sheriff, West Yorkshire, 1979; died 1997.