On the fateful day of 28 January 1952, Anthony Vivian Younger of Hardington and Ronald Russ of West Coker were killed when their lorry crashed through a barrier at Netherton Lane, Closworth, and ended upside down in a river. The workmen building a dam for the new reservoir rushed to the scene, but their efforts were in vain. By the time heavy lifting gear arrived, the men were dead.[1]

Anthony was born in Lambeth in 1926. His father, Edwin John Younger, was a clerk with the Pearl Assurance Company, who served with the Royal Fusiliers during the First World War.[2] His mother, Winifred Agnes, was a bookkeeper from Eastbourne.[3]

In September 1939, Tony came to Hardington as an evacuee and stayed at Pig Hill with Victor and Ethel Partridge.[4]

At the end of the war, Tony, aged eighteen, decided to stay in the village rather than return to London.

He was a very personable young man, well-liked in the village and a good friend of my father, Frank Danes. His death came as a great shock to a lot of people.

Ron Russ, the driver of the lorry, was twenty-seven, with a wife, Pearl, and a daughter, Hazel, who was less than one year old.[5]

Ron was buried at West Coker, and Tony at Hardington.

Tony’s headstone reads, “Ever remembered and loved by Archibald and Ellen Partridge,” the parents of Victor Partridge.

References

[1] Western Mail, 29 January 1952, p.1; Liverpool Daily Post, 29 January 1952, p.6.

[2] RG15, piece 2040, schedule 44.

[3] RG15, piece 2040, schedule 44.

[4] 1939 Register.

[5] Civil Registration records.