Nigel de Radclyffe OPENSHAW (1909-1947)

Nigel Openshaw de Radclyffe Openshaw (1909-1947) was the son of James and Mary Openshaw who were friends of the Sladden family.

Nigel Openshaw was born at Badsey in 1909, the eighth of nine children of James Algernon de Radclyffe Openshaw, a farmer and market gardener, and his wife, Mary Alice (née Serman).  The Openshaws were from an old Bury family in Lancashire.  The name “de Radclyffe”, which his father gave to all the boys in the family, is probably in recognition of an Openshaw in the 15th century who was given a licence by John Radclyff, lord of Radclyff, to take an encroachment on Cockey Moor.

The family had moved to Bowers Hill, Badsey, a year or two before he was born; they moved to Bengeworth before the war.

Nigel is mentioned as having measles in a letter of 15th November 1914 so his older brother, David, who was about to go off with the Evesham Territorials, was unable to go home.

In 1930 Nigel was on the electoral register as living at 10 Clifton Gardens, Hendon, and in 1931 he was registered at 20 Grampian Gardens, Hendon.  In 1933 he married Violet Florence Woolton in Hendon.  They lived at 3 Hale Court, Hale Lane, Edgware, Middlesex.  In 1943 he married Ivy Kathleen Robinson in the Hampstead district of London.  Nigel was living at 22 Crossfield Road, Hampstead, from around 1945.

Nigel died on 15th April 1947 at Chase Farm Hospital, Enfield, Middlesex, aged 38.