This article by Jackie Rickenberg was published in the Thursley Parish Magazine
I have been gripped by the tragic and rather mysterious tale of an air disaster over Thursley, in days gone by. The observant amongst you may have picked up a mere whisper of it in the poignant epitaph to Edmund Haviland from The Old Parsonage in last month’s magazine. It would appear that Edmund knew the harrowing tale that explains the existence of one of the memorials in Thursley church’s graveyard.
The story begins on Wednesday 27th July 1932. It was a blustery day with storms predicted later on in early evening. A bright young man of 21 years old, already qualified as a pilot, planned an outing for his mother and a friend, visiting from Hanover, Germany – a mere afternoon jaunt to Hamble on the south coast and back to Heston, on the west side of London.
The young man in question was Bruce Bayne Bossom, his mother Mrs Emily Bayne Bossom and his friend a rather dashing sounding Count Otto Erbach-Fürstenau, or to give him his full title, Count Otto Adolf Joseph Emich Alexander Graf zu Erbach-Fürstenau (aged 23). Mrs Bossom was the wife of wealthy noted architect and Member of Parliament for Maidstone, Mr Alfred C Bossom (later ennobled as Lord Bossom). Mr A C Bossom had had a renowned career in the US, an early exponent and well-respected pioneer and designer of many of New York’s famous skyscrapers in 1910-20’s Manhattan. He married his American wife, before returning to the UK with their three young sons, in order for them to receive a traditional English education (Eton). It was at this stage that he followed his father into political life in Westminster, only to be succeeded many years later by one of his two remaining sons, Sir Clive Bossom MP for Leominster.
Mrs Emily Bayne Bossom
Bruce Bossom, who piloted the plane, was a promising and talented airman, who by the age of 21 had passed his parts A and B licences and his blind flying licence and according to his father “had flown for several hundred hours and was capable of flying any type of machine”. He was fully intent on making his name in the still emerging world of aviation and had hopes of being an early adventurer, often talking about breaking flying records across the Atlantic. He had just become engaged, to Miss Odette Herard, although not with the blessing of his parents, who felt he was too young and not yet established in a career, for such a step. The young German prince, who hailed from a distinguished aristocratic family, had been visiting the Bossom family on his first trip to the UK, staying with them as their guest in their rather smart house in Carlton Gardens, Belgravia.
The story of the actual crash is perhaps better left to the reporters from The Portsmouth Evening News, dated 28th July 1932, the day after the crash:
MYSTERY OF MACHINE SHATTERED IN MID-AIR
Mrs Emily Bossom, wife of Mr. A. C. Bossom, M.P. for Maidstone, her son Bruce, aged 21, and Prince Otto Erbach Furstenau were killed last night when the aeroplane in which they were flying to Hamble crashed at Tilford, near Churt, Surrey. The cause of the disaster is a mystery. Is it possible the machine may have been struck by lightning, though there is no sign of it having been burned? Or perhaps another view is that the wind may have torn off one of the wings which was seen to come away from the plane in mid-air? These are among the questions which experts will have to solve when they investigate the cause of the crash. Our Special Correspondent gained a grimly vivid idea of the terrible nature of the tragedy when at dawn today he stood atop the brow of Kettlebury Hill, within a mile of Mr. Lloyd George’s country home at Churt, and looked over the wide valley below. Half a-mile away, in a spinney of young beech trees, was the battered fuselage. Six hundred yards to the east of it was a portion of one wing, and nearly a mile still farther away was the wing which was seen to tear off in the air. Five hundred yards to the west of the fuselage, a policeman on guard marked the area about 100 yards square—in which the bodies were found. A gust of storm force wind, might have turned the machine over and put strain on the landing wires which they could not bear; which in turn could have ripped out the side of the aeroplane hurtling the occupants to their death. It is however, practically impossible to say anything definite at the moment, except that one side of the fuselage seems to have disappeared. The men of the Border Regiment were duo to have left their bivouacs at 3.30 a.m. to-day, to march across the slopes where the wreckage lies, to engage in a mock battle with the Devon’s, but the manoeuvres were postponed on account of the tragedy. It was these men who formed the search party which spread over the heather-clad valley looking for the bodies.
This is the air accident investigation details of the crash.
Date: 27-JUL-1932
Time: 17:45
Owner/operator: Brian Lewis & Co Ltd
Registration: G-ABDH
C/n / msn: 2081
Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Other fatalities: 0
Aircraft damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: Devil's Jump, Hankley Common, Churt, near Hindhead, Surrey
Phase: En route
Nature: Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport: Heston Aerodrome, Heston, Middlesex
Destination airport: Hamble, Hampshire
We continue with the strange tale of the three passengers in a light aircraft, meeting their fate over Hankley Common. As you saw from last month’s photograph, the two members of the Bossom family killed – mother Emily and son Bruce - are buried in our churchyard. And although Alfred, Emily’s husband, went on to marry another American lady, he, along with a further son, are also buried alongside his first wife and son.
An inquest into the plane crash was opened in Farnham Police Station on 29th July 1932, two days after the fatal accident. The Coroner, Mr G. Wills Taylor, stated that he proposed to take evidence just sufficient to permit the funerals to take place and would then adjourn, until the 14th September, to allow the air accident report to be made available. Sir Percy Simmons, solicitor, appeared for Mr A. Bossom, who sat next to him.
The post mortems revealed some very odd results. It was confirmed that all three victims had died of multiple injuries, wholly consistent with falling heavily through the air. However, injuries which were indicative of burn marks or electrocution, caused before death, were present on all three bodies. Does this imply the lightening theory, rather than mechanical failure was more likely? Possibly, but never confirmed. Remember, they were flying through a thunderstorm at the time of the crash.
The Western Daily Press of 30th July 1932 reported that “the funeral of Mrs Bossom and her son will take place at Thursley Churchyard, at the foot of the famous Hindhead Ridge, today at 2 o’clock”. The bodies were released from Farnham and went on immediately to Thursley. The body of Count Erbach Furstenau was conveyed to London to prepare for it to be taken across the Channel for interment at the family’s castle in Hanover. His brother was present at the Inquest and made the necessary arrangements. However, before rushing back to Germany, he paused briefly in Thursley to attend the funeral of Mrs Bossom and Bruce. The Scotsman newspaper reported on Saturday 1st August “In the secluded churchyard of Thursley, Surrey, about three miles from where they met their deaths on Wednesday evening, Mrs E Bossom and her son, Bruce were buried today. There were only two family mourners, Mr A C Bossom, MP for Maidstone and his elder surviving son Mr Clive Bossom. Other mourners were Count Alfred Graf zu Erbach Furstenau, brother of Count Otto, who was also killed in the crash and Sir Percy Simmons (solicitor). The officiating clergy were the vicar of the parish, the Rev. H G French and the vicar of Maidstone, Canon T K Sopwith. Mendelssohn’s “O for the Wings of a Dove” was played on the organ as the bodies were carried into the church. The only other music was the tune of the hymn “Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past” played as the coffins were borne to the grave. The bodies were laid side by side in a double grave. There was a wreath of Lilies of the Valley from Miss Odette Herard, to whom Mr Bruce Bossom was engaged. It was inscribed “Je t’adore, Odette” “. It was, it would seem, a very desolate and intimate affair.
More about Odette. At the time of the accident, she was on a Mediterranean cruise with her mother, reported as being a Knightsbridge dressmaker, although reading between the lines, she was more likely a French dress designer, as she had a personal secretary and they lived in Bedford Square, Bloomsbury, one of the best-preserved set pieces of Georgian architecture in London. The Daily Herald rather dramatically reported as follows:
AIRMAN'S LOVER WHISPERS, "I KNOW" - MONTE CARLO
The news of the death of her young fiancé, Mr. Bruce Bossom, in an air crash at Farnham (Surrey) a fortnight ago, was made known to Miss Odette Herard by her mother, to-day, in the hospital at Monaco, where she is ill with scarlet fever. Miss Herard seemed to divine the nature of her mother's mission. " I know, mother. It is Bruce," she whispered, almost before her mother had spoken. Then, in spite of all her courage, Miss Herard. already weak and exhausted from the effects of her severe illness, broke down completely. Her mother said afterwards that her daughter had had a presentiment of impending disaster ever since she left England for her Mediterranean cruise. In parting from her fiancé on the quayside as she left England, she had had to turn away from him with tears in her eyes as she felt certain she would never see him again She had given him a little gold cross for luck in exchange for a ring. Ill in hospital, Miss Herard often said she heard the noise of aeroplane wings, and had feverishly asked when Bruce was coming to see her. A box of chocolates given by Mr Bossom has been kept by Miss Herard's mother as a pathetic souvenir. Only a week before Mr Bossom was killed, his parents had objected to his engagement on the grounds that it would interfere with his career as a pilot.
During the research for this article, it was often implied that the flight itself may have had a more sinister raison d’etre, instead of the joyride that it first appeared. Some reports talked about a reward being offered for the return of money or jewels that the plane may have been carrying. That spurned all the local children onto Hankley and surrounding areas, in a vain search for the “illicit” stash. The truth was much more sentimental and believable. Mr and Mrs Bossom had travelled extensively throughout their time together, and rather charmingly, he bought her a pearl from everywhere they visited. This became a four-string set of pearls held together with a precious diamond clasp. When her body was recovered, forty of the sixty rare and highly valuable pearls were missing and her poor distraught husband offered a reward for any pearls recovered. Unfortunately, it was reported on 13th September, some two months later, that none of the missing jewels were ever traced.
Finally, interestingly, to this day there are two little known memorials to the Bossom’s on Hankley Common. These mark the spots where their bodies fell. Of course, the bracken and heather will have grown up around them in the intervening years, but if anyone is interested in following up this mysterious tale, the co-ordinates of Emily’s memorial, as seen below, are N 51° 09.023 W 000° 44.760.
Bruce’s memorials’ whereabouts are currently unknown to the writer but if anyone has anything they can add to, or indeed take away from this terribly tragic affair, then please do get in touch at jackierickenberg@gmail.com.
Bossom aircrash 90th anniversary memorial
(From an article written by Jackie Rickenberg in the Parish Magazine in September 2022)
Some of you may remember the tragic tale of the Bossom air crash that I retold in the May and June 2021 articles. The crash, on Hankley in 1932, of a light aircraft, killed Lady Emily Bossom, her pilot son, Bruce Bossom and his friend, an aristocratic German Count. By another strange quirk of fate, it transpired that a villager who read it, knew a direct relative of the Bossom’s – both of whom are buried in our churchyard. This in turn led to a delightful meeting with Lady Barbara Bossom, whose late husband Sir Clive, younger brother of Bruce and son of Lady Emily, is also buried in the family plot in Thursley. As this July 27th was the 90th anniversary of the crash, a small memorial service was recall family held in the churchyard and attended by interested parties, Lady Barbara and her eldest son Sir Bruce (I know, a confusion of names!). Rev Hannah delivered a short reflective service and Sir Bruce read an apt poem (see below). Afterwards lunch at Hedge Farm provided an apt opportunity for the Bossom’s to recall family memories from that time. It was a sunny but overcast day and the graveyard was peaceful and tranquil, all very fitting for the occasion. The churchyard working committee had done a tremendous job of clearing around the impressive Bossom headstone and it seemed appropriate for Thursley to remember this part of its past in such a contemplative way.
Impressions of a pilot by Gary Claude Stoker:read by Sir Bruce Bossom
Flight is freedom in its purest form,
To dance with the clouds which follow a storm;
To roll and glide, to wheel and spin,
To feel the joy that swells within;
To leave the earth with its troubles and fly,
And know the warmth of a clear spring sky;
Then back to earth at the end of a day,
Released from the tensions which melted away.
Should my end come while I am in flight,
Whether brightest day or darkest night;
Spare me your pity and shrug off the pain,
Secure in the knowledge that I’d do it again;
For each of us is created to die,
And within me I know,
I was born to fly.
The report below is from Surrey History:
Report of Accidents Investigation Branch dated 27 July 1932
Report by Aviation Safety Network, updated 4 July 2021
