Edgar Spottiswoode Humphreys (5 December 1914 – 31 March 1944), known as "Hunk", was a British

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. ...

bomber pilot who was taken prisoner during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from

Stalag Luft III Stalag Luft III (; literally "Main Camp, Air, III"; SL III) was a ''Luftwaffe''-run prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during the Second World War, which held captured Western Allied air force personnel. The camp was established in March 1942 near th ...

in March 1944, but was re-captured and subsequently shot by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

Pre-war life

Humphreys was born in

Exmouth Exmouth is a harbor, port town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and seaside resort situated on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe, southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the List of settl ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, the eldest son of Lydia and William Spottiswoode Humphreys. He was educated in the local council school where he enjoyed sports and developed an interest in aircraft. In 1931, at the age of sixteen-and-a-half, he passed the flying tests for the Class A Pilot's Licence, which could not be issued until he reached the age of seventeen. He was then the youngest pilot in Europe. He enlisted in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

in 1932 to train in the 25th Entry of Apprentices at

No. 1 School of Technical Training RAF No. 1 School of Technical Training (No. 1 S of TT) is the Royal Air Force's aircraft engineering school. It was based at RAF Halton from 1919 to 1993, as the Home of the Aircraft Apprentice scheme. The Aircraft Apprentice scheme trained ...

RAF Halton Royal Air Force Halton, or more simply RAF Halton, is one of the largest Royal Air Force stations in the United Kingdom. It is located near the village of Halton near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. The site has been in use since the First World ...

and graduated in 1935 as an aircraftman 2nd class (service number 565906). Having worked as ground crew servicing the aircraft Humphreys applied for flight training and was accepted to train as a pilot and promoted

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

after gaining his

pilot's wings An aviator badge is an insignia used in most of the world's militaries to designate those who have received training and qualification in military aviation. Also known as a pilot's badge, or pilot wings, the aviator badge was first conceived to re ...

War service

Humphreys was serving as a

pilot when he was commissioned as

pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off or P/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Pilot officer is the lowest ran ...

on 19 July 1940 (with seniority from 25 April 1940). He married Lilian Watt in the early summer of 1940 near

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 7,313, which was slightly more than the 7,104 recorded at the 2011 census. Th ...

in Devon and they set up home in Boscombe. RAFBristolBlenheimWWIIColour

Flying

light bombers, he served with

No. 107 Squadron RAF No. 107 Squadron RAF was a Royal Flying Corps bomber unit formed during the World War I, First World War. It was reformed in the Royal Air Force during the World War II, Second World War and was operational during the Cold War on PGM-17 Thor, Th ...

, flying from

RAF Wattisham Royal Air Force Wattisham or more simply RAF Wattisham was, between 1939 and 1993, the name of a Royal Air Force station located in East Anglia just outside the village of Wattisham, south of Stowmarket in Suffolk, England. During the Cold W ...

after their return from France where they had suffered a terrible casualty rate during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...

. The squadron primarily flew precision daylight or nighttime bombing raids on German targets in the occupied countries: airfields, harbours and troop installations. On the evening of 15–16 November 1940, he was fortunate to survive when his Blenheim Mark IV (serial number "R3737") crashed as he attempted an emergency landing near Stowmarket during a mission to bomb German airbases in Europe.

Prisoner of war

On the evening of 19 December 1940, Humphreys took off from RAF Wattisham on a night attack against a German

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

airfield at

Lannion Lannion ( ; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of Côtes-d'Armor, the capital of Trégor and the center of an urban area of almost 60,000 inhabitants. Climate Lannion h ...

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, he was flying a Blenheim Mark IV (serial number "T1860) with his crew, Sergeants G R Griggs and L F Brand. The aircraft was lost, possibly due to naval light anti-aircraft fire, on this mission and its crew taken prisoner. Humphreys was allocated Prisoner of War No. 406 and held at

Stalag Luft I Stalag Luft I was a German World War II prisoner-of-war (POW) camp near Barth, Western Pomerania, Germany, for captured Allied airmen. The presence of the prison camp is said to have shielded the town of Barth from Allied bombing. About 9,000 ...

at Barth. On 19 July 1941 he was promoted to

flying officer Flying officer (Fg Offr or F/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Flying officer is immediately ...

, and exactly one year later he was promoted again, to flight lieutenant. Model Stalag Luft III

Humphreys met

Roger Bushell Squadron Leader Roger Joyce Bushell (30 August 1910 – 29 March 1944) was a South Africa, South African aviator in the United Kingdom, British Royal Air Force. He masterminded the famous Stalag Luft III#The great escape, "Great Escape" from ...

during various tunnelling escape attempts. Bushell later masterminded the 'Great Escape'. Humphreys,

Jack Grisman William Jack Grisman (30 August 1914 – 6 April 1944) was a British Vickers Wellington bomber crew member who was taken prisoner during the Second World War. He took part in the 'Great Escape' from Stalag Luft III in March 1944, but was one of ...

, Leslie George Bull and several other prisoners were part of the group with Bushell who were sent to

in the province of Lower Silesia near the town of Sagan (now

Żagań Żagań (French language, French and , ) is a town in western Poland, on the Bóbr river, with 25,731 inhabitants (2019), capital of Żagań County in the Lubusz Voivodeship, located in the historic region of Lower Silesia. Founded in the 12th ce ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

'Great Escape'

Allocated no. 54 in the queue of officers escaping through the tunnel, Humphreys teamed up with no. 55,

Paul Royle Flight Lieutenant Paul Gordon Royle (17 January 1914 – 23 August 2015) was an Australian Royal Air Force pilotthe Great Escape". He followed Denys Street out of the tunnel at about 0230 hours and into the woods with Royle, where their group swelled to ten before their appointed marshal "Hank" Henry Birkland led his group off westwards. Humphreys and Royle headed off southwards when the group split and struggled through the thick snow and biting cold. They dodged four civilians but were arrested near the village of Tiefenfurt by a group of German Home Guard within 24 hours just sixteen miles to the south of the camp at about 0300 on the morning of 26 March 1944, they were locked up in the local prison. Fellow escaper Shorty Anderson arrived next and then Johnny Marshall and Willy Valenta. The four were driven to Sagan police station the next morning where Bill Cameron was brought in. Shortly afterwards Keith Ogilvie, Tommy Thompson, Brian Evans and Chaz Hall joined them. More and more recaptured airmen arrived at Sagan civil jail until they were moved by truck, to be held at

Görlitz Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...

prison where eventually the total reached 35. At Görlitz prison on the morning of 31 March 1944, Keith Ogilvie saw Humphreys, Dutchy Swain, Chaz Hall, Brian Evans, Wally Valenta, George McGill, Pat Langford, Adam Kolanowski, Bob Stewart and Birkland being led away to a covered truck, They were all shot in a clearing off the Görlitz to Sagan road just outside Görlitz and cremated at Liegnitz by the

Humphreys was one of the 50 escapees executed and murdered by the ''Gestapo''. Originally his remains were buried at Sagan, he is now buried in part of the Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery. (Post-war investigations led to a number of those guilty of the murders tracked down, arrested and tried for their crimes.) Humphreys' name was amongst those in the list of the murdered prisoners which was published in the press in the UK and Commonwealth countries when news broke on or about 20 May 1944. As a 'Halton brat' or 'old Haltonian', a graduate of the

aircraft apprentice scheme, he is commemorated by name in the stained glass window in St. George's Church,

dedicated to those murdered following the 'Great Escape'. He is also commemorated on the Dunsfold War Memorial website. (His name is apparently misspelled on the memorial as "Humphries".)

Awards

He was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

for conspicuous gallantry as a prisoner of war (none of the other relevant decorations then available could be awarded posthumously). It was published in a supplement to the London Gazette on 8 June 1944.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

''Project Lessons from the Great Escape (Stalag Luft III),''
by Mark Kozak-Holland. The prisoners formally structured their work as a project. Thi
''book''
analyses their efforts using modern project management methods. {{DEFAULTSORT:Humphreys, Edgar Spottiswoode 1914 births 1944 deaths Royal Air Force officers British World War II pilots British World War II bomber pilots World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Royal Air Force personnel killed in World War II Participants in the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III British escapees Extrajudicial killings in World War II British World War II prisoners of war People from Exmouth Military personnel from Devon