Eric Stansfield

Bank: District Bank

Place of work: Hollinwood branch

Died: 7 November 1944

Eric Lees Stansfield was born on 16 December 1914, the son of Harry and Mary Jane Stansfield. He joined the staff of Manchester & Liverpool County Bank as a junior at its Delph branch in July 1932. In 1935 County Bank, as it was then known, was taken over by District Bank and Stansfield became an employee of that bank. He was promoted to clerk at Manchester Whitworth Street branch in November 1937 and moved to Ardwick branch later that month. He moved to Hollinwood branch in 1939.

In May 1941 Stansfield left the bank to go on war service, joining the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. By 1944 he was part of No 1 BSRU (Base Signals & Radar Unit), which was ordered to North West Europe to survey and fix radar installations. The landing craft in which they crossed the English Channel hit a mine in heavy seas just off the coast at Ostend, Belgium on 7 November 1944. Leading Aircraftman Stansfield was one of more than 200 RAF personnel lost in the incident. He was 29 years old and left a widow, Florence, whom he had married in 1939, and their 3-year-old twins.