The Airmen's Stories - P/O J R Mather

John Romney Mather was born at Blackheath, London on 19th May 1915, the son of Richard and Marie Charlotte Louise Grace Amelie Mather.

He was educated at Dulwich College from 1928 to 1932.

His father worked for the Tata Iron and Steel Co. in India. Mather joined the Hudsons Bay Company and worked for them in London till 1937 when he moved to Stewarts & Lloyds at Glasgow and then Corby.

Mather joined the RAFVR in June 1937 as an Airman u/t Pilot and was called to full-time service at the outbreak of war.

Above: King George IV inspecting 611 Squadron at Digby on 2nd November 1939, Mather fourth from right.

Commissioned on 1st April 1940, Mather was posted to 66 Squadron at Duxford.

On 10th July he shared in the destruction of a Do17 and on 2nd September shared a He111. He was shot down in combat over the Thames Estuary on 18th September and baled out, unhurt. His Spitfire, R6925, is believed to have crashed near Coldred.

On 27th October 1940 Mather was killed when his Spitfire, P7539, crashed and burned out at Half Moon Lane, Hildenborough. The cause of the crash is unknown but he may have been the victim of anoxia.

Mather was cremated and is commemorated by a plaque in St. Margaret's churchyard, Ifield, Sussex.

His CWGC entry says he was the husband of Peggy Cuthbert MacLeod of Glasgow.