CFHS code : PL521
Parish : St Paul
Inscription : headstone NB war grave headstone 742723 Sergeant HFH GIGNEY Pilot RAF 14 June 1941 aged 22 kerbs In Loving Memory of a devoted husband and father HORACE F GIGNEY d 14 Jan 1935 aged 53
Monument : Headstone/Kerb stones
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Lat Lon : 52.202211, 0.13606192 – click here for location
Monument
Commonwealth War Grave Commission headstone set within kerb stones, in the parish area of St Paul. Located just behind the Lodge at the side of the western path.
Inscription
742723 Sergeant HFH GIGNEY
Pilot RAF 14 June 1941 aged 22
“Loved and remembered always”
left kerb
In Loving Memory of a devoted husband and father HORACE F GIGNEY died 14 Jan 1935 aged 53 years
Horace Francis Gigney (1882-1935)
Horace was the son of Henry James and Ellen Gigney. He was born in Kettles Yard, Cambridge and baptised at the church of St Giles in 1882. His mother died when he was 7 years old. She is buried in the parish churchyard of St Peters Church. In 1891 he was living with his father, a coal porter, in Gloucester Street.
On September 9th 1909 he married Mabel Emily Cubberley of 15 Kingston Street, Cambridge. Horace drove motor cars for a living but it is not clear, on the 1911 census, in what capacity. They had at least three children: Horace Francis Henry (1819), Katherine Joan (1920) and Mabel (1923) Mabel only lived four days and is buried close by. The family lived at 47 Park Street, Cambridge, where by 1920 Horace was working as a postman. They had moved to 58 Coronation Street, Cambridge by 1923 and Horace was by then working as a railway servant.
Horace was living at 58 Coronation Street, Cambridge when he died. Mabel died in 1942 but it is not known if she was buried here.
Horace Francis Henry Gigney (1919-1941) – WW2 pilot – for a fuller account of his life see his Life Story page
Horace was the eldest child of Horace and Mabel Gigney. He was baptised in the parish church of St Clement when the family were living at 47 Park Street. The family had moved to Coronation Street by 1923 and this is where he grew up.
Horace joined the RAF in 1939 and after pilot training was posted to 25 Squadron in November 1940. He flew 14 operations against the enemy and was credited with destroying one enemy aircraft in combat on 5th June 1941 over Mablethorpe. He tragically died in an air accident at Barnack, near Peterborough on 14th June 1941.
Horace’s cousin George Frederick Gigney died in France in WW1. George Frederick was the son of Horace Francis Henry Gigney’s elder brother James.
Sources:
CFHS Parish and census transcripts
by Mary Naylor and Tony Ansell