70th Squadron Royal Flying Corps
Henry Joseph Watlington was born in Bermuda on 14th September 1896 and was the eldest son of Henry William Watlington, a Member of the Colonial Parliament who was knighted in 1933, and his wife Lucy Trott who had married in Bermuda in 1891. The couple had another son – Hereward Trott Watlington (born 1902) – and five daughters: Marjorie Trott (born 1900); Helen Elizabeth (born 1904); Lucy Clare (born 1906); and Anna Louisa (born 1909).
Henry attended Upper Canada College in Toronto from 1911-1914 and joined the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps in September 1914, which left Bermuda for England in May 1915 and reached the front in July 1915.
He was severely wounded in the hip the following winter and spent five months in hospital in England. He trained for a commission in the Royal Flying Corps, being posted to Denham Aerodrome in October 1916, before being transferred to Oxford.
He was posted to 28 Reserve Squadron at Castle Bromwich in April 1917 but then spent a month at Turnberry Aerodrome in Scotland, which was used for aerial fighting and gunnery school training. He returned to Castle Bromwich at the end of May 1917 and was posted to 70th Squadron on 23rd June 1917.
He was killed in action with AMII Edward Gilchrest on 6th July 1917 while flying a Sopwith 1.5 Strutter B714 on a photographic reconnaissance mission, the airplane crashing behind German lines. Watlington’s body was pinned beneath wreakage and, due to being under fire, the German’s were unable to recover it. He was reported missing and officially declared killed in action in September.
Flight Magazine reported his death and noted that he was married in July 1916 to Isabel, daughter of Mr & Mrs Harrington Emerson of New York.
Henry Joseph Watlington has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. His name is also included on the Castle Bromwich War Memorial and the roll of honour in St Mary & St Margaret’s Church, Castle Bromwich.
