The Brampton Grange in

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipalit ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, is a historic building that dates back to 1773. The building was once vital to the planning and bombing of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

as the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

(USAAF)

1st Bombardment Division First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

, part of the

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...

, was based here from 1943 to 1945, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The Brampton Grange closed in 2007-2008 after many years of use as a hotel, bar and restaurant. In November 2015 building work was completed and the building was converted into 11 luxury apartments and marketed by Villager Homes, Brampton.

Brampton's First Girls School

Until the removal of the eastern wing by developers, marks could be seen on the walls from school girls carvings from their pencils.

Ridley Haim Herschell Ridley Haim Herschell (7 April 1807 – 14 April 1864) was a Polish-born British minister who converted from Judaism to evangelical Christianity. He was a founder of the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Among the Jews (1842) and ...

was asked by

Lady Olivia Sparrow Lady Olivia Sparrow (née Acheson) (1776–1863) was an Anglo-Irish landowner and philanthropist, widowed in 1805. She was a prominent evangelical, belonging to 29 societies engaged in related causes, and a friend of both Hannah More and William ...

to manage her schools in

Leigh-on-Sea Leigh-on-Sea (), commonly referred to simply as Leigh, is a town and civil parish in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. In 2011, it had a population of 22,509. Geography Leigh-on-Sea is on the northern ...

, Essex and Brampton, Cambridgeshire. The school was at the Grange. Ridley went on to be well known in the religious community. He was the founder of the British Society for Propagating the Gospel Among the Jews (1842) and of the

Evangelical Alliance The Evangelical Alliance (EA) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media and societ ...

(1845). It appears that his son was born in Brampton during his time here at the Grange.

Farrer Herschell, 1st Baron Herschell Farrer Herschell, 1st Baron Herschell, (2 November 1837 – 1 March 1899), was Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain in 1886, and again from 1892 to 1895. Life Childhood and education Herschell was born on 2 November 1837 in Brampton, Hampsh ...

(1837-1899),

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

, eldest son of the Rev. Ridley Haim Herschell, by Helen Skirving, daughter of William Mowbray of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, was born at Brampton on 2 November 1837. His son later became Lord Chancellor of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

in 1886, and again from 1892 to 1895

USAAF use

RAF Brampton Grange - Station 103 - Brampton, 1st Air Division. Brampton Grange was the headquarters of the

8th Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces ...

1st Bombardment Wing, later renamed the

on 13 September 1943, to end confusion of the term "wing" with the operational combat wings (in December 1944, it was renamed again, becoming the 1st Air Division). From RAF Brampton Grange, as it was termed in official records, the 1st BW/BD/AD directed combat operations of

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

bomber and fighter groups under its command from August 1942, to 25 April 1945. It was an administrative headquarters which relied on

RAF Alconbury Royal Air Force Alconbury or more simply RAF Alconbury is an active Royal Air Force station near Huntingdon, England. The airfield is in the civil parish of The Stukeleys, close to the villages of Great Stukeley, Little Stukeley, and Alconbury. ...

for logistical support and its flying requirements. Bomb Groups assigned to the 1st Air Division conducted mercy missions over the German-occupied part of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to drop food to starving Dutch in 1945. Operation Chowhound delivered 4,000 tons of food. On the ground, Dutch teams gathered to distribute it to the starving population, though due to travel difficulties this sometimes took up to ten days. Though the Germans largely withheld their fire, both operations sustained some losses as three aircraft were lost, two to a collision and a third to an engine fire.

Congressional Visit

Congressmen Senators Ralph O. Brewster,

Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985) was an American diplomat and Republican United States senator from Massachusetts in both Senate seats in non-consecutive terms of service and a United States ambassador. He was considered ...

, Richard Russell, James Mead, and Albert (Happy) Chandler visited the Grange in 1943.

Freedom Of The Borough Of Bedford

On 19 July 1945 Major General Howard M. Turner, Commanding General of the 1st Air Division, was Presented The Freedom Of The Borough Of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

Post USAAF use

In the spring of 1945 it was taken over by the RAF as the Headquarters of the

Technical Training Command The United States Army Air Forces during World War II had major subordinate Commands below the Air Staff level. These Commands were organized along functional missions. One such Command was the Flying Training Command (FTC). It began as Air Corp ...

. The Grange Hotel opened in 1980.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{authority control Buildings and structures in Huntingdonshire Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the United Kingdom