Francis James Metcalf

[Archivist_47]

I'm looking for the service record of this chap who it is rumoured was in the Navy during WW2 (MTBs). All I know is he was born in Dorset on 24/5/1912 and left the Navy in 1945ish.

[jorose]

Records for people who served in WWII will still be with the MOD.

http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk/service_records/service_records.html - however it seems they no longer hold that much for Royal Navy, as the service record would have been given to Francis when he left.

You'll need proof of death - if you don't have his death certificate you can see on the index here:
http://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=7579

Francis James Metcalf b. 24 May 1912, d. Apr 1994 Ashford, Kent.

http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/archiveSearch.asp?WebType=0&Referer=full - also possibly search here to see if he's mentioned in WWII gazette records - this would be if he recieved certain medals etc.  The search engine on this site is notoriously fussy and cantankerous so you may have to just search on the surname in the WWII years and then go through and look at each hit to see if it's him.

[Archivist_47]

He died 10th April 1994 and is buried at Saltwood, Kent.
He was born in Dorset on 24 May 1912, the son of the Rev. Francis William Rucker Metcalf (Emmanuel B.A. 1897), who at the time of his son’s admission to Emmanuel was living at Wye Vicarage, Ashford, Kent. He was educated at Western Province School, Claremont, South Africa, 1921-24, private tuition 1925-26, and at Eastbourne College from 1926. He came to Emmanuel in October 1932 and read for an ordinary degree, taking the second principal exam in history in 1933 and obtaining a third class, and a subsidiary subject (unspecified) in the same year. He left the College after the summer term of 1934 and did not graduate. From 1934 to 1936 he was at Bishops Theological College, and from 1937-39 he was an assistant schoolmaster, place unknown. As you already know, he served in the navy during the war, but we have no details of his service. After the war he returned to teaching in various schools, including your own, but we have no further names or dates in our records. He retired in 1977.