Queenborough is a village on the east side of the Isle of Sheppey 1.5 miles south of Sheerness.
| Name | Occupation | Posted from | Until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sergeant Francis Douglas Wallace | Warehouseman - sanitary earthenware |
14 Sep 1940 | 03 Dec 1944 |
| Private Ernest Frederick Beer | Iron & brass moulder. |
09 Aug 1940 | 03 Dec 1944 |
| Private John Frederick Collis | Shipwright |
03 Dec 1940 | 03 Dec 1944 |
| Private Jack Roy Donald | Dockyard worker |
14 Aug 1940 | 09 Feb 1944 |
| Private Harold Victor Howting | Farm worker |
22 Jun 1940 | 03 Dec 1944 |
| Private Harry Edwin Oliver | Warehouse assistant |
Unknown | 27 May 1943 |
| Private Jack Quaintance | Chemical factory worker |
17 Jun 1941 | 03 Dec 1944 |
| Private Peter John Woolley | Apprentice iron moulder |
09 Aug 1940 | 03 Dec 1944 |
All that is known about the OB location is that it was under a stockyard at Lieutenant Johnson's home, Cowstead Farm, but was never finished.
Queenborough Patrol
The men chosen all worked in the dockyards or on the industrial estates; the idea being to destroy these facilities in the event of an invasion. The Ob was located near to Queenborough train station so that could also have been a target.
Auxilier Jack Quaintance: “We never went to Coleshill but were trained in secret by Lovat Scouts and Royal Engineers at Harty and at The Garth, Bilting, where the Commanding Officer was Captain McNicholl of the London Scottish TA. He had an Alsatian dog. I also met Captain Thomas Neame at The Garth.
We were shown how to make vicious booby traps such as a hole full of sharp flints in the side of a bank activated by a trip wire. Perfect for killing motorcycle riders and foot soldiers. We also put booby traps under cushions and attached explosives to the toilet chains inside water cisterns. Good joke and Jerry loses his head.
No-one from our day-to-day lives knew who we were or what we had been trained to do. Secrecy was our creed. Our training was as realistic as possible and we would raid installations on the Island guarded by Regulars and Home Guard. The sentries were armed with live ammunition and didn’t know we were coming. If we had been seen we would have been shot."
According to Jack Quaintance, the urban and rural Patrols met once at Cowstead Corner. He never saw the farmers again.
Jack Quaintance: “We were armed with .38 Smith and Wesson revolvers from the US Navy, Fairbairn Sykes commando knives, Thompson .45 sub machine guns with box magazines, .300 Remington rifles, and 9mm Sten guns. We carried the Stens as you would a shotgun and shoot at string-pull targets. We also had a Winchester .22 bolt action rifle with 5-shot magazine, silencer and telescopic sights for taking out German officers. Jolly good tool, very tradesman-like. I enjoyed shooting it."
Jack Quaintance: “At the beginning of the war I worked in a chemical factory in Sheerness, where I was also a messenger for the ARP wardens. I joined the Queenborough Home Guard when I was 16. Before the war I was a member of the local small-bore shooting club so I could already handle a rifle.
In 1941 I was approached by a local farmer, Lieutenant W G Johnson, who asked if I wanted to join some rough stuff. I signed the Official Secrets Act and reported to a farm at Cowstead Corner belonging to Lieutenant Johnson. Our OB was under the stockyard, but it was never finished and we never used it.
If the Germans had invaded we didn’t expect to last long, but we were young and well prepared to get on with the job. Let the bastards come. In the beginning we believed the Germans would come at any moment, but as the war went on this subsided. Prior to D - Day in June 1944 we were offered a crash course in parachuting and told that we were going to be dropped behind German lines in Normandy, but nothing came of it.
We were eventually stood down in November 1944 and returned to our normal lives. We never received any official recognition at the time, but I later received the Defence Medal. I joined the Royal Navy early 1945 and served on HMS Ajax. As soon as the war ended we were sent to the River Platte, Uruguay, to pick up the German sailors from the Graf Spee. I later served in Palestine and Israel.”
TNA ref WO199/3391 and WO199/3390
Hancock data held at B.R.A
1939 Register
Phil Evans
Adrian Westwood and his interview with Auxilier Jack Quaintance