BORN HORNSEA, 1890. ONLY SON OF PETER GASKELL & SARAH METCALFE OF INGLEWOOD HOUSE, NEWLAND PARK, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS). HE HAD THREE SISTERS KATHERINE, GLADYS AND MILLICENT. HIS FATHER WAS ALDERMAN AND LORD MAYOR OF HULL. THE FAMILY LIVED AT ALBERT CHAMBERS, 11 CARR LANE IN 1911 CENSUS. AN ARCHITECT AND FREEMASON. HE ALSO SERVED IN THE EAST RIDING ROYAL ENGINEERS AND IS REMEMBERED ON THEIR MEMORIAL AT HULL MINSTER.
Reginald GASKELL was killed in an accident whilst flying in a Maurice Farman Longhorn A4064, with Lieut Harold Percy Tozer (of No 8 Squadron) , who survived the accident, but died the following day on 16 December 1916. He was the son of Peter and Sarah Gaskell and was an architect. He enlisted as a private in the East Yorkshire Regiment and was commissioned in as a 2/Lieutenant. He was transferred to the RFC as an Observer on 5th July 1916. Source David Barnes.
REGINALD ROBINSON GASKELL enlisted as a private in the 1st Hull Pals, the 10th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, at the outbreak of war when the battalion was raised. He was commissioned into the Territorial Royal Engineers as a Second Lieutenant from 20th November 1914 with HQ and No 1 Electric Light Company (coastal searchlights) at Middlesbrough, part of North Eastern Coastal Defences. He served in France from 18th September 1915. He was appointed Flying Officer as an Observer with the Royal Flying Corps on 5th July 1916.
REGINALD was then attached to the Royal Flying Corps at Catterick, Yorkshire, training with No 14 Reserve Squadron. He was killed on 15th December 1916 during take-off on his first ever flight in a Maurice Farman Longhorn bi-plane of No 14 Reserve Squadron RFC with 2Lt Harold Percy Tozer of No 8 Reserve Squadron RFC, formerly of the 9th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, who died the next day. The plane had risen to a height of 30 feet when the machine rolled. He managed to right it again and started off but it then turned and crashed to the ground nose downwards. Flight Lieutenant GASKELL had one leg broken in four places and his skull was fractured. He died before he arrived at hospital. An inquest the next day recorded a verdict of accidental death (Lincolnshire Echo, December 18th 1916 Local World Ltd courtesy British Library via British Newspaper Archive).
The Maurice Farman MF.7 Longhorn was a French biplane developed before the war and eventually relegated to a trainer with the RFC.
Flt Lt GASKELL, aged 27, was buried at Hull Northern Cemetery on December 19th 1916 after a service at St John’s Church, Newland. See:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=103213492
REGINALD was an architect in his father’s firm at Albert Chambers, Hull. Flt Lt GASKELL was the son of Councillor Peter and Sarah GASKELL of Inglewood, Newland Park, Hull. Councillor Peter GASKELL was Lord Mayor of Hull in 1918. He was an engineer of the Withernsea Drainage scheme and designed the Princes Hall and Holderness Hall picture palaces. He also sang in the local Hornsea choir. Alderman GASKELL died on 22nd April 1933 at the age of 77.
