Pincher Martin’s Story
In April 1918 a group of RNAS (Royal Naval Air Squadron) convalescents were based at St. John's Rooms at Abbeydale, when it was being used as a VAD hospital. We know it today as the Dore And Totley Post Office Sorting Office with its distinctive mosaic plaque on the frontage.
In recognition of their time together, the group all signed a hand‐drawn card, which is part of the Dore Heritage Collection. The original image was shown to Dore Village Society and subsequently copied, by Bill Glossop of Totley History Group in 2010. Bill's aunt was one of the nurses at the VAD hospital.
One of the names at the top of the card is Pincher Martin.
William Golding, most famous for his novel, "The Lord of the Flies", also wrote a story in 1956 about a sailor who was torpedoed during the Second World War: the book being called Pincher Martin.
This coincidence led to further research. William Golding lived latterly in Cornwall, so it is plausible that he could have met our Naval hero should he have come from that area. Alternately, in the Navy anyone who has the surname Martin is called Pincher after a famous Commander‐in‐Chief, Mediterranean, of the 1860's, who was known to be very alert.
To this day RNAS bases are in Cornwall so who knows?
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