William Rhodes-Moorhouse

[Dave Homewood]

I have been looking a little into the life of William Rhodes Moorhouse, the first airman to be awarded the Victoria Cross for deeds in the air (which was a posthumous award).

A few interesting things that some here may not know. I was aware that his parents were from New Zealand. His mother was definately a kiwi. She was Mary Ann Rhodes.

It seems that Mary Ann was daughter of William Barnard Rhodes and Otahi Rhodes, a Mâori woman. Wikipedia states that Mary Ann was "gifted" to the couple when they were newlyweds, so I assume she was merely an adopted daughter. So did Mary Ann Rhodes have Maori blood?

Mary Ann's mother Otahi died and William married again to Sarah Ann Moorhouse. Later when Mary Ann married it was to Edward Moorhouse, who was the brother of her step-mum Sarah Ann (and also brother of William Moorhouse, a politician that Moorhouse Avenue in Chrstchurch is named after).

When Willaim Rhodes died, Mary Ann inherited so much money she became the richest woman in New Zealand!

Edward and Mary Ann moved to Britain and had fours sons. It seems that Edward was from Yorkshire originally but had been in NZ some time before he returned home.

One of the sons was William Barnard Moorhouse, born in Rokeby, Yorkshire. His wealth allowed him to get into all sorts of things and became a speed freak while growing up. Cars, motorcycles and aeroplanes.

In 1911 at the age of 22 he attended the Hendon flying school and learned to fly. He also teamed up at that time with James Radley and the pair designed the first of their own aeroplanes, the Radley Moorhouse Monoplane. This was a development of Bleriot's designed.

William Moorhouse became a well known display pilot around Britain, and then he embarked on a tour of the USA, flying a Bleriot in various rallies and races. He then returned to England and passed his Royal Aero Club test to achieve his air licence. this is all in 1911.

In 1912 he was a participant in many air races and air events in the UK. This included the first Aerial Derby in June 1912 which was a race around London on an 81 mile course, starting and finishing at Hendon. Moorhouse came third behind Thomas Sopwith and Gustav Hamel.

In July 1912 he became the first man to fly the English Channel with passengers aboard. They were his new wife Linda Moorhouse and an American reporter, and the flight was 130 miles in total. At this time it was reported in New Zealand newspapers he was a New Zealander from Christchurch.

In 1913 he drove in the Monte Carlo Rally, and sadly he hit and killed a spectator. He'd also had a bad motoring accident prior to this in which he himself had been injured.

Also in 1912 or 1913 depending on whichever source you hear, he changed his surname by deed poll to Rhodes-Moorhouse at the request of his grandfather Rhodes' will so that he would carry on the family name and thus he would inherit from the will.

He and linda had a son in March 1914, also called William.

In August 1914 he joined the Royal Flying Corps as a result of the war in Europe beginning and he was made a 2nd Lieutenant. He was posted to South Farnborough as officer in charge of an aircraft park, but seeking active service he was posted on the 20th of March 1915 to No. 5 Squadron at Merville in France. he was flying reconnnaissance and bombing missions in Be2c's.

It's well known how he died. He had only been operational a short time when the second battle of Ypres began. On the 26th of April 1915 he was tasked with bombing the railway yard at at Kortrijk, Belgium. He took off alone from Merville and made the attack, dropping his single 100lb bomb on the rail yards. He was very badly shot up and wounded. Rather than land and seek medical aid and be taken POW, he opted to get back to base and report on the attack. On landing he refused medical attention till he'd made his report. He died the next day from the wounds. The VC was awarded for his courage in getting back and making his report.

When you hear this you can't help thinking what a waste of life it was What good would one single 100lb bomb from one single plane would be? It would harly buckle a track unless you hit it in a sweet spot.

I wonder what his all so important report was. "Sorry... missed."? Let's hope not. Even the citation for his VC does not state if his attack was a success. It also states he dropped bombs plural on the railway line but he only actually dropped one accordng to most sources. I have never seen what the result of his attack was though. Did he cripple the track and stop the German army reinforcing its troops for half a day?

At the time of his death the newspapers in NZ again claimed he was a New Zealander. The RAF Museum claims he was born in London and other sources state he was born in Yorkshire.

Either way he seems to have been a very interesting and daring character, and he definately has New Zealand heritage if not actually a New Zealander. I suppose if Russian or Chinese parents had a baby born in Britain in the late 1800's they too would have been Russian or Chinese so maybe technically he was a NewZealander? Or half of one at least. And possibly part Maori.

[errolmartyn]

As with many entries on Wikipedia it pays to have a well-filled salt cellar close to hand when reading them.

“When Willaim Rhodes died, Mary Ann inherited so much money she became the richest woman in New Zealand!”

She was in England by the time the will was finally settled, not New Zealand. Mary Ann and other family members were provided for in her father’s will, but there followed a long-running court case over who was entitled to the residue of between £300,000 and £400,000. This was eventually decided in Mary Ann’s favour , but only after the Privy Council in London overturned a New Zealand Supreme Court decision, in March 1882. According to some accounts, Mary Ann benefitted by some £750,000 in total from her father’s will.

“In 1911 at the age of 22 he attended the Hendon flying school and learned to fly.”

He trained at Huntingdon, not Hendon, begining in 1910 with a limited amount of time on an old Anzani-powered Blériot. He began more serious training, on a Gnome-powered Blériot wehen well into the following year, acquiring his Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificate (No. 147) until October 1911.

“William Moorhouse became a well known display pilot around Britain, and then he embarked on a tour of the USA, flying a Bleriot in various rallies and races. He then returned to England and passed his Royal Aero Club test to achieve his air licence. this is all in 1911.”

The tour of the USA was in 1910, not 1911, and the flying was done by James Radley, not Moorhouse, who was not yet a trained pilot – he went with Radley as his ‘assistant’. A number of English aviation authors have also stated that Moorhouse flew under the Golden Gate bridge, but neither he nor Radley did – or could, as the bridge was not built until the 1930s.

“In July 1912 he became the first man to fly the English Channel with passengers aboard.”

Not so. He was the first, though, to fly it with two passengers on board.

“They were his new wife Linda Moorhouse and an American reporter”

Not an American but the editor of the English magazine Aeronautics.

“In 1913 he drove in the Monte Carlo Rally, and sadly he hit and killed a spectator. He'd also had a bad motoring accident prior to this in which he himself had been injured.”

He did not kill anyone in the Monte Carlo Rally. He had, however, killed a young lad on New Brighton beach while engaged in unauthorised motorcycle racing when on a visit to New Zealand in 1907. The police tried twice, unsuccessfully, to prosecute him. The boy’s family were paid £250 by the Moorhouse family and the matter was not pursued any further. Back in England, in October 1912, he was responsible through dangerous driving for the death of a man leading a horse-drawn wagon. The English courts found him guilty and fined him a mere £20!

“The RAF Museum claims he was born in London and other sources state he was born in Yorkshire.”

According to his Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificate he was born in London.

Errol

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Errol, I knew this would flush out some facts. Don't you hate it when so much you find when researching turns out to be wrong.

I will say that the RAF Museum's podcast on him was a major source for my info, so if that's the calibre of their research I'm kind of glad they have never responded to any of my research enquiries. ;D

That is a serious amount of money his mum inherited. Was William junior an only child? He was killed in the Battle of Britain after allegedly becoming an ace. Linda also became a pilot. A fascinating family.

Are there still members of the family in NZ I wonder, out of idle curiosity?

[angelsonefive]

William Henry Rhodes-Moorhouse ( born 1914 ) appears to have been an only child.

He obtained a civil pilot licence at 17 and had accumulated 1,000 hours flying by the time he joined the Auxiliary Air Force in1937.

A member of 601 County of London Squadron, he saw action flying Bristol Blenheims in raids on Germany before the Squadron converted to Hurricanes in March 1940.

The Squadron took part in the fighting over France and was in the thick of the Battle of Britain.

William Rhodes-Moorhouse attained the rank of Flight Lieutenant and was awarded the DFC.

He was killed on the 6th of September 1940 when his Hurricane dived into the ground after combat with 109s over Tunbridge Wells.

He had claimed 7 air victories as far as I can tell, along with a number of shared victories and probables.

[Dave Homewood]

A very interesting dynesty. I don't suppose Willian Henry had any kids before he died?

[Peter Lewis]

I had a big fight (one of many) with MoTAT years ago when they wanted to feature him as a NZ VC winner. They could not seem to realize that someone born in the UK and who visited NZ once fairly briefly could not actually be a NZer.

I have a parent born in the UK and I also have visited England for a fairly short period of time. I suspect that any application of mine for a UK passport would be rejected.

The adoption of W B Rhodes-Moorhouse as a New Zealander relates I feel very much to early-WW1 patriotic jingoism at the time, reflecting the desire by the then PR department to whip up enthusiasm for military recruitment and very little to fact. He was no doubt a brave man, but not in any way a Kiwi.

The treatment of the incident at New Brighton was fairly typical, it was not unusual at that time for well-connected and wealthy individuals to buy their way out of trouble with the Law.

Linda Rhodes-Moorhouse is listed as the owner of a DH.60G Gipsy Moth G-ABOA from new in July 1931, second-hand BA Swallow L25C Mk.2 G-ACUF and later on another BA Swallow L25C Mk.2 G-AEWB from new in April 1937 so her husbands death certainly did not put her off aviation.

[Dave Homewood]

He was not a New Zealander but if his mother was half-Maori as they seem to state, he was legally a Maori, surely. So was he instead a British-born "native of NZ"?

The RNZAF Museum used to have a display and portrait of him in their WWI section before the museum was revamped.

[steve]

I entirely agree with your position with MOTAT . It is a similar principle I have seen in placing our own flag in second place of priority to the Union Flag in some sort of misguided colonial mentality. Mind you the New Zealand citizen act was passed later than this time and we were very much British subjects in a British Empire dominion so being called a New Zealander was not precise term especially for those not born here.

[angelsonefive]

In Sept. 1936 William Henry married Amalia Demetriadi, daughter of Sir Stephen Demetriadi ( 1880-1952 ) KBE and Lady Demetriadi.

I have found no reference to any children of the marriage.

Amalia ( died 2003 ) was the sister of another 601 Squadron pilot, Richard Demetriadi, shot down and killed during combat over the sea off Portsmouth on August 11, 1940.

When William was shot down on the 6th of September his Hurricane buried itself so deeply in the ground near the High Brooms Viaduct that the RAF salvage unit thought the wreckage to be unrecoverable and just tidied up the site and left it.

His father-in-law was not satisfied with this and engaged a private contractor to excavate the crash site and find William's body.

William was cremated and his ashes either buried in his father's grave, or scattered on it. Accounts differ.

William's mother, Linda was a keen and accomplished pilot. In 1936
( from memory ) she flew her Gypsy Moth in the King's Cup Air Race.

[kb]

Aug 28, 2011 20:47:10 GMT 12 Peter Lewis said:

I have a parent born in the UK and I also have visited England for a fairly short period of time. I suspect that any application of mine for a UK passport would be rejected.

Actually Peter if it is your father who is English, unless there has been a relatively recent law change you are entitled to a passport. Not sure if it is your mother. I don't think that used to count but hard to believe they would be so sexist in this day and age.

[Peter Lewis]

Keith, there is a concept called Patriality.

If you have a Parent of Grandparent born in the UK you are entitled to Patriality. There is a difference between the two - Parent patriality entitles you (as a foreign passport holder) to live and work in the UK (but not the EEC) for as long and as often as you like for the rest of your life. Grandparent patriality entitles you to live and work in the UK , but if you leave for an extended period of time (5 years?) you have to reapply.

I have parent patriality. When I applied, years ago, you had to personally deliver all the required documents to the British Commission in person between 10 and 11.30 on Tuesdays only and pay the considerable fee in cash, no cheques. In return, you eventually got a flash looking certificate in your NZ passport as evidence of your entitlement. This always caused a problem whenever I arrived at Heathrow as I didn't have an EEC passport for direct unencumbered entry but had to line up with the Worthy Oriental Gentlemen in the 'others' queue where I would eventually be told off as I had automatic entry entitlement.

Whenever I got my renewed 10-year NZ passport, I had to post both the new and the old to the British Commission, and they would send them back with the certificate glued into the new one, no further charge.

Now, times have changed. About the time NZ decided to increase Government cashflow by going to four-and-a-half year passports, the British said "when you renew your passport, you must reapply for your patriality certificate, resubmit all your documentation and pay the fee again. We don't guarantee that because you got it last time that you will get it again this time. After all, your parents might have changed the place where they were born, over the last few years perhaps." Go figure.

The patriality renewal cost worked out at about eight dollars a week for the pleasure of looking at the certificate in your passport so I flagged it at that stage, which is probably the outcome they were hoping for.

I do concede that, in WB R-M's time, as part of the Empire, NZers were considered "British subjects, New Zealand nationals". Up to at least the 1970s, folk from the UK could come and settle permanently in NZ without any application, they could just come. Similarly, NZers could travel England and stay for the rest of their lives if they wished to do so. Many did.

[kb]

Peter, I have a British Passport obtained through my father who was born in the UK, came to NZ many years ago and never returned. Also when Linda was alive she had an entry in her NZ passport giving her right of abode and that was because I have a British passport. I don't think that is available now and even at the time it was because we were married shortly before a cut off date. BTW I do have my NZ Passport as well. Wouldn't give that up!

[atillathenunns]

I think if the British newspapers thought of him as an "Ex-New Zealander," why shouldn't New Zealand claim him as our own?

The following is cut from a post I did on another site a couple of years ago.

William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse
William (Will) Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse was born in England but was of Maori New Zealand descent, he would become the first airman to be awarded the Victoria Cross (26th April 1915).
Moorhouse received his Royal Aero Club certificate (No. 147) on the 17th October 1911.

Moorhouse took private flying lessons at Huntingdon where he teamed up with James Radley, another pioneer aviator. Together they built the Radley-Moorhouse monoplane, which resembled the familiar Bleriot type. In this aircraft Moorhouse gained considerable experience and became one of the top cross-country pilots of his time. In 1910 he and Radley took a Gnome engined Bleriot "barnstorming" across the USA to compete for money and fame in the then newly popular aero-meetings. They ended up in San Francisco winning the £1,000 Harbour Prize and where Moorhouse became the first to fly through the Golden Gate.
In 1911 he came second in the Aerial Derby race around London. He also made the first cargo flight, carrying Barrats boots from Northampton to Hendon. At about this time it is thought he demonstrated the first tail slides and possibly even a loop.

Sadly some modern day historians question New Zealands claim to Moorhouse, considering he was born and raised in England. Aside from the fact that William Moorhouse’s parents were from two of New Zealands earliest and prominent pioneering families, my own research has uncovered an old newspaper that was printed during Moorhouse’s time. The headlines clearly show that even back then he was considered an “Ex-New Zealander”. -

London 8th November 1912.
Aviator Committed.
"Charge Against An “Ex-New Zealander”
“Mr William Barnard Rhodes Moorhouse of Spratton Grange, Northampton, has been committed for trial on a charge of Manslaughter of a carter, Arthur William Cheacker, aged 40, on a Gloucestershire country road.”

The accident took place on the 18th October 1912, Moorhouse was arrested on the 26th October.
To cut a long story short, Moorhouse was speeding through a quiet country road when his unregistered automobile spooked a horse pulling the cart of Mr Cheacker whom was thrown and killed.
Moorhouse was eventually cleared of the charge of Manslaughter on the 14th December 1912.
The comment of the Judge on the day is worth mentioning.

“Alderman Wright said Moorhouse’s previous convictions for various offences under the Motor Car Act was the longest list ever produced against any motorist in that court.”

Moorhouse was fined £5 and costs. It was his 18th conviction.
Less than two weeks later Moorhouse would commit another driving offence on Christmas morning at 12.55am for driving a motor car without lights. He was given a fine of £5 and suspended licence for six months.

William Barnard Rhodes Moorhouse was the eldest son of Edward Moorhouse and Mary Ann Rhodes.
Mary Ann’s father, William Barnard Rhodes (An early New Zealand settler, 1840) was twice married, (1) Sarah King (died 1862), then (2) Sarah Ann Moorhouse a sister of William Sefton Moorhouse (Also an early New Zealand settler, 1851). They lived in a large house, The Grange in Wadestown, Wellington.

William Rhodes had no children by either wife, but fathered a daughter by a Maori woman called Mary.
William Rhodes and Sarah Ann loved his natural daughter Mary, a deal was worked out with Mary’s natural mother and Sarah Ann adopted her, giving her the name Mary Ann Rhodes.
Mary Ann was provided for in her father’s will, but she challenged the will, losing in the New Zealand Supreme Court but went to the Privy Council and was awarded £750,000.
Mary Ann Rhodes married her stepmother’s younger brother Edward Moorhouse in Wellington in 1883. They moved to England and raised four children, including William Barnard Moorhouse.
The family was rich, comfortable and happy living off the considerable fortune in property and rents from New Zealand

In April 1906, William Moorhouse arrived in New Zealand where he would learn of his Maori ancestry (no doubt the family secret). This is said to have mystified him, as the family at home would never discuss such a sensitive matter.
Unfortunately his New Zealand visit would end in tragedy with the death of an 8 year old boy (Kenneth Frederick Gourlay) on the 22nd March 1907, during practice runs for a Motor Cycle Race at New Brighton beach in Christchurch.
William Moorhouse was charged with Manslaughter on the 3rd April 1907, in that he did, by neglect and improper riding cause the death.
Moorhouse pleaded not guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court. Bail of £100 was granted.
On the 12th August 1907, at the Supreme Court, at the sitting of the Grand Jury, in the face of the most explicit directions from the Judge, and for reasons best known to themselves, threw out the Bill against the accused.
On the 16th August 1907, at the Supreme Court William Barnard Rhodes Moorhouse was acquitted on the charge of Manslaughter. (The accident would bring about new safety regulations to motor sport in New Zealand)

William Moorhouse added Rhodes to his name, shortly before he married Linda Morritt in 1912 (supposedly required by the will of his grandfather), and became William Barnard “Rhodes-Moorhouse.”

[atillathenunns]

Aug 26, 2011 20:15:13 GMT 12 errolmartyn said:

A number of English aviation authors have also stated that Moorhouse flew under the Golden Gate bridge, but neither he nor Radley did – or could, as the bridge was not built until the 1930s.

The golden gate bridge is not what they were referring to.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 41, 18 February 1914, Page 4
The world's first indoor aeroplane flight was made by Lionel Beachy, the daring American airman, in the Palace of Machinery at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, to be held in San Francisco in 1915. Starting at one end of the Machinery Palace, which is the largest frame structure in the world, being approximately 1000ft long, 400 ft wide, and 135 ft in height, Beachy rose in the air to a height of 40ft, and actually flew a distance of 300 ft. When 140 ft from the Opposite end of the building he came to the ground and tried to stop his machine, but he crashed through a heavy cloth barrier and ran into the end of the building, damaging his aeroplane, though sustaining no serious injuries. The aeroplane was equipped with a 100 horse-power engine, and required a speed of sixty miles an hour when running parallel to the earth. Shortly before this exploit Beachy made a 2000 ft vertical drop from a point almost above the "Golden Gate" entrance to San Francisco harbour.

[errolmartyn]

Feb 7, 2012 23:21:59 GMT 12 atillathenunns said:

Aug 26, 2011 20:15:13 GMT 12 errolmartyn said:

A number of English aviation authors have also stated that Moorhouse flew under the Golden Gate bridge, but neither he nor Radley did – or could, as the bridge was not built until the 1930s.

The golden gate bridge is not what they were referring to.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 41, 18 February 1914, Page 4
The world's first indoor aeroplane flight was made by Lionel Beachy, the daring American airman, in the Palace of Machinery at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, to be held in San Francisco in 1915. Starting at one end of the Machinery Palace, which is the largest frame structure in the world, being approximately 1000ft long, 400 ft wide, and 135 ft in height, Beachy rose in the air to a height of 40ft, and actually flew a distance of 300 ft. When 140 ft from the Opposite end of the building he came to the ground and tried to stop his machine, but he crashed through a heavy cloth barrier and ran into the end of the building, damaging his aeroplane, though sustaining no serious injuries. The aeroplane was equipped with a 100 horse-power engine, and required a speed of sixty miles an hour when running parallel to the earth. Shortly before this exploit Beachy made a 2000 ft vertical drop from a point almost above the "Golden Gate" entrance to San Francisco harbour.

Please read again what I wrote. The Evening Post is not an English aviation author.

Errol

[errolmartyn]

Feb 7, 2012 13:46:15 GMT 12 atillathenunns said:

... In 1910 he and Radley took a Gnome engined Bleriot "barnstorming" across the USA to compete for money and fame in the then newly popular aero-meetings. They ended up in San Francisco winning the £1,000 Harbour Prize and where Moorhouse became the first to fly through the Golden Gate...

This is a fiction, I'm afraid.

The following excerpt from a draft of my forthcoming trilogy on New Zealand aviation before the Great War explains:

"Contrary to many latter-day accounts, Moorhouse, not yet a holder of an aviator’s certificate, did not participate in any of the flying events during the American tour.* Some have also claimed that he was the first man to fly through the archways or under the span of San Francisco’s Golden Gate bridge. However, the bridge was not constructed until 1937 and the ‘Golden Gate’ feat referred to was actually accomplished by Hubert Latham, on 7 January, when he flew through the as yet unbridged Golden Gate entrance to San Francisco Bay. Latham and Radley were both lauded by the San Francisco Call next day for their daring exhibitions over the city’s harbor."

* Many writers, including notable aviation historians Chaz Bowyer, Peter Cooksley and Alex Revell in their air VC books, have wrongly credited Radley’s flights in the USA to Moorhouse, probably through being misled by an ambiguous passage on page 37 of his widow’s autobiography, Kaleidoscope.

In his Who’s Who entry in the 1914 edition of the The Flying Book, by Algernon E. Berriman, Moorhouse’s role on the tour is described as that of ‘assistant’.

Errol

[Dave Homewood]

The recent documentary on Maori TV about him also said he flew on the US tour I believe. That was an interesting doco actually.

[errolmartyn]

Feb 8, 2012 17:02:14 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

The recent documentary on Maori TV about him also said he flew on the US tour I believe. That was an interesting doco actually.

I contributed a considerable amount of research to this doco but much of it was ill-used or entirely ignored. A more complete and accurate acount of R-M will appear in Vol Two of my forthcoming history of New Zealand aviation prior to the Great War.

Errol

[atillathenunns]

Feb 8, 2012 9:03:04 GMT 12 errolmartyn said:

Feb 7, 2012 13:46:15 GMT 12 atillathenunns said:

They ended up in San Francisco winning the £1,000 Harbour Prize and where Moorhouse became the first to fly through the Golden Gate...

This is a fiction, I'm afraid.

Cheers Errol, I can accept no proof has been produced of the above sentance and I will make sure it is deleated or rewritten when I update.



IMO when Maori talk of their hard earned VCs it matters not that their sons were born in foreign lands, or that they didn't serve in a New Zealand unit. It only matters that they fought as representatives of New Zealand.

For those who do not know who George Bryant was, he was at one stage Principal of the New Zealand Government Overseas Information Service and then went on to become the Head of the Government's Information and Press Section of the Tourist and Publicity Department.

During 1960 and 1961 George wrote a series of articles on New Zealand VC winners for the Review, which was the journal of the NZ Returned Services Association, of which Moorehouse was included.

In 1972 Bryant published his VC articles as a book with the title "Where the prize is highest." (The stories of the New Zealanders who won the Victoria Cross)

What is more important is what is written in George's Acknowledgements on page 7. —

"The helpers included Mrs W. B. Rhodes-Morhouse and Mrs A. ffrench, of Mortham Tower, Barnard Castle, County Durham, England - the widow and sister respectively of Lt W. B. Rhodes-Morhouse, RFC, VC."

[chicgd]

Hi!
I am a Moorhouse....next time I talk to my grandmother I will see if we are part of this line. I am pretty sure we are related to the William Sefton Moorhouse that there is a statue of in a park in Christchurch....
Rachel