Can I find more about action of a chaplain mentioned in despatches?

[Davedrave]

I wonder whether I can find out more about why an RAFVR chaplain, Rev. A(rthur) S(tanley) Ireson (born 1905) was mentioned in despatches? I see that he held the rank of Squadron Leader in 1940. He was a parish priest in Coventry before the war. I seem to recall hearing that he had been senior RAF chaplain in the Mediterranean, but have no idea if this is true.

[ValJJJ]

Not wartime but in the Coventry Evening Telegraph, Tues, May 14th 1946:
Rev A S Ireson, a former curate of St Nicholas church, Radford, has been appointed residentiary canon at Coventry Cathedral with the title of Director of Religious Education. He will be instituted and installed on May 31st.

[Davedrave]

Thanks, that is interesting. He later became a schoolmaster, and was a formidable disciplinarian, and very much a “muscular Christian”.

[ValJJJ]

There are a lot of newspaper articles about him but from this year and onwards. Nothing so far on being mentioned in dispatches. Do you know which squadron he was in? There are lots of war diaries etc at the National Archive at Kew and some are digitised.

[Davedrave]

Thank you for your suggestion re the NA. (Unfortunately, I’ve only found that he was in the RAFVR.)

Dave

[Rena]

I wonder whether I can find out more about why an RAFVR chaplain, Rev. A(rthur) S(tanley) Ireson (born 1905) was mentioned in despatches? I see that he held the rank of Squadron Leader in 1940. He was a parish priest in Coventry before the war. I seem to recall hearing that he had been senior RAF chaplain in the Mediterranean, but have no idea if this is true.

Years ago I used to use a Church of England website to follow the career of one vicar and I think this might be the modern website.

Church of England clergyman records are primarily accessed through the

www.Clergy of the Church of England Database (CCEd), covering 1540–1835 with over 1.5 million records.

For modern clergy (post-1858), Crockford’s Clerical Directory
https://www.crockford.org.uk/

and the National Register of Clergy are the main sources, while Lambeth Palace Library offers archives for genealogical research.

[Andy J2022]

As an officer in the RAF or RAFVR his service record will still be held at the MOD.  As I understand matters, if you are not a close relative you cannot currently ask for a copy of his record. However, in due course (c. late 2026 or 2027) when all officer records have been transferred to TNA you will be able to submit a Freedom of Information request for a copy.

There will be a charge involved in supplying the record. See this thread for details: https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=895412.0

[Davedrave]

Thank you for your information, which I will follow up.

Dave