Arthur Bywater

Richard Arthur Samuel Bywater GC, GM (3 November 1913 – 6 April 2005), known as Arthur Bywater,^[1] won the George Cross and George Medal,^[2] one of only eight people to have been awarded both medals, and the only civilian.

He was born on 3 November 1913 in Birmingham^[3] and educated at Birmingham University (BSc Chemistry, 1935; MSc Chemistry, 1936).^[4] He was a Factory Development Officer in the Ministry of Supply. On 22 February 1944 there was an accident at an arms factory in West Kirby in Liverpool. 19 workers, mainly women, were filling fuses when one exploded, killing one woman immediately and wounding two others, one of whom later died of her injuries. The fuse had exploded because of a defective striker and Bywater realised that the whole building, which contained 12,000 highly explosive fuses, was in danger of igniting. He led three other voulunteers in the hazardous work of clearing the wrecked factory of 12,724 fuses over the next three days, plus another 4,000 which were believed to be defective.

The award of the Bywater's George Cross was published in the London Gazette on 26 September 1944 while his George Medal, for bravery in clearing a factory at the same site in 1944, was published on 18 September 1945.

After the war

After the war, he became works manager of RN Coate and Co, the cider makers, at Nailsea, near Bristol. In 1954 he emigrated to Australia and took Australian citizenship. After helping to set up an ordnance factory in New South Wales, he joined the Reserve Bank of Australia in Melbourne.^[3]

In 1999 he wrote Some Reminiscences of a Non-combatant, an account of his wartime experiences.^[3]

He died on 6 April 2005, aged 91.

References