The First World War of 1914-18 has been a consuming passion for Tony Stubbs over many years and has taken him on visits to the battlefields of Europe and excursions into the depths of the military archives.

As a result, he has shared his knowledge with the people of Bourne and beyond through a series of talks on all aspects of military history.

Anthony Stubbs was born at Balham, south west London in April 1935 and lived there throughout the Second World War when the family were made homeless by a V1 flying bomb in 1944.

After school he worked in the city until called up for National Service in 1953 which he served with the Royal Artillery at Oswestry in Shropshire but took to army life and signed on as a regular soldier for a further three years. He volunteered for airborne service and was posted to 33rd Parachute Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, subsequently serving in Cyprus and Egypt during the Suez crisis and finally on the Aden/Yemen border. 

On discharge in 1958, he went into factory management in Surrey, Hertfordshire and Corby, Northamptonshire, moving to Stamford 1982 then finally to Bourne in 1988 where he now lives.

It was his father’s service with the Royal Flying Corps during WW1 and later with the RAF that stimulated his interest in military matters from an early age and apart from his talks to many different organisations he also writes articles and is now working on a book detailing the town’s War Memorial and those who are listed on it from WW1 and later conflicts.

Tony is also a member of the Parachute Regimental Association, the Royal Artillery Association, the Western Front Association and maintains an interest in the Imperial War and National Army museums.

He recently gave valuable advice to Bourne United Charities over plans to extend the War Memorial in Bourne with the addition of regimental crests relating to those mentioned by helping identify the units in which they served and has also been invited to join a steering group formed by Lincolnshire County Council to oversee the recognition and preservation of the county’s numerous war memorials as part of the observances during 2014 for the centenary of the outbreak of WW1, also working with the War Memorials Trust.

Tony now lives in Saxon Way, Bourne, with his second wife, Rita, and he has three grown up children, two sons and a daughter, from his earlier marriage, his first wife having died in 1985. Despite retirement, he remains active in many other fields such as photography, reading, writing, walking and travelling, and he is also a member of Bourne Civic Society, Hereward Probus and U3A Church Visiting Group.

The couple have also travelled extensively over the years to many countries including China, India, Russia and America as well as the numerous battlefield sites, not only European but also those from the South African, Zulu and Boer wars, the Crimea, Egypt and Stalingrad.

WRITTEN JANUARY 2014

See also The War Memorial