Un Français Libre parmi 63704
 

Michel Severe

Michel Severe - son Livre ouvert !
 

Registres de nationalité ouverts par les Forces françaises libres à Londres

Elsy Daisy May MILLER

Naissance : 23 novembre 1922, Westboure, Royaume-Uni. Résidence : lieu non indiqué. Type d'acte : acquisition de la nationalité française par mariage. Date de déclaration : 28 juin 1943. Conjoint : SEVERE, Michel, maître chauffeur. Mariage : 14 août 1943, Chichester, Sussex, Royaume-Uni. Date de récepissé : 15 septembre 1943. Remarque : matricule 5999 FN 41.

Laurent Laloup le jeudi 03 octobre 2019 - Demander un contact

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" STEEP’S renowned pub, The Harrow, has many claims to fame but a personal link to the history of the Second World War was revealed this summer.

A middle aged woman and a friend arrived at the pub, still run, as during the war, by members of the McCutcheon family, having been inspired to visit by the death of the woman’s father, who, on his deathbed, had begun to reminisce about his life during the war – something he’d never previously talked about to his family.

Fran Box and Rollo Wicksteed, who are members of Steep History Group, researched further into the background of the man, Michel Severe, and how French Servicemen who had escaped from France and wished to fight with the Allies against Nazi Germany had been based at Steep House.

They published their findings in September’s Steep and Stroud Newsletter.

They wrote: “During the war years, the walls of the bar had been adorned with a montage of photographs featuring local men on active service; that still exists and was produced by Claire and Nisa (McCutcheon) to show their visitors.

“Incredibly, the pictures included both her father and his brother, a poignant reminder of a cordial entente that has survived some 70 years. They had been two of those Free Frenchmen.

“During the Second World War, Steep House was used as a rest home for the Free French sailors. A Mme Jeanne Maze was in charge

“Many of the Free French were sailors of the French Navy who could not return home due to the Nazi occupation. Their ships were used to accompany the Atlantic convoys and returned to British ports between times at sea.

“Sometimes sailors came to Steep House after a ship had been torpedoed. This had been the case with the lady’s father, whose ship had gone down off the coast of Newfoundland.

“Steep House was a place to recuperate from such experiences. The sailors were often seen around Petersfield wearing their red, white and blue uniforms with a cross of Lorraine on their caps or lapels and there are two of these badges in The Harrow collection.

“In 1942, General De Gaulle inspected the Free French establishments at Portsmouth. It is thought that he also visited Steep House.

“After Steep House, Michel and other Free French sailors were transferred to Southbourne, near Emsworth, where they built their own barracks.

“At the end of the war, he decided to remain in the UK and married an English girl. It was their daughter, Roz, who had come to find her father’s old haunt: The Harrow.”

Haden Dodd, who is the McCutcheon sisters’ uncle, remembers the wartime pub visits by the French, who played darts there.

As a boy, he kept score for them but the only French vocabulary he learnt related to darts – and swear words."

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Laurent Laloup le mardi 06 novembre 2018 - Demander un contact

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