Souvenir Programme

Programme for a service dedicated to the unveiling of a War Memorial to the teachers of Kingston upon Hull

Hull was one of the most heavily bombed cities in the UK during the Second World War. This souvenir programme is for a ceremony that commemorated twelve teachers of Hull who had died as civilians and in service between 1939 and 1945. One of the teachers commemorated was Dan Billany.

Dan Billany was born in Hull in November 1913. He was active in the Labour League of Youth and later the Hull branch of the Socialist Party of Great Britain. He received a degree in English from the University College of Hull in 1937 and began a career in teaching at Chiltern Street School, Hull. Billlany joined the army in 1940 becoming an officer in the East Yorkshire Regiment. He was captured by the Germans and spent 15 months in a prisoner of war camp in Italy.

Billany wrote a number of novels including The Opera House Murders (published in 1940) and The Magic Door (1943). Billany continued to write whilst a prisoner, after he escaped he gave the manuscripts for two further novels The Cage (1949) and The Trap to an Italian farmer to be post back to Britain after the war. Sadly Billany and three friends were last seen in Capistrello in November 1943 trying to make their way to the Allied forces and it is believed he died shortly afterwards.

Access will be granted to any accredited reader

The programme was sent to the parents of Victor J. Coupe, a Hull teacher, listed on the roll of honour and on the war memorial. Donated by Alan Woods, Blackburn, 3 January 1996

List of Civilian War Dead for Kingston Upon Hull, 1939-1945 (Box 10 in searchroom) [Ref C SRL/R/74]

Casualty Lists [Ref C TYC/1-5]

Valerie A. Reeves & Valerie Showan, Dan Billany: Hull's Lost Hero (1999) L.920 BIL