Harlaxton Manor
King George Vl visits members of the Royal Army Service Corps at Harlaxton Manor in March 1944. (Paradata/Airborne Assault Museum)
Harlaxton Manor houses the European campus for the American University of Evansville in Indiana and is one of England's finest Grade I listed country houses.
In 1942, a former World War I landing ground was reopened as RAF Harlaxton and was used for flying training. Harlaxton Manor was requisitioned and used as the Station's Officers' Mess until late 1943, when personnel of the British 1st Airborne Division began moving in.
Men of the following British Airborne units were based in the Manor at different times between December 1943 until the end of the war:
• ‘A’ Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion – one of the infantry combat battalions of the Division.
• 253 Composite Company, Royal Army Service Corps - provided the air despatch (supply dropping) capability for the 1st Airborne Division.
• No 1 (Airborne) Forward Observer Unit, Royal Artillery, formed to provide specialist Royal Artillery observers to coordinate the fire from the Division’s 75mm howitzers onto enemy targets.
• 1st (Airborne) Divisional Provost Company, Corps of Military Police, billeted at Harlaxton Manor from October 1944 until May 1945, when it deployed to Norway and Denmark on Operations DOOMSDAY and ECLIPSE to take the surrender of German troops and maintain the peace.
The nearby Gregory Arms housed one of the smallest units of the 1st Airborne Division, the 89th (Parachute) Field Security Section, Intelligence Corps, for a few months in 1944. When not on operations, the Section was responsible for general security within the 1st Airborne Division; when in the field, it gathered and disseminated information on nearby enemy units.
Close to Harlaxton Manor was RAF Harlaxton, a training airfield that had first been used during world War I. On 29 January 1945, an unexpected arrival occurred during a snow storm: a C-47 aircraft of the 314th Troop Carrier Group from nearby RAF Saltby. To read the full story, please click here: The Day a C-47 crash-landed at Harlaxton airfield.
Evansville University president and US Army veteran Wally Graves was instrumental in the decision to lease Harlaxton Manor when it became available in the late 1960s.
Dr William Ridgway, a trustee of the University of Evansville whose ancestors came from the East Midlands of England, purchased Harlaxton Manor in 1978 and gave it outright to the University in 1986.
The Manor holds Open Days throughout the year, including a sumptuous Christmas Open House. For information on forthcoming Open Days and events, click here:
To contact Harlaxton Manor about Events and Conferencing, click here:
Pegasus Memorial at Harlaxton Manor, built by Military Police members of the 1st Airborne Division in 1945. (Mike Frankel/Photos4You)
A memorial to the British 1st Airborne Division was constructed by members of the Division's Provost (Military Police) Company in 1945. Post-war British Airborne veterans hold a short Remembrance ceremony at the memorial each year.
C-47 42-23342 of the 314th Troop Carrier Group at Harlaxton after its crash-landing in January 1945. (via Col Mark Vlahos)
An unexpected arrival
Click the button to learn how a snowstorm brought an unexpected visitor to Harlaxton airfield
