Royal Navy
Born: June 3rd 1921
Died: November 25th 1941
Age at Death: 20
Killed on active service, January 1942
Guardian: Francis J Twycross, Sunrise, Sundale Lane, Missleton, Nr Bognor Regis
Francis was born on 3 June 1921 to Francis Twycross-Raines and his wife Dorothy (née Mckintoch). He attended Brighton College for two years, playing minor roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas The Gondoliers and The Sorcerer, before switching to the Specialist Army Class at Dulwich College. From there he went to Dartmouth College to train as a naval officer.
By November 1941 he was on the battleship HMS Barham, part of a battle squadron (1st Battle Squadron) looking for Italian convoys. A U-boat discovered the group of British ships on the mission just off the Egyptian coast, and hit the Barham with three torpedoes. The ship rapidly began to capsize to port and four minutes later her magazines exploded, shattering the entire ship in an enormous explosion. Twycross-Raines was among the two-thirds of the crew who were lost with the ship. His name is inscribed on the Portsmouth War Memorial.