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Ivan Arthur Rice Stedeford was born in Exeter on 28 Jan
1897. He was the son of the Rev. Charles Stedeford who served as
President of the United Methodist Conference in 1928.
Ivan began his education at Shebbear College in North Devon. A
dissenting religious group calling itself the Bible Christians began
meeting near Lake Farm in the little village of Shebbear in October
1815, led by a local farmer called James Thorne. By 1817, a small chapel
had been built and in 1829, two of James Thorne's sons - John and Samuel
- had set up a Christian school called Prospect College - named after
the house built to accommodate the 20 boys who were the first pupils. In
1841, the school was re-founded by the growing Bible Christian Movement
and re-named Shebbear College. In time, the Bible Christians
became part of the Methodist Church but when Charles Stedeford, Ivan's
father, entered the Bible Christian Ministry in 1883, the groups were
still separate.
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The family frequently moved as Charles' ministry took him
to different parts of the country which was why Ivan finished his education at the
King Edward VI Grammar School in Birmingham.
Ivan left school in 1913 to become an engineering apprentice in
the Vickers factory in Castle Bromwich. Originally a general engineering
plant and iron works, Vickers turned to the manufacture of weapons and
by the time Ivan Stedeford went there, had major plants throughout the
UK geared up for the production of armaments from submarines to machine
guns.
In 1917, Ivan decided to play a more active role in the War which had
begun in 1914 so he joined the RNAS - the Royal Naval Air Service. |
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King
Edward VI Grammar School c 1895
Courtesy
of Birmingham Public Library |
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Extract from the Fleet Air Arm website - www.fleetairarmarchive.net
"Naval aviation began at Lee-on-the-Solent during the First
World War when the Admiralty needed to establish a series of air
stations around the south and east coasts to supplement the coastguard
system and to alert our shore defences against sea and air invasion. The
HM Naval Seaplane Training School was opened on the present site on 30
July 1917 under the control of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). It
was built as an extension to the seaplane training station at nearby
Calshot, at which officers and ratings could be trained to fly the
Bristol Bailey seaplane, Short 225 (184), Short 150, S.B.A.,
observer kite balloons and airships." |
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Naval
Seaplane Training School at Lee on Solent, c.1918
Courtesy
the Fleet Air Arm website |
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