Nongqai Vol. 9 No. 11

Lost at Sea: Capt. Andre Van Ellinckhuyzen (SAPS) On 23 November 1942 the Steam Ship (SS) Ceramic, under the command of Captain Herbert Charles Elford, set off from Liverpool in England, bound for St. Helena, Cape Town South Africa and then onward to Australia. On board there were 656 passengers, including Allied Troops and 378 civilians, and Ticket number 231, Phyllis Mildred Henwood, who’s destination was Durban.

The ship sailed in convoy until the 2nd of December when she left the convoy.

The 18400-ton SS Ceramic was launched on the 11th of December 1912 in Belfast Northern Ireland, only a number of months after the tragedy of the RMS Titanic which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912, after it struck an iceberg, resulting in the deaths of more than 1500 passengers who were on board the ship. During WW1 and WW2, the SS Ceramic, like most other ocean liners of its time, was utilised as an Allied troop carrier, and was one of the largest passenger liners of its time, and twice during the Great War, the Ceramic was lucky to escape being torpedoed by German U-boats.

The Henwood family lived in a large home named “Entabeni”, (219 East Street), here in Vryheid, from 1910 to 1945, and Phyllis Mildred Mathias was born Henwood in Vryheid on 27 January 1911, as one of the six children of Solicitor Sydney Evelyn Henwood and Alice Mildred Henwood born White. The Henwoods were married at the St. Peter’s Parish in Pietermaritzburg on 6 April 1910. Sidney Evelyn Henwood was born in Howick, Natal on 14 November 1883 and he died on 17 January 1937. Alice was born on 27 April 1885 at Allanvale, Chase Valley, Pietermaritzburg, and she passed away on 19 April 1979. Both Sydney and Alice were buried in the Vryheid Cemetery.

The Henwoods Arcade in Church Street, Vryheid is a reminder of the time when Solicitor Henwood was a well-respected lawyer and wealthy businessman here in Vryheid, and the legal firm “Cox and Partners” was founded here in Vryheid, in 1910, by the same Sydney Evelyn Henwood.

Phyllis Mildred had five siblings: Kenneth Donthorn Henwood, from Boksburg; Thania Alma Roupell born Henwood from Johannesburg; Valerie May Mitchell born Henwood, who lived in Rhodesia; Shirley Evelyn Lloyd born Henwood, from the Westrand; and Sidney Geoffrey Henwood from Durban.

Phyllis was educated at the St. Anne’s Diocesan College at Hilton, near Pietermaritzburg, in Natal, where she boarded in house Francis Baines, and where she matriculated in December 1929.

During her schooling at St. Anne’s, Phyllis played for the school’s 1st Eleven Hockey team and in her matric year she was a member of the school’s shooting team that came second in an Inter Schools Cup. After leaving St Anne’s, Phyllis went over to England where she took up nursing, and qualified in Radiography, and was registered with The Chartered Society of Masseuses and Medical Gymnasts.

On 9 October 1942, Phyllis Mildred was married to Royal Air Force (RAF) Wing Commander, Lewis Mathias, at Caxton Hall, Westminster in London, England.

Lewis Mathias was born on 4 September 1915, at Lamphey Court, Lamphey, Pembrokeshire in Wales. He was educated at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell, Linconshire, and was commissioned as a pilot officer in the RAF on 14 December 1935. He retired from the RAF in Page 88 of 179