Mike Angiolini |
My Grand father, Number 16 Angiolini Domenico Giuseppe, was on the Arandora Star when it was torpedoed. You have his his details as Genova. This is incorrect. He was from near Pieve De Zignago. province of La Spezia.
My Father told me how his father made his mother hide in a cupboard so there would be someone to look after his three children. He remembers his father picking up his gold pocket watch and a large sum of money. He gave his eldest son, my uncle, some of this money and told him to give it to his mother when she gets back. This was to hide his mother.
Before my grand father was put on the boat, my uncle, went to near Liverpool to see him. His watch and money had been take from him by the guards. |
Mrs Stella Taylor (nee Fiorini) |
I am writing to confirm that the name “Clement Fiorini ”, as listed on your website as one of those who perished on the Arandora Star, was my Grandfather.
He left Sora, Italy when aged 18 and settled in the Ancoats area of Manchester in the early 1900’s, where he married and raised a family.
In 1940 He was taken away by the British authorities who saw him, along with other Italian immigrants as a possible threat, even though he had lived in the UK for some 30 years. He was taken away early one morning and sent to Wharf Mill in Bury, Lancashire. From there, he was taken to Edinburgh, where he wrote to my Grandmother, informing her of his situation. My grandmother never heard from my Grandfather again. In 1940 she was informed by the British Government that her husband was being sent to Canada on board the Arandora Star, along with many other Italian immigrants, whilst the war was Sadly, the rest is history, my grandmother died never knowing what exactly happened to her husband, other than assuming he perished in the most terrible of circumstances. |
