William Audas; the Grimsby photographer with a famous granddson (Group Captain William Arthur John Satchell DSO).

An original c1880s carte-de-visite (CdV), studio photograph.

William Audas (1848-1895) was an accomplished, prolific photographer with a studio at 28 Freeman Street, Grimsby. (At another time he was at 42 Freeman Street.)

The grandson of William Audas, William Arthur John Satchell, was born on 2nd February 1908 in Grimsby and educated at Denstone College. After working as a bank clerk William Arthur John Satchell joined the Royal Tank Corps in 1926. He joined the RAF in 1929 and was a Squadron Leader by 1939.

S. Ldr. William Arthur John Satchell flew Hurricanes and after a distinguished flying career won the DSO in 1942. In late 1950 he was awarded the Polonia Rostiruta, the highest award possible from the Polish Government-in-Exile in London. The only other Britons so honoured were Churchill, Dowding and Sir Charles Portal. Satchell retired from the RAF in 1956 as a Group Captain. He died in March 1986.

The parents of William Arthur John Satchell were William Hubert Satchell and Florence Satchell (née Audas). W. H. Satchell was a bank clerk and they lived at 310 Hainton Avenue, Grimsby. They married on 27th July 1901. Sadly, her father, the photographer William Seaton Audas, had died on the 16th November 1895. (Florence’s brother-in-law, Robert Hobourn, a solicitor in Bedfordshire was a witness at the wedding.)

Notes for the daughters of William Audas: Florence Satchell (née Audas), of 3 Augusta Street Grimsby, died in 1955. Her husband, Group Captain William Arthur John Satchell died in Buckinghamshire in 1986. Sara Bell Hobourn (née Audas) died in Eastbourne in 1955.