Jeffrey Quill - Early Years

Early Years

Jeffrey Kindersley Quill was born at Littlehampton, Sussex, England on 1 February 1913, the youngest of the five children of Arthur Maxwell Quill and Emily Molesworth Kindersley, and was educated at Lancing College, which overlooked Shoreham aerodrome (at that time a small grass field with old hangars and a wooden hut for the flying club). While at Lancing, Quill became Captain of Gibbs House (1930) and Prefect (1931). He played in the Cricket XI (1930–31); Football XI (1929–30); and was Sergeant in the OTC, Cert. A. Long before he left school in 1931, the aerial activity overhead had quickened the already air-minded Quill's resolve to take a non-commissioned career in the Royal Air Force. While still a pupil at Lancing, he had attended the famous annual RAF displays at Hendon, and two years later he participated in the event.