U.K., WWII Civilian Deaths

[canadianbeth]

While following a leaf for a brother of my grandmother I found a daughter of his who died in 1944. It stated "killed by enemy action" in the facts list so I checked the source and found the list mentioned above. She was 22, the wife of an L/Sjt and died 28 June 1944 at Acre Lane. Just looking at the two pages available, someone else was also killed at Acre Lane on that date; that was not the actual address of either person. This was of course later in the month after D-Day; was the enemy still bombing London at that time? I did not know there was a comprehensive list of every civilian who died during that war. It appears to have been broken down into districts; my cousin (Freda Mary Margaret Stilwell, nee Joyce) is listed under London (Kensington) - London (Stoke-Newington) but not dates, as the deaths on those pages span from 1940 to 1945.

Also on one of those pages was the name of someone else in my tree; not the actual given name but the surname is unusual enough (Sreeves) that he has to be connected somehow, so I shall be poking about further to see where he fits.

 

[Heather]

Thanks for this canadianbeth, very interesting reading, there seems to be about 7 volumes (156 pages) of UK WW2 Civilian deaths 1939 -1945 on Ancestry. Browsing I found 8 pages under the heading "Other deaths - some deaths other than in air raid incidents" One tragic entry notes that 45 people died including 38 young children when an aircraft crashed on a school in a thunderstorm"

 

[Britjan]

Thanks as well, my father was an ambulance driver in London during WWII and I must take a look at the areas where he might have worked. He always felt that those who were ambulance personnel were left out of any recognition for their services when the war ended.

 

[canadianbeth]

He always felt that those who were ambulance personnel were left out of any recognition for their services when the war ended.

That is too bad Britjan; ambulance drivers and EMT's deserve much recognition, along with other first responders. We have decals on our car and front door acknowledging them.

 

[Stephen L]

was the enemy still bombing London at that time?

Bombing went on later than June. My grandmother's sister was killed in an attack by a V1 flying bomb or doodlebug that took place on 21st August 1944. The story of other residents in the same block of flats is on a BBC WW2 People's War page.

 

[Sue_3]

My mother was in London from 1944 onwards (I think, possibly from late 1943, having previously lived through the blitz in Manchester and worked in a munitions factory in Birmingham) and there was certainly a lot of bombing after D-Day. My mother recalled not only bombing but incidents where enemy aircraft flew down London streets, shooting civilians as they passed.

 

[Britjan]

That is too bad Britjan; ambulance drivers and EMT's deserve much recognition, along with other first responders. We have decals on our car and front door acknowledging them.

Even with the resurgence of interest in the U.K. this year and the discovery and cataloging of more WWI Homefront archives I'm still not finding much acknowledging ambulance and other rescue personnel in North/Central London.

 

[Paul Reeve]

Very interesting. I shall have to look at this one. In our local churchyard (Orpington) is the grave of Ivy Millichamp, the last civilian in the UK to die from enemy action.