High Holborn - more brief biographies

Died at Grays Inn Road

Princess Catherine Galitzine

From http://www.thepeerage.com/p11201.htm#i112007

Ekaterina Gräfin von Carlow was born on 25 July 1891 at Oranienbaum, Russia. She was the daughter of Georg Alexander Herzog von Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Nataliya Feodorovna Vanljarskya. She married Prince Vladimir Emmanuelovich Galitzine on 10 February 1913 at St. Petersburg, Russia. 

She gained the title of Gräfin von Carlow. From 10 February 1913, her married name became Gräfin Galitzine.

Her son, Emanuel’s, obituary in The Daily Telegraph gives some more detail:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1418277/Prince-Emanuel-Galitzine.html

“A great-grandson of Emperor Paul I (a son of Catherine the Great), Prince Emanuel Vladimirovich Galitzine was born on May 28 1918 at Kislvodsk, a spa town in the Caucasus. Before the Revolution, his father had served as aide-de-camp to Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, head of all the Russian armies until 1916, and afterwards commander of the southern troops confronting Turkey. Emanuel's mother [Ekaterina] was a daughter of Duke George Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

In 1919, conditions in the new Russia obliged the family to flee. They had packed their belongings in wicker laundry baskets, and were ready to leave, when Emanuel's mother realised that she had mislaid her wedding ring. Deciding that this was a bad omen, they postponed their departure - later learning that the train on which they would have travelled had been attacked by the Bolsheviks, and every passenger killed.

In the event, the family (including Emanuel's two younger brothers) managed to embark on a Royal Navy ship in the Crimea, which took them to Constantinople. They made their way by train to Paris, home to many White Russian exiles.

Emanuel's father, Prince Vladimir Galitzine, preferred to settle in England, however, thinking that his sons would benefit from a public school education. Accordingly, they went to London, where Prince Vladimir opened a shop in Berkeley Square selling Russian objets d'art; Queen Mary was a regular customer. Emanuel was sent to Lancing and St Paul's, the school fees often being settled by the provision of family paintings (brought out from Russia) in lieu of cash.”

In 1940, Ekaterina’s husband was working for British Intelligence, and she may have been working as a censor.  They lived at 131 Croxted Road, West Dulwich.

Ekaterine was wounded in the attack but died the same day at the Royal Free Hospital.

 Peggy Margaret Zella Taylor

Margaret Zella Taylor was born 1916, daughter of William (born 1876) and Isabella Zella Taylor (nee Waite, 1886-1981).  Her father was an insurance clerk for Norwich Union (1911 Census – they must have been reasonably affluent as the newly-weds lived alone in a house with 6 rooms!).  While CWGC gives her name as “Peggy Margaret”, Peggy is a version of the name Margaret, and the CWGC record may have recorded the name by which she was known and her birth name as well.

At the time of her death she was living at 4 Thurlow Road, in Belsize Park; her parents lived in Middleton-on-Sea, Bognor Regis.

Died at High Holborn
Ernest Joshua Garner

Ernest was born in 1923 to Edith Muriel Sparks (1898-1982) and Ernest Everard Garner (1896-1968), who had been married in 1920.

In the 1901 Census his father lived in Lower Sydenham, working as a messenger (aged 5), one of 13 children, five of whom had died.  His father’s father was a sulphate maker in the gasworks.

In 1940 the family was living at 19 Hardings Lane, Beckenham.

Ernest was wounded in the attack but died the same day at the Royal Free Hospital.

Leonard David Merrygold

Leonard was born in April 1890, son of George (1858-1912, a printing machine minder) and Hannah Jane (nee carter, 1858-1943, a tin maker).  He had two older siblings in 1891 and they lived with their 15-year old domestic servant at 14 Powell Street, Holborn.

In 1901 they were still there but by 1911 they were in Highbury, at 57 Grosvenor Road, and Leonard worked as a “tinman making surgical cases”.  His elder brothers were (i) a gold and silver walking stick maker and (ii) a sign writer for shop fitter. His sister was a shop assistant (possibly in umbrella and walking stick shop).  They lived with two lodgers (a German businessman and a Swiss Banker) and one servant.

On 29^th April 1916 Leonard married Daisy Hake at St Pauls, Canonbury.  At this time he was working as a sheet metal worker for Royal Naval Air Service; his rank was Air Mechanic (First Class).  His father had died by now, as had his wife’s father (he had been a furrier, Daisy had being a sewing machine worker in fur).

In 1921 they lived at 36 Herbert Street, Hackney.  In 1923 their son Ronald was born.  By 1930 they had moved to 43 Wilton Road, Friern Barnet; they were still there on the day Leonard died.

Leonard was an Associate Member of the Institute of Engineering. 

Leonard was injured in the attack and died on the same day in Barts Hospital in London.

The National Probate Calendar records his effects as £419 and his widow, Daisy, was named.  After the war, Daisy may have emigrated to South Africa.

Patricia Eardley Pearson

Patricia was born in Kensington in 1915, daughter of Geoffrey Greenwood Pearson (1883-1951) and Sylvia (nee Eardley-Wilmott, 1881-1964).  Sylvia’s father was a colonel in the army; Geoffrey’s family was affluent – aged 8 he lived with his family and a butler, footman, nurse, two nursemaids, a cook and a kitchen-maid.

In 1940 she lived at 37 Barons Court Road, Kensington.

In the National Probate Calendar, her effects were valued at £7952 (resworn £5489, I’m not sure what this means).  Her father was described as an air raid warden.

Died at High Holborn, between Grays Inn Road and Chancery Lane

Ellen Iris Cotton Gallop

This lady was born towards the end of 1909 in Bristol.  Her parents were Arthur Henry Gallop (1875-1929), a law writer from Bristol, and his wife Gwendoline de Saumarez (nee Harwood, 1883-?) from Watford.  Her mother’s unusual name could be attributed to her father having been a captain in the Royal Navy and having travelled to foreign ports.  (Her father was also 22 years older than her mother.

In the 1911 Census the family – parents and two daughters Dorothy and Iris – at 360 High Road, Tottenham.

In 1940 she lived at 21 Lawn Close, Ruislip in 1940 with her widowed mother.

Edward William Smith

Edward was born in 1925, and had at least one older sister.  His parents were Emily Bessie Dooley (1900-1987) and Edward Smith (1895-?), who were married at the end of 1921.

Died at High Holborn, by Chancery Lane

Leonard Anslow

He was born in the third quarter of 1884 in Orsett, Essex, a few miles north of Tilbury Docks.  His parents were Edward (1854-1925?), a carpenter and farrier, and Elizabeth (1854?-?).

In 1911 he lived with his parents and two brothers in Manor Park, east London, working as a law clerk.

He married Lilian, possibly Lilian Payne in 1916 in Holborn.  They may have had three children, Doris, Iris, Frank.

In 1940 he lived at Holmfield, Doddinghurst Estate, Brentwood (probably in Brook Lane).

The National Probate Calendar specifies the place of his death as Holborn, corner of Chancery Lane.

His effects were valued at £264 17/1 and Lilian was named.

Ronald Walter Bailey

Ronald was born in 1916 to Alfred James (1877-1949) and Charlotte Sophia (nee Loades, 1879-1963), both from Norfolk; they had been married on 14/11/1897 (Alfred was a milkman 1897-1911 at least)

1911 Census 6 children, 5 alive

In 1940, Ronald lived at 33 Clifton Way, Asylum Road, Peckham.

William Baugh

William was born in March 1901 in Hackney, son of Jack (John) and Emma Julia (nee Phillips).  In the 1911 Census the family (parents plus 7 children) lived in Edmonton, with John’s employment described as “machine ruler”, working in stationery (possibly printing paper?).  William’s oldest brothers worked as fountain pen repairer and fountain pen fitter respectively.

William married Amelia Caroline Dicks in Hackney in 1926.

They may have had three children: Malcolm (1931-1935), Margaret (1935-1969) and Ewing (1939-?).

In 1940 William was a member of the Auxiliary Fire Service, and lived at 8 Grasmere Road, Barnehurst.

The National Probate Calendar gave his place of death as Chancery Lane.  His effects were valued at £851 1/11, and named his widow, Amelia.

Ada Elizabeth Brignell

This lady was born Ada Elizabeth Cannon at the end of 1896 in West Ham.

In 1911 she lived in Plaistow with her parents (Henry, a bricklayer, and Emily), one of 9 children, 7 of whom were still alive and living at home. Her eldest siblings were a railway porter and two working in a factory for Western Electric.

In 1923 she married Horace George Henry Brignell (1898-1960, died on Christmas Day – son of a dock labourer) in West Ham.

They had one son, Dennis Horace, Albert Brignell (1924-1944).

In 1940 they lived in 12 Galsworthy Square, Grays Inn Road.

Horace remarried in 1942 to Doris Pilmer.

Ada’s son, Dennis did not survive the war.  On Friday 24^th March 1944 a Halifax bomber of 78 Squadron took off from Breighton (south of York) bound for Berlin at 18.59.  A fix was received at 22.45 and a message that the plane was returning to base with engine trouble.  At 22.55 the aircraft received permission to land at Cranfield as an emergency but the plane was coming in low and slow; it stalled, crashed and caught fire near Hulcote, a mile short of the runway.  (Hulcote is by Junction 13 of the M1).

The crew of seven were all killed:

1800930 Sgt (Air Gnr) Dennis Horace Albert Brignell, RAFVR, 19, of Holborn, London.   412970 Flg Off (Air Bomber) Reginald Stanislaus Kelly, RAAF, 21, of Ermington, NSW.   1334523 Flt Sgt (Nav) William Harold Shields, RAFVR, 21, of Cricklewood, Middlesex.  150168 Flg Off (Plt) Michael Arabin Wimberley, RAFVR, 21, of Rowlands Castle, Hampshire. Above 4 buried at Cambridge City Cemetery.
1523593 Sgt (Flt Engr) Harold James Neal, RAFVR, and 641893 Sgt (Air Gnr) Horatio Robert Nelson, RAF, 22, of Liverpool. Both buried at Liverpool (Anfield) Cemetery.  1324941 Sgt (W.Op/Air Gnr) Leslie James Edge, RAFVR, 21, of Valence. St Mary Churchyard, Westerham, Kent.

(From http://www.mackz.net/cm_samplearchive.htm)

Sheila Winifred Mabel Callam

We can work out Sheila was born in 1921 but ancestry.co.uk seems to have no record of her birth; one possibility to consider is she was born overseas but this seems unlikely.

Her parents were Arthur Frank (worked as a dispensing chemist, 1896-1941) and Mabel (nee Neale, possibly born 1899 in Lambeth).

Sheila possibly had two siblings: Ronald AE (1920-1922) and Eileen M (1935-?, married Raymond Eden).

In 1940 they lived at 92 Queen Anne Avenue, Bromley.

Sheila’s father died just over four months later (24/2/41) but he is not listed as a ‘Blitz casualty’.

Clifford Spencer Cowan

Clifford was born 1921 q3 in Fulham to Frederick William (1889-1955) and Eleanor Gertrude (nee Arnold, possibly 1886-); they were married in 1915. 

Eleanor was also known as Elinor and Eleonora, and was from Bedford (which I note only because it is my home town). 

Frederick was from Portsmouth; his occupation in the 1911 Census was “ornamental decorator’s mounter” in the Decorating Department of Maples.  (When he died the National Probate calendar gave his effects as £2,960 10/7.)

In 1940 they lived at 25 Winchester Road, Kenton.

Clifford was one of the eleven people who survived the bombing but died in hospital, in this case at the Royal Free then on Grays Inn Road.

He was buried on Monday 14^th October at St Andrew, Kingsbury – presumably http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_St_Andrew's_Church,_Kingsbury

Mack Greenberg

Very little is available about this man.  He was born in 1890 to parents Hoscher and Blema; in 1940 they lived in Plaistow.

Mack was a US Citizen and was living in the Cumberland Hotel, by Marble Arch.

There is a photo of his grave here:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=GRE&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GScntry=5&GSsr=2281&GRid=24646843&

Note that the name on headstone is Mack Green.

Joan Ellen Hill

Very little is available on this lady.  We can deduce she was born about 18921 but the only match I can find on ancestry.co.uk is 1923 and that is to Joan EE Hill.

Her mother’s first name was Ellen and in 1940 they lived at 71 Farmstead Road, Catford.

Frederick Lambert

Frederick was born in February 1899, to Frederick (1870-?) and Emma Rapley (1872-?), who had married in August 1891.

He was baptised on the Sunday 19^th March 1899 at Emmanuel Church, Distin Street, Lambeth, close to the Lambeth Walk (father’s occupation “general dealer”).

In the 1911 Census both his parents were described as “street hawkers” (presumably selling goods from a market stall or barrow).  Frederick had 9 siblings, 8 of whom were still alive.  The eldest, Jane, was a domestic servant.  Emily (aged 15) looked after the house, presumably in addition to the youngest (Thomas aged 2 and Jack, under 1).  In all 11 people lived in 4 rooms at 58 Fitzalan Street.

He married Florence Ashley (1900-1988) on Sunday 15^th May 1921 at the same church where he was baptised.  His father’s occupation was given as “costermonger”, and Frederick’s occupation as “shop assistant”.  Florence’s father was a bricklayer but had died; no occupation was given for her.  (She started to sign her name as Florence Lambert but had to cross out the surname part way through and replace it with “Ashley”.)

They had one child, Frederick (1921-1979).

In 1940, they lived at 12 Charlecote Road, Dagenham.

Samuel Linden

Born 1925 in Whitechapel, Samuel was the son of Reuben (?1889-1975) and Betsy (nee Weltman, aka Weldman, married 1919 in Mile End).

In the 1938 Post Office Directory Reuben was listed as a “gown manufacturer” working from home address, denoted as in wholesale.  The High Holborn bombing was in the heart of London’s legal quarter and, given the dress code for court at the time could include a gown, it is possible Samuel was in the area on 8^th October as part of his father’s business.

In 1940 they lived at 40 Goodge Street, although Betsy may have died by this point.

Samuel was an ARP member, possibly as a messenger (given his age).

Surprisingly for someone so young he is listed in the National probate Calendar where he is named as “Sam”, names his father, and valued his effects at £117 7/6.

Henry Mercer

Very little is known about this man.  He was probably born in 1880.  He was a resident in a hostel for working men from the 1930s onwards: this was Parker Street House, 25-37 Parker Street (off of Kingsway).

Maud Pannell

Maud was born in 1911, daughter of James (1884-1958) and Maud Gray (1885-1961), a postman and book folding binder respectively.

In the 1911 Census, her father was a sorter in the post office, living in 2 rooms at 43 Inville Road, Walworth.  She had an elder brother William Frederick; one other elder sibling had died.

In 1940 the family lived at 63 Casino Avenue, Herne Hill.

The NPC valued her effects at £410, and named her mother.

Henry Samuel Saunders

Compiling a biography for this man was complicated by the fact a man with a similar name was born in the same year.  I have assumed the man killed at High Holborn in 1940 was born in 1880, the birth being registered at St George’s, Hanover Square. (The other man was born in Colchester).

In the 1911 Census Henry lived with his mother at the Barossa Barracks, Aldershot; his father was a private in the 2^nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.

The CWGC entry for his death records him as being married to “F. Saunders” and from the electoral roll he was living with Florence Saunders by 1928 (but not in 1926); however, I cannot find a record of their marriage.

In 1940 they lived at 10 Egerton Drive, Greenwich.

Ernest Horatio Spencer Step

He was born on Friday 15^th June 1877, to Horatio and Mary Ann (nee Sharp).  His baptism record shows his father was a carpenter and they lived at 15 Red Lion Street in Holborn (within a couple of hundred yards of the 1940 bombing).

In subsequent censuses, his father’s occupation changed to “carpenter master” with ‘1 man’ in brackets after (1881) and “carpenter/decorator” (1891).  In 1891, Ernest’s occupation was as a ”shop boy port” (I am unsure what this means).

By 1901 Ernest had five younger brothers; his occupation was “bookseller’s assistant” but unemployed.

He married in 1903 on Saturday 27^th June to Elizabeth Alice Susan Goodheart (1879-1931) – he was a packer for a publisher, she was a book folder (Elizabeth’s father was a cabinet maker).

They had two children Florence Elizabeth Mary (1904-1967) and Ernest Albert Spencer (1907-1995)

Times were not easy: in 1911 the young family was living in a single room at 15 Devonshire Street, off Theobald’s Road.

In the First World War he was a private in the army, in the Labour Corps and the Northamptonshire Regiment (“Norths R” according to his medal card).

In 1940 he lived at 15 Boswell Road, within about half-a-mile of High Holborn.

According to the NPC he left effects of £508 18/10, named person was his son who was a special war reserve police constable.

Henry James Warnett

He was born in q3 1890 to Henry (1865-1918) and Clara Mary Jane (nee Baldwin, 1861-1942) in Dick’s Green, Wrotham Kent (birth registered in Dunks Green, about 5 miles N of Tonbridge in Kent).

In the 1891 Census, his father a labourer in a paper mill; in the 1901 Census Henry senior was in the same occupation but on an engineering course – the family was living in the West Peckham area of Kent. Henry had at least 4 siblings.

By the 1911 Census Henry junior was listed as a stoker (1^st class) in the Royal Navy, stationed in “China & East India”.

He married in 1915, on Sunday 29^th August, at St Matthews in West Kensington.  His bride was Florence Elizabeth Pattenden (5/10/1889-Jun 1975), daughter of a chauffeur (previously a groom, spanning the arrival of the motor car).

His residence on his marriage certificate is HMS Sentinel and judging from the history of that ship (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sentinel_(1904), he was probably anchored in the Humber.

His father’s occupation was now given as “engineer”, but both witnesses were from Florence’s family

They had one son, Henry John, born in 1917.

In 1925 (21st August) he was issued a medal by the Royal Navy for long service and good conduct; his rank was given as SPO presumably senior petty officer.

In 1940 he lived at 21 Porten Houses, Porten Road, West Kensington (by Olympia).

“Injured at Holborn”

Five people died in hospital having been “injured at Holborn”; apart from being the name of a street, this was also the name of the council area at the time, so it is unclear what this was referring to.  There was one other incident in the Holborn council area on the 8^th so we do not know for certain whether these five people were injured in this incident, the other one, or an unknown third incident.  However, all died at the Royal Free Hospital, then located in Grays Inn Road.  The other Holborn incident was near Covent Garden so the more natural place for evacuation for casualties from that incident would be Charing Cross Hospital on Agar Street by Trafalgar Square.  Therefore I have assumed all five people were injured in the High Holborn/Chancery Lane attack.

Stanley Lewis Chappell

Stanley was born in 1906, son of Fred (1871-?) and Minnie Adelaide (nee Palmer, 1869-1954); their marriage certificate lists Fred’s occupation as “fruit buyer” (Fred’s father’s occupation was “gentleman”!)  Minnie’s father had been a farmer but he was deceased.

In 1911 Stanley was living with his parents, an only child, with a 16 year-old servant at 164 Fordwych Road, Cricklewood.

Around 1924 Stanley started at university.

On 23^rd July 1926, Stanley and his father left London by ship, the Kaisar-I-Hind, which was bound for Bombay but their destination was Marseille.  Fred, described as “sugar merchant” and Stanley, described as “undergraduate”, were travelling first class.

Stanley married Ethel Joyce Howden (1907-?) in q2 1932, in Amersham, Buckinghamshire.  Her father was a “scenic artist” (according to the 1911 Census – ancestry.co.uk interprets this as “science artist”).

In 1935 the couple boarded a Fred Olsen cruiser, “Betan Curia”, on Thursday 6^th June bound for the Canary Islands and travelling 1^st class.  Stanley’s occupation was “Lloyds underwriter”, and their home address Rose Cottage, Great Missenden, Bucks.  They disembarked at Tenereife, came back from Las Palmas a couple of weeks later.

In 1936 their only child, Marcus Stanley, was born in Amersham (died 2010 in Ottawa).

In 1940 Stanley’s address was given as 46b Clanricarde Gardens (by west end of Hyde Park); it’s possible this was flat in the centre of London in addition to the family home in Amersham.

He was an Air Raid Warden for the area of Kensington.

The NPC names his widow and father (occupation “retired produce broker”) and valued his effects at £13,899 6/1.

After the war Ethel may have emigrated to Canada and died in British Columbia.

Maurice and Tobias Bobby Lewis

Maurice was born in Yarmouth, Norfolk in 1889 to Mendel (born in Russia 1855-1924) and Miriam (born in East Prussia 1866-?).

In the 1901 Census, the family consisted of parents plus 9 children; a servant and two lodgers also lived with them.  Mendel was an antiques dealer, and his eldest son was an art student.

By the time of the 1911 Census Maurice was living with some of his brothers and sisters at 50 Great Russell Street (facing the entrance to the British Museum), and was working as a journalist.

In 1927 he married Frances May Fairs (1905-1951).  She was born in Tonbridge; her father’s occupation on her baptism record looks like “racket instructor”, but he died soon after - by 1911 she was living with her widowed mother and grandparents in Fulham

Tobias was born in 1929 (his middle initials were M.H. according to his birth record, but in the CWGC record of his death he was called “Tobias Bobby”; Bobby could have been a family nickname for him.)

He had two younger sisters, Carol A (1930-2006) and Miriam FL (1933-?).

From 1934 onwards Maurice crossed the Atlantic several times

1934 coming back to back to Southampton from New York on 28^th September

1935 31^st July – going from Southampton to New York on the Ile de France, in Tourist Class, described as author, address ‘Mountford’, Kings Langley Arrived at Southampton from NY on “Europa” on 29^th August.

1937 5^th September departed from Southampton to New York on “Westernland”

2^nd Nov arrived at Southampton from Buenos Aries on Normandie, address The Rookery, Aspley Guise, Bedfordshire.

In 1940 he lived at 14 Tavistock Place, Holborn.

Florence re-married to Richard Foster in 1941 q4, and seems to have moved to America and died in Vermont.

Angelina Betty Posener

I could find very few details about Angelina and her family.  We can deduce she must have been born in 1924 to Herman and Anna.  Her parents’ names may suggest they were migrants from another country.

In 1940 they lived at 56 Alkham Road, Stoke Newington.

Angelina survived the boming on Tuesday 8^th but died on Friday 11^th at the Royal Free Hospital.  She was the last victim of the attack to die.

Her father died in October 1945 his effects valued at £1757 7/9, naming his widow Joseph Posener, milk bar proprieter, presumably Angelina’s brother.

Eileen Mary Vosper

Eileen was born q1 1924 in Limehouse in the east End, daughter of Frederick J (1895-?) and Ellen (nee Mitchell, 1893-1979?).

She had at least six siblings: Frederick J, Walter W, Eileen M, Patricia, Joseph (1929-2004), and Terence.

In 1940, the family lived at 27 Soho Square, just south of Oxford Street.

Eileen survived to Thursday 10^th but died in the Royal Free.

Alice Margaret Webb

Alice was born in 1892 in Hobart, Tasmania.  Her parents were William Frego Webb (1847-1934) and Isabel Mary (1865-?)

In the 1911 Census her father’s occupation was “Bengal Dept of Education (retired on pension)”, and a web search shows he wrote several textbooks.  In 1911, the oldest daughter, Phillis, was a medical student, Alice was a student, and Roy was a musical student. There were 8 children in total and the family lived at 88 Airedale Avenue, Chiswick.

Two of her brothers died in France in the First World War, one in 1917 and one in 1918; one was in the army but the other was in the newly formed Royal Flying Corps.  In addition, the youngest sister died aged 24 in 1925.

In 1934 their father died, leaving effects valued at £30,724 15/-.

In 1940, Alice was living at 5 Alma Terrace, Allen Street, Kensington (according to the NPC, but Tatchley House, Dollis Avenue, Finchley according to CWGC).

She survived the bombing but died the next day in hospital.

In the NPC her effects were valued at £2172 19/8 and she named her siblings, Hope Evelyn Webb and Roy John Aldis Webb (musician).

Possibly involved

As we have seen, several people died at the Royal Free Hospital having been taken there after being injured in Holborn.  One man died at the same hospital on 8^th October and is listed in CWGC but with no record of where he was injured:

Walter Robert Story

However, other than his age and the fact he was “son of A. Story of 37 Grange Park, Ealing” I can find nothing else about him.