Tag Archives: 1940

Private Alfred Robert Allen

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Alfred Robert Allen lived with his parents Alfred William and Elsie May Allen at 4 Manton Way, Mitcham. On his gravestone, his parents called him Bob:

In memory of Bob.
His smiling face is with us
Till we meet again,
Mum and dad

Manton Way was a short road, with only four houses at the time. It was off the west side of Galpins Road at the eastern end of the then Borough of Mitcham, with its boundary to Croydon. On the eastern side of Galpins Road were tennis courts and playing fields. At the southern end of Galpins Road was Mitcham Common.

Manton Way was at the edge of the Pollards Hill Golf course, and Bob Allen may well have crossed it on his way to Sherwood Park School, half a mile to the west.

Bob Allen died, aged 19, on 22nd January 1944, while serving with the 6th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment which took part in the landings at Salerno, in September 1943, in the Allied Invasion of Italy.

Sources

Commonwealth War Grave Commission:

Private
ALLEN, ALFRED ROBERT

Service Number 14280788

Died 22/01/1944

Aged 19

6th Bn.
Lincolnshire Regiment

Son of Alfred William and Elsie May Allen, of Mitcham. Surrey.

Ancestry.com. UK, Memorial Books WWI and WWII, 1914-1945.
Original data: Sayers, William Charles Berwick, ed. Croydon and the Second World War: The Official History of the War Work of the Borough and Its Citizens from 1939–1945, Together with the Croydon Roll of Honour. Croydon, England: The Croydon Corporation, 1949.

Lincoln Regiment

Born 29th October 1924, in Fulham. Lived at 387a London Road, Croydon. Educated Sherwood Park School, Mitcham. Clerk. Died in Italy, 22nd January 1944. Buried Military Cemetery, Minturno.

Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995

In his will he left £241 1s. 8d. to his mother Elsie May Allen.

The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/1376C

No. 4 Manton Way
Alfred William Allen, born 20th May 1894, (builders) scaffolder labourer.
Elsie May Allen, born 17th September 1894, housewife.

Maps

1940 OS map

1954 OS map

When the Pollards Hill Golf Course was developed for housing after WW2, Manton Way was extended and renamed Berkshire Way. Other roads in this development were named after counties.

Maps are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Lance Corporal Frederick Rexstrew

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Frderick Rexstrew, was born 19 May 1914.

He married, aged 26, on 13th June 1940 to Gladys Ayling, 24, of 7 Ravensbury Cottages, Morden Road, Mitcham, at the parish church of Beddington. He was a soldier living at 47 Bute Gardens West in Beddington. His father, Henry Marshall Rexstrew, was deceased. Gladys Ayling’s father, Albert William Ayling, was a cowman. Source: Ancestry.com. Sutton, Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1940, London Borough of Sutton; Sutton, London, England; Reference Number: 2813/1/5.

The 1939 register shows Frederick Rexstrew as a Motor Driver, Baker’s Roundsman, and he lived with his mother Alice, housewife, and brother George R., born 29 Sept 1918, foreman stock keeper, munitions. Source: The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/1318E

The 1939 register shows Gladys Ayling as working as a newsagent assistant, her mother Katie was listed as a housewife. Source: The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/1374B

The Ravensbury Cottages were on a part of the road called Ravensbury Grove, which later was renamed Hatfeild Close, as shown in this 1953 OS map.

1953 OS map

Hatfeild Close was named after Gilliat Hatfeild, the owner of the nearby Morden Hall (house and gardens now owned by the National Trust).

Frederick Rexstrew was a Lance Corporal, service number 179420 with the 253 (Airborne) Composite Company Royal Army Service Corps.

He died on 20th September, 1944, and was re-interred at Arnhem Oosterbeek Cemetery, grave 29. C. 8. Source: Commonwealth War Grave Commission.

He was an air dispatcher on a Stirling IV LJ829 aircraft with RAF Squadron 190. All crewmembers were killed when the aircraft crashed in Doorwerth. Source : Harrington Museum – Aircraft lost on Allied Force’s Special Duty Operations & Associated Roll of Honour, page 382. Note that this pdf is 3 megabytes and has 583 pages.

A memorial to all the RAF crew and air despatchers like Frederick Rexstrew is in a side street in Doorwerth:

“Here, during the Battle of Arnhem, Stirling LJ928 crashed on 21 september 1944, after having been hit by fire from enemy fighters, killing the crew and the air despatchers. This memorial is not only to commemorate these men, but to remember all those of the Royal Air Force who flew between 17th and 25th September 1944 over this area. Flying on low level through German anti aircraft fire and attacking enemy fighters, they towed gliders and dropped supplies for the men of the 1st British Airborne Division.
During those days 229 crew members and air despatchers from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa lost their lives in a brave attempt to help the men on the ground.”

In his will, his address was 7 Ravensbury Cottages, Mitcham, Surrey and he left £215 5s. to his widow Gladys. Source: Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995

See also the ParaData website.

Maps are reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.