Died: Direct hit on an air raid shelter at 46 Swanley Road, Welling
Address / Local links: 46 Swanley Road, Welling
Family / Relatives: Husband of Daisy Clark
Other Information: A Port of London Lockman
Tuesday 8th October 1940 was a cloudy, windy night…” After the usual morning patrols and reconnaissance flights, two formations of fifty and 100 aircraft penetrated inland from Dymchurch and approached London via Kenley and Biggin Hill at 8.30 a.m. Bombs fell on Charing Cross Underground Station, Horse Guards Parade, the War Office and the Air Ministry’s Adastral House. Tower Bridge was also hit and so was the BBC’s Bush House. Two hours later a second attack with thirty aircraft developed on London. An hour later another twenty attacked and at 12.30 two formations of twelve took up where the others left off. Fighter Command scrambled 639 sorties and lost four machines. Fourteen German aircraft were destroyed.”
It was a tragic night locally, with all five members of the Clark family losing their lives…
Alfred George Clark was born in Poplar in 1896, the son of James (a Yorkshireman, who became a stevedore on the London docks) and Ann Clark . Later, James became a PLA (Port of London Authority) Lockman – a trade his son, Alfred would eventually follow in.
In 1911 records state – Training ship Boy Training Ship Arethusa and Chichester, River Thames, off Greenhithe aged 15. A few years later, in the spring of 1915 he married Daisy May Susan Reynolds at West Ham Register Office. It is likely that Alfred would have worked on ships or docks during the Great War.
3 daughters were born, all in West Ham – Una in 1919, Marguerite in 1922 and Jeanne in 1926.
By the mid 1930s, the family were living in Welling – 46 Swanley Road,- and Alfred, continuing his water-linked work as a PLA Lockman.
The whole family were killed by a Luftwaffe bomb directly hitting their shelter at home – records state it happened at 12.30am.
Poignantly, the Civilian Deaths Register lists some final details about Alfred;
RECORD OF CIVILIAN DEATHS (From Bexley Archives)
PARTICULARS PENDING IDENTIFICATION –”body identified by brother, Ernest R Clark of North Woolwich E16”.
INVENTORY OF PERSONAL EFFECTS – £22 15s 14d cash. 2 diaries with photographs and names inside. Two hand bags containing papers. One metal box containing papers of Royal Liver Society.
BURIED BY LOCAL AUTHORITY – Bexleyheath Cemetery 11th September – We assume that all the victims of this tragedy were buried in ‘trench no.1’ in Bexleyheath Cemetery, where the WW2 civilian monument now stands?
Probate records show that he left £108 9s 1d to a brother, Ernest Robert Clark (lockman).
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If anyone is able to add any extra information, provide more family details, or suggest any corrections, please let us know – also, if anyone has any more photos of this individual listed on our memorials, please get in touch. Thank you.
Commemorated
- Bexley Municipal Borough Civilian Records
- Bexleyheath Cemetery Civilian War Dead Memorial
- St. Michael’s East Wickham Church Memorial Tablet
This story has been researched by volunteers. We have taken every effort to ensure its accuracy. If you are related to Alfred George Clark, or if you have any further information, please do get in touch.