Died: 299 Gipsy Road, hit by falling masonry
Address / Local links: 299 Gipsy Road, Welling
Family / Relatives: Son of William and Sarah
Other Information: A Warehouseman
“By 23rd June 1944 the allies were pushing back the enemy in Normandy, and General Montgomery (“Monty”) arrived to set up his new HQ west of Bayeux…The German high command, struggling to defend its positions in Normandy, still believes in its revolutionary weapons, including the V-1 rockets. Numerous rockets are sent day and night on mostly civilian objectives in England”…
Marmaduke and the Hicks family were the victims of these dreaded ‘Doodlebug’ rockets…
Born in 1873 in Greenwich, the son of William Emanuel Medway Feltham (an upholsterer) and Sarah Feltham, details about Marmaduke’s life are scant (and there is no evidence as to why he was also known as Marmaduke Cook). The 1939 register records him as being a Warehouseman Packer in Bermondsey, and living with his sister, the widowed Jessie Hicks.
By 1944, he was living in Welling with Jessie Hicks and her son, also secondly named Marmaduke, and daughter in law Violet Hicks.
It was here, 299 Gipsy Road, that he was killed, along with other members of the Hicks family.
Bexley’s civilian deaths register is also short of detail about Marmaduke’s life and death;
5ft 7ins tall, medium build, grey hair
Identity only presumed, by SJ Henly
Brown vest, grey tie, braces
Buried 29th June 1944 Bexleyheath Cemetery – Trench no. 1
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?
(Less than a year after this tragedy, residents of Gipsy Road were able to celebrate VE Day – pictured)
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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
This story has been researched by volunteers. We have taken every effort to ensure its accuracy. If you are related to Marmaduke Feltham (known as Cook), or if you have any further information, please do get in touch.