Died: Injured at 138 Okehampton Crescent and died the same day at Woolwich and District War Memorial Hospital
Address / Local links: 138 Okehampton Crescent, Welling
Family / Relatives: Husband of Rose Hawkins.
Other Information: A Traffic Superintendent, Flour Mill.
Histories of WW2 tell us that 6th September 1940 was a fateful date…”That night, from the office of the War Ministry, the Home Forces HQ issued its preliminary Alert No.3, “Invasion probable within three days”.
”At a railroad siding between Calais and Boulogne, in his special train, Luftwaffe Commander Göering gave a banquet for his air fleet commanders… he would settle for nothing less than victory… they would watch as wave upon wave of German bombers roar across the English Channel……..their destination……London.”
Tragically for one local resident, it was to be a fateful day too…
George Frederick Hawkins was born in Hampstead on 26th March 1899 to Fred (1853-1940) & Hannah (1855-1944) Hawkins. Fred was a coachman (domestic) born in Berkshire. Fred and Hannah had married in 1876 and had 15 children but only 8 survived. George was second youngest. The family seemed to have lived an itinerant life – In 1901 the family were in Kensington and in 1911 the family is in Bristol with two youngest (incl. George). In 1939 Fred & Hannah are recorded as living with married daughter in Droitwich.
We don’t have George’s details during WW1, but assume he must have served? A brother, Arthur, died in France in 1915 – (Arthur’s son Arthur died in 1944 in Egypt).
In 1923 George married Rose Smith – in the 1932 electoral roll they were recorded living in Wandsworth, but by 1938 we find them in Welling (George’s profession was “A Traffic Superintendent, Flour Mill Docks”) – at 138 Okehampton Crescent; it was at home here that George was to be mortally wounded during an air raid.
Casualty records state simply; Died: Injured at 138 Okehampton Crescent and died the same day at the nearby Woolwich and District War Memorial Hospital.
“By 1930 the Hospital was known as the Woolwich and District War Memorial Hospital, until 1931 when it became the Woolwich and District Hospital Association War Memorial Hospital. In 1938 it was known simply as the Memorial Hospital.
It had been intended to add two further wings to the Hospital to increase the bed numbers, but it proved impossible to raise the funds. Instead, £24,000 was collected to build a Nurses’ Home, which was opened in 1939 by the Duke of Kent. When the nurses had moved into their new Home, the Hospital was able to expand its ward space to a potential of 300 beds, using the vacated staff accommodation.
During WW2 the Hospital became a military hospital, providing back-up facilities for the nearby Royal Herbert Hospital. In 1944 it had 137 beds”.
George was buried in Bexleyheath Cemetery – his wife, rose, died in 1955 whilst living in Flitwick but she was buried with George in Bexleyheath Cemetery.
(Pictured are bomb damage at Okehampton Crescent, the Woolwich and District War Memorial Hospital, and the Hawkins’ grave in Bexleyheath).
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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
- St. Michael’s East Wickham Church Memorial Tablet
- Woolwich Metropolitan Borough Civilian Records
This story has been researched by volunteers. We have taken every effort to ensure its accuracy. If you are related to George Frederick Hawkins, or if you have any further information, please do get in touch.