The Island at War

Two Young Lives

One of the earliest local tragedies of the Blitz is to be remembered at a ceremony in the former Millwall Fire Station early next year, when part of the new building being erected on the site will be named after the two members of the Auxiliary Fire Service who lost their lives when a parachute mine fell on Cubitt Town School.Joan Bartlett and Violet Pengelly were among the first serving firewomen to die on duty.
Cubitt Town School was in Saunderness Road and is now the site of St. Luke’s School. The first school there had been a traditional three-storied building, typical of the Board School era of late Victorian days. In the 1930s it was pulled down and a new school was erected, opened on 21st March 1938 by the Poet lLaureate, John Masefield.
Eighteen months later, the outbreak of the Second World War saw the evacuation of hundreds of children from the Island and school buildings were transformed into emergency centres. The new Cubitt Town School became a fire station; it also housed a First Aid Party, Demolition Squad and Mobile Stretcher Unit.
The Blitz of London began on 7th September 1940 and there were nightly bombing raids after that for many months. In October a parachute mine destroyed part of the new school. A member of the AFS described the event in his diary as follows:
“the hall of the schol had been specially strengthened with iron girders where we used to go, fully rigged, whilst waiting for a call.
I had just walked along the corridor from the Watch Room at the other end of the school to the hall, barely stretching out on the bed for a rest, when there was a dull thud and a red flash. Plaster and dust falling around, we all scrambled for the exit, shouting as we went out for everyone to go straight across the road and not hang around too close to the falling debris, of which there was quite a bit. Myself and another chap ran a round the building to the Watch Room and were having a roll call; we could not account for two girls, Violet and Joan. We searched as much of the building as possible.
I remember walking up part of the staircase which led to the next floor, where the girls off duty used to rest, but the staircase was ready to come down at any time. I shouted: Are you there? but there was no reply. Coming back down to the Watch Room, hoping they had shown up meanwhile, but they never did. The centre of the school was flattened. Their bodies were found a couple of days or weeks later. This part is a bit hazy now, for my head was swimming around.”
Official Fire Service records confirm that Joan Bartlett and Violet Pengelly died “from injuries received due to enemy action” in the night of 18th/19thOctober 1940. Joan’s home was in Plevna Street and she worked as a packer in a cosmetics factory. Violet lived in Gaverick Street and worked as a clerk with a firm in St.Leonard’s Road. They both volunteered for fire service training in 1939. They were aged 18 and 19 when they died. Their bodies were recovered about three weeks later.
Millwall Fire Station is now housed in a new building in Westferry Road . Watch Manager Neil Fox would like to trace any surviving family and friends of Joan and Violet so that he can tell them about the coming ceremony. If you can help with this search at all, please contact Island History as soon as possible.

St.Luke's Roll of Honour

This page of our web-site is dedicated to memories and memorabilia of the First and Second World War, National Service and other conflicts of the 20th century.

We begin with an appeal for help in tracing friends and relatives of two people who died in the Blitz.

Then there is a reproduction of the Roll of Honour of the Parish of St.Luke's Millwall, listing in alphabetical order firstly, the names of those who died and secondly the names of those who served in the armed forces.

This is followed by aa story about a father and son who served in the First and Second World Wars.

If you have a story or a memory of any of those named, please write to Island History, or e-mail us on eve@islandhistory.org.uk. Your story, with your permission, will be published here or in the forthcoming "The Island at War" a fothcoming Island History publication.    

Two Generations of Island Soldiers

This is the story of a father and son who served their country in two world wars, one paying the highest price possible.
William Joseph Parsons (WJP), some people might argue, was not quite an Islander since he was born on 11th October 1884 in 41 Robin Hood Lane, Poplar,. (I believe 41 was south of Poplar High Street. ) In my eyes he was an Islander, living most of his short life on the Island. His father Edward was a boilermaker. Edward inherited the family third christian name of Cummins. We know little about William’s early life until 1909 when he was living at 26 Glengall Road. He later moved to 32 Ship Street which was near Christ Church. During this time he worked at the barge-breaker’s yard for Mr Turner at Turner’s Shore, close to the rowing club.
Ironically, WJP’s army records were destroyed in the second world war so we have no idea when he enlisted in the army. Certainly by March 1917 he had enlisted at Stratford in 1/9th London Regiment (The Queen Victoria Rifles), some time after this he was posted to France. He was 33.
On the 8th August 1918, .the Allies launched a major attack on German positions across an array of fronts. This became known as the Battle of Amien - a significant event leading to the end of the war.
The movements of the 9th London Regiment (QVR) on this day are difficult to piece together. However from the regimental war diary written on the day by Major RH Lindsey-Renton, the regimental history by Major C A Cuthbert-Keeson and the official history of the war, a reasonable reconstruction can be made.
The 9th London (QVR) were part of the 58th Division and on the morning of the 8th August their objective was to advance in approximately a south-easterly direction to capture a village called Sailly Laurette, east of Amien on the north side of the valley of the Somme River. On the way it would be necessary to take a strategic position called Malard Wood. The attack commenced at 4.30 a.m. They bypassed the wood and and secured the village by 9.30a.m.. The wood was “cleared” by late afternoon. The front line was occupied by the 10th Londons with the 9th in reserve. The 10th lost 2 officers wounded, 2 officers killed and 17 other ranks killed. No losses are recorded for the 9th.
On the 9th August, Major Lindsey -Renton wrote that the area was receiving heavy shelling. More graphically, Keeson states: “The Hun was shelling the place to blazes”. The objective on this day was a village called Chippilly, a mile or so upstream, and once again a wood, Gressaire Wood, stood in the way .The 12th and 9th attacked the wood which was secured by 9 p.m., whilst the 10th attacked and secured the village. The official war history records heavy resistance from machine guns, artillery and snipers. Late in the day, the 9th attacked another wood, the Bois de Tailles, but this failed, being repelled by gas and heavy shelling.
The fighting was intense the whole day, securing the woods often entailed hand to hand combat WJP was killed sometime during the day -i t could have been at anytime. There is anecdotal evidence that he was killed by shellfire which is plausible from the descriptions of the action, maybe during the attack on the Bois de Tailles. WJP may have had a grave but it was not located by the War Graves Commission after the war, he is therefore commemorated on the Vis-en-Artoise memorial just east of Arras a few miles from where he died. There are several First World War memorials on the Island but WJP is not commemorated on any one. The memorial at Christ Church is eroded but I know his name was not on there. His posthumous reward for this was a British War Medal and a Victory Medal.
William Joseph Parsons left a wife, Martha, and five children including William Edward Cummins. Young Bill was eight years old when his father died.
The late 1920’s were difficult times.The severe recession put many people out of work. In 1928 Bill Parsons was working for a local newsagent when he lost his job. On the 8th May he “secured work for twelve years” by enlisting in the Royal Regiment of Artillery at Great Scotland Yard. A period of training and home service followed until 20 November 1929 when he was posted to India . He was 19. A considerable amount of his time was spent fighting on the North West Frontier. However towards the end of this period he was employed on the more leisurely duty of malaria control. The army life suited Bill and he enjoyed India. The combat experience was to prove invaluable later. He left India and disembarked on 1 February 1935 having been away for 5 years and 73 days. When his colour service expired he was transferred at Woolwich to the Class “Z” reserve army. His transfer document describes him as being “honest, sober and hard working”.
On the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Bill was called back to the Royal Artillery because of his reserve status. On 9th April 1940 he left for France with the ill -fated British Expeditionary force. Cut off at Dunkirk, where he claimed he went to sleep in the 5th line of defence and woke up in the frontline, he boarded a rescue ship which was later sunk by enemy aircraft. After swimming ashore, he was finally rescued by the Royal Navy and reported back for duty on 3rd June 1940.,
Soon after this Bill volunteered to join the Commandos, a small force designed to undertake small surprise attacks on the European mainland. This was Churchill’s idea to carry on the war after the defeat at Dunkirk. Bill was based in Wales and Scotland for about two years. During this time as part of 4 Troop 3 Commando, he took part in an attack known as Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands in occupied Norway. This successfully destroyed fish oil factories, sunk 11 ships, took 216 German prisoners and recruited 315 Norwegian volunteers. Encryption equipment and code books were also seized.
Again on 27 December 1941, 3 Commando took part in a further attack on the Norwegian port of Vaargso. Significant damage was inflicted on factories and shipping. The German garrison was also attacked. These attacks alarmed Hitler, who thought a Norwegian landing was imminent,. He therefore utilised considerable resources to counter the perceived threat.
3 Commando were also involved in the unsuccessful Dieppe raid on August 19 1942. However they were intercepted by a German convoy and in the confusion that followed failed to land, which may have been fortunate for Bill.
It is difficult to see what happened next but Bill did tell me that with one other Commando he missed a submarine pick up following a raid in Italy. They eventually made contact with some Americans and spent some time around the Mediterranean. This seems to accord with his service record that includes 151 days in Gibraltar and 204 in North Africa. Bill arrived home on the 9th February 1944 and was immediately asked to join a new airborne unit which he declined considering it too dangerous! Consequently he returned to his unit , The Royal Regiment of Artillery, where he saw out the remainder of the war in North Wales . He was again transferred to class Z reserve at Foots Cray, Sidcup on 12 December 1945, after 6 years and 103 days service. His conduct is assessed as “exemplary” with a testimonial that says “An ex-regular soldier who has made a good NCO. He is reliable and can handle men placed under his command”. His decorations included: 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Italy Star, Defence Medal and a War Medal 1939-45.
When Bill was demobbed he was living with his wife Madge (also an Islander) at 29 St.Huberts House, Janet Street. Later they moved to 39 and then back to 29. Bill resumed his employment at Matthew T Shaw until he went to work for London Transport as a conductor and later in their audit department. He was very active in the early years of Millwall Youth Football Club and regularly organised the flats’ beano to “The Lights”. In the early 1970s they moved to Dagenham where Bill retired. Madge died in 1979 and Bill carried on with a very active life.
Not the easiest of men to get on with, his war experience and training no doubt an influential factor but he mellowed with age and became a much loved friend of almost all who knew him . Bill died at the age of 86 on 27 September 1996 at Hornchurch after a mercifully short illness. Three months before this, ramrod straight, with razor sharp creases in his trousers he cycled daily to the shops in an effort to realise his ambition to bankrupt the bookmaker Joe Coral!
Well done and many thanks to Bill’s son-in-law, Dave Martin, who has researched and written this account. This father-and-son story stands for many, Islanders and others, who played their part to the full in two world wars.