Rose mary Stapleton

Lest we forget
Vossy53
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2017 7:25 pm

Rose mary Stapleton

Postby Vossy53 » Mon Nov 11, 2019 3:05 pm

My Great Aunt Rose was killed in a bombing raid at 34 Grange Road, Bermondsey on 15th November 1940. Her two sons Edward Victor 3 and Frederick 11 also died in the basement with her.

In Memory of
Civilian ROSE MARY STAPLETON

Civilian War Dead
who died age 42
on 15 November 1940
of 34 Grange Road. Daughter of Francis Voss, of 26 Chamber Street; wife of Henry Stapleton. Died at 34 Grange Road.
Remembered with honour
BERMONDSEY, METROPOLITAN BOROUGH
Commemorated in perpetuity by
the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

“On the night of 15th November Roses brother Charlie was working nights at Hays Wharf in Tooley Street so he took his wife Elsie and sons Billy and Peter to the air raid shelters underneath the warehouses. As they made their way home the next morning to Alfred Street with Peter in his push chair they reached the junction of Tower Bridge Road and Grange Road near the Trocette cinema when Charlie saw the bomb damage just along Grange Road. Billy remembers his Dad shouting, “That’s Rose’s house” before he ran off towards the demolished house. 34 Grange Road was a big house with 3 or 4 floors and multiple tenants. It was next door to Clarke’s fish and chip shop and was on the South side of Grange Road near the junction with Pages Walk. When Billy and his Mum and brother got there the house was just a pile of rubble and Charlie was arguing with a Policeman who wouldn’t let him go near the ruined house. Charlie persuaded the officer that he could help because he knew the layout of the house and he stayed to help with the rescue. The rest of the family didn’t see Charlie for two days until he returned home with the news that Rose and her two sons were dead. They were found in the basement of the house. Ironically the shelter that Harry had built in the back garden was completely unscathed.

There is a relatively new terrace of houses in Pages Walk called Rose Stapleton Terrace.

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