Alfred William Oakley was born on 7 August 1921, the second of the three children of Alfred Henry Oakley (1892-1940) and Elizabeth Ann Oakley née Hull (1896-1988). His birth was registered in the Shoreditch registration district and his siblings were Elizabeth A. F. Oakley (1920-1939) and Doris M. Oakley (b.1924).
His parents are shown on electoral registers from 1922 to 1932 at 11 Shepherdess Walk, Hoxton, but from 1933 they are listed at 15 Shepherdess Walk. The 1939 England and Wales Register lists him as a printer's labourer living at 15 Shepherdess Walk, Shoreditch, with his father who was recorded warehouseman at a cocoa factory and his mother whose occupation was given as a charlady.
Both he and his father were injured on 10 September 1940 when a bomb fell on a public air raid shelter at Wenlock Brewery, Wenlock Road, Hoxton, and he died, aged 19 years, on 12 September 1940 at the North Middlesex County Hospital (now called the North Middlesex University Hospital), Sterling Way, London N18 1QX, two days before his father succumbed to his injuries.
Probate records for his father showed that they had moved to 9 Shepherdess Walk, Shoreditch, and they are both commemorated on the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939-1945 held just outside the entrance to St George's Chapel at the west end of Westminster Abbey.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
