Stanley Frederick Barnard was born on 29 May 1917 in Edmonton, London, a son of William Joseph Barnard (b.1876) and Annie Barnard née Seymour (b.1877). He was baptised on 8 August 1917 at Christ Church, West Green, Haringey and the baptismal register shows the family living at 51 Waldeck Road, Tottenham with his father being recorded as a Post Office Sorter.
In September 1933 he was appointed as a Postman in the London Postal Service becoming a Sorter in May 1936. The 1939 England and Wales Register confirms that he was still a G.P.O. Sorter, residing at 51 Waldeck Road, London, N.15, together with his parents and elder sister Vera Ethel Barnard (1913-1979) who was a G.P.O. Telegraphist.
He joined the Royal Navy as a Telegraphist, service number P/JX205808, and was one of the 120 crew aboard the destroyer H.M.S. Stronghold when it was engaged by three Japanese warships and sunk south of Java on 2 March 1942 whilst evacuating personnel from Singapore to Australia. He was aged 24 years, but he was not one of the 50 survivors who were rescued. As his body was lost at sea he is commemorated on Panel 66, Column 3, of the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Southsea, Hampshire.
He is shown as Barnard S.F. on the Western Postal District war memorial now located in Mount Pleasant, London, EC1. He is also commemorated on page 20 of the Post Office Fellowship of Remembrance's Book of Remembrance 1939-1949 and on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
