Alfred Henry Oakley was born 25 October 1892 in Hoxton, the third of the five children of Robert Oakley (b.1860) and Alice Oakley née Bates. His father was a warehouse porter. The 1901 census shows him living at 8 Peerless Street, Hoxton with his parents and siblings: Charles B. Oakley, Arthur E. Oakley, Frank Oakley and Ada Oakley.
In the 1911 census he is shown as a confectioner's porter living at 11 Shepherdess Walk, Shoreditch, with his widowed father, his four siblings together with Mary Ann Oakley, the wife of his older brother Charles B. Oakley and their son, Charles Oakley.
On 29 June 1918 he married Elizabeth Ann Hull (1896-1988) at St Michael's Church, Shoreditch. The marriage register states that he was a soldier living at 11 Shepherdess Walk, Shoreditch and his wife's address was recorded as 102 Granville Buildings, Luke Street, Shoreditch. They had three children: Elizabeth A. F. Oakley (1920-1939), Alfred William Oakley (1921-1940) and Doris M. Oakley (b.1924). Electoral registers from 1922 to 1932 list him at 11 Shepherdess Walk, but from 1933 he and his wife are shown at 15 Shepherdess Walk.
The 1939 England and Wales Register lists him as a warehouseman at a cocoa factory, living at 15 Shepherdess Walk, Shoreditch with his wife, who was shown as a charlady and their son whose occupation was given as a printer's labourer.
Both he and his son 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 47 years, on 14 September 1940 at the North Middlesex County Hospital (now called the North Middlesex University Hospital), Sterling Way, London N18 1QX, two days after his son succumbed to his injuries.
Probate records show they had moved to 9 Shepherdess Walk, Shoreditch, and that administration of his estate was granted to his widow on 18 January 1941. His effects totalled £204-12s-5d. Both he and his son are also 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.
