Our colleague, Andrew Behan, has made extensive enquires to trace a C. Bottomley who died in the air raids of World War Two in Hoxton or the surrounding area but without success. We believe that the memorial is incorrect and it should refer to an Lottie Bottomley. We think it possible that whoever commission or produced the memorial misread an 'L' for a 'C'.
Lottie Bottomley was the 3rd of the eight children of Keren Happuch Bottomley née Naldrett, née Jacobs (1859-1939) and her second husband, Augustus Bartholomew Bottomley (1851-1908). Her birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1884 in the Bethnal Green registration district and her father was a police constable.
The 1891 census shows her living at 101 Leopold Buildings, Columbia Road, Bethnal Green, with her parents and five of her siblings.
By the time of the 1901 census, she was residing at 6 Pearson Street, Shoreditch, with her parents and six of her siblings. Her occupation was recorded as linen shirt collar turner.
When the 1911 census was taken, she was shown as a collar maker living at 101 Mortimer Road, Hackney, with her widowed mother and one sister. Her mother was recorded as an office cleaner.
Electoral registers from 1931 to 1938 list her and her mother at 35C Sutton Dwellings, City Road, Hoxton, but the 1939 register shows her at 8G Sutton Dwellings, City Road.
She was injured by a German air raid bomb on 14 October 1940 whilst at 8G Sutton Dwellings and was taken to St Leonard's Hospital, Nuttall Street, London, N1, where she died, aged 56 years, on 2 December 1940.
She is also commemorated, as Lottie (Margaret) Bottomley, in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour, located near St George's Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
