Fireman killed as a result of an air raid on Plaistow Road, E15 on 19 March 1941.
Charles Wesley Messenger Drew was born on 19 June 1913, a son of Charles Drew (1889-1964) and Ethel Drew née Messenger (1890--1978). His birth was registered in the Camberwell registration district and his father was a civil service clerk at the Board of Education. His sister, Phyllis Muriel Drew (1916-1994) was born on 8 February 1916 and her birth was also registered in Camberwell. From 1920 to 1933 his parents were shown on electoral registers at 33 Keston Road, London, SE15.
In 1938 in Bromley, Kent, he married Winifred Mary Sands and they had one son, John R. Drew, who was born in 1940. The 1939 England and Wales register shows him living with three other members of the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) at 3 Sandiland Crescent, Hayes, Bromley, Kent and his occupation was recorded as an Assurance Clerk. His AFS Shoulder Number was shown as No.144. He and his family later lived at 38 Keswick Road, West Wickham, Kent.
He was attached to the Coney Hall Auxiliary Fire Service Station, West Wickham, Kent and was killed, aged 27 years, on 19 March 1941, together with four other colleagues who were aboard a pump, one of a convoy, that was travelling to a fire in Silvertown and that was obliterated in a land-mine explosion in Plaistow Road, West Ham. He and his four colleagues were buried in a communal grave in St John the Baptist Churchyard, Layhams Road, West Wickham. Probate was granted to his widow and his effects totalled £2,257-3s-10d.
He is also commemorated in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939-1945 located outside St George's Chapel at the west end of Westminster Abbey. His name is also shown on the National Firefighters Memorial, Sermon Lane, London, EC4 and in the Firefighters Memorial Trust's Book of Remembrance.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
