Subject

Leading Fireman killed as a result of an air raid on Old Palace School, Bow, E3 on 20 April 1941.

Our colleague Andrew Behan has kindly researched this man: Auxiliary Leading Fireman Edgar William Vick was born on 22 February 1903 in Charlton, Kent, a son of William John Vick and Edith Emily F. L. Vick née Smith. His father was a Soft Goods Agent - Cotton Trade. The 1911 census shows the family living at 42 Effingham Road, Lee, London, S.E.12. Electoral registers between 1928 and 1934 show the family living at 51 Coleraine Road, Greenwich. The 1939 England and Wales Register shows him as a single man living with his widowed mother and younger brother at 234 Eden Way, Beckenham, Kent and his occupation was recorded as Traveller Oil.

He joined the Auxiliary Fire Service and was attached to the West Wickham Fire Station. He died when a German bomb landed on Auxiliary Fire Service Sub Station 24U, which was housed in Old Palace LCC School, St. Leonards Street, Poplar, aged 38 years, on 20 April 1941. His body was not found until the next day 21 April 1941. He was buried at Beckenham Cemetery and Crematorium, Elmers End Road, Beckenham, BR3 4TD. Probate was granted to his younger brother, Aircraftsman Donald Ralph Vick. His effects totalled £519-19s-11d.