Person    | Male  Born 25/5/1903  Died 26/9/1941

Enrique Manuel Aguirre, B.A.

Categories: Commerce

Countries: Spain

War dead non-military, WW2 i

Commemorated on a memorial as being a civilian who was killed in WW2. Includes mercantile marines and emergency services personnel.

Enrique Manuel Aguirre, B.A.

Enrique Manuel Aguirre was born on 25 May 1903 in Anerley, Kent (now Greater London), the youngest of the three children of Enrique Blas Aguirre (1866-1926) and Henrietta Emma Aguirre née Rogers (1861-1935). His birth was registered in the 2nd quarter of 1903 in the Croydon registration district, Surrey (now Greater London). His two siblings were: Carmen Isobel Henrietta Aguirre (1899-1941) and Evelyn Kate Aguirre (b.1901).

His father, who was a merchant, had been a subject of Spain and was granted naturalisation as a British subject on 9 May 1902. His mother had been a widow when she married his father in 1891. She had two children with her previous husband, Michele Angelo Roasio (1836-1889), namely Frank Richard Roasio (b.1882) and Veronica Celestina Roasio (1883-1968).

In the 1911 census he is shown as living in an eleven roomed house at 152 Croydon Road, Anerley, London, SE, with his mother and his step-sister Veronica Celestina Roasio, together with two female domestic servants.

Electoral registers from 1928 to 1935 show his business premises at 24/25 Great Tower Street, London, EC3 and from 1936 to 1939 at 29 Martin Lane, London, EC4.

In July 1936 he is listed on the passenger manifest of the S.S. Rawalpindi of the P & O Steam Navigation Company as a merchant of 152 Croydon Road, SE20, travelling 1st class from Gibraltar to London.

He was described as an agriculture importer (Spanish) in the 1939 England and Wales Register still residing at 152 Croydon Road, Anerley, with both his sisters who were shown as of private means.

He died, aged 38 years old, when travelling from Lisbon, Spain to Liverpool, Lancashire, aboard the S.S. Avoceta owned by Yeoward Line Ltd that was part of convoy HG-73, when it was hit at 00.31 hours on 26 September 1941 by one of four torpedoes fired by the German submarine U-203 north of the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship was hit on the port side close to the engine room and sank quickly. 43 crew members, four gunners and 76 passengers were lost, including his sister, Carmen Isobel Henrietta Aguirre. More details of the sinking can be found on the uboat.net website and the ship's Wikipedia page.

Probate records incorrectly show his date of death at sea as 25 September 1941. Probate was granted to his sister Evelyn Kate Aguirre on 12 January 1942 and his effects totalled £2,169-3s-5d.

He is shown as E. M. Aguirre on the Penge war memorial. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website and in Volume VII of the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939-1945 kept just outside the entrance to St George's Chapel at the west end of Westminster Abbey that both show his date of death as 25 September 1941.

Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Enrique Manuel Aguirre, B.A.

Commemorated ati

Penge war memorial

The WW2 civilian list identifies 14 people who worked in civil defence and wh...

Read More

Other Subjects

Baring Bros & Co Ltd

Baring Bros & Co Ltd

Bank. Founded as the John and Francis Baring Company. Despite surviving the Great Depression and two world wars, it was brought down due to unauthorized trading by its head derivatives trader Nick ...

Group, Commerce

1 memorial
Samuel Bourne Bevington

Samuel Bourne Bevington

VD, JP.  Son of James Bevington.   A member of the Bermondsey leather manufacturing dynasty and a philanthropist. Colonel commanding 3rd Volunteer Battalion The Queens Royal West Surrey Regiment 18...

Person, Commerce, Philanthropy, Politics & Administration

3 memorials
East London Toy Factory

East London Toy Factory

Opened by Sylvia Pankhurst as an answer to the dozens of tiny failing workshops where women were paid a pittance. Toys were no longer being imported from Germany, so the factory employed 59 women t...

Building, Children, Commerce, Gender Issues

1 memorial
Joe Jenkins
1 memorial

Previously viewed

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury

Singer and songwriter. Born Farrokh or Faroukh Bulsara in Government Hospital, Zanzibar, Tanzania. His family moved to Britain in 1964, settling in Feltham. After graduating from college, he tried ...

Person, Music / songs, Seriously Famous, Africa

3 memorials
Countess Mountbatten of Burma

Countess Mountbatten of Burma

Vicereine of India and director of emergency relief services. Born Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley at 32 Bruton Street. A leading member of London society, she married Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1922....

Person, Politics & Administration, Social Welfare, Borneo, India

2 memorials
John Keats

John Keats

Born 24 Moorfields Pavement Row, Finsbury. This was the Swan and Hoop pub, where his father worked as a stableman and later managed the inn. Baptised at St Botolphs. 1815-16 trained at Guy’s Hospit...

Person, Poetry, Seriously Famous, Italy

8 memorials
S. Phillips
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
St Marys Newington clock tower

St Marys Newington clock tower

An early church was demolished in 1720, leaving only the clock tower. The new building incorporated the original large clock tower at the western end. This church including the tower was demolished...

Building, Property, Religion

1 memorial