Subject

Sergeant George Charles Morffew.

He is incorrectly shown on the Hoxton War Memorial attached to Holy Trinity Church, Bletchley Street, London, N1 7QG, as George Morfew.

He was born on 5 February 1917, the eldest of the three children of George Henry Morffew (1890-1925) and Naomi Emma Morffew née Arden (1890-1975) and his birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1917 in the Shoreditch registration district. His father was a french polisher.

He  was baptised on 13 March 1917 in St John's Church, Hoxton and the baptismal register shows the family living at 52 Murray Street, Hoxton and his father was recorded as a soldier. His father had enlisted in the 4th (City of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) on 8 August 1914, service number 2132 and entered France on 6 January 1915. Transferred to their 4th Battalion with the service number 205896, he was discharged as sick on 16 March 1919 and in addition to being awarded a Silver War Badge, Serial No.457398, he received the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal.

He had two sisters: Naomi M. Morffew (1919-1947) and Hilda Ethel Morffew (1922-2010). Electoral registers from 1922 to 1937 show the family living at 53 Murray Street, Hoxton and from 1938 when the council changed the name of the road he and his mother were listed at 53 Murray Grove, Hoxton. The 1939 England and Wales Register gives his occupation as an accounts clerk living at 53 Murray Grove with his widowed mother who is recorded as a domestic worker and his sister, Naomi, who was recorded as incapacitated but who volunteered at the First Aid Post No.3 in Napier Street.

He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, service number 931913, and gained the rank of Sergeant. He was attached to Bomber Command's No. 101 Squadron and was the Wireless Operator/Air Gunner aboard a Vickers Wellington III aeroplane, serial number X3312 with the markings SR-U, when it took off at 23.40 hours on 21 July 1942 from RAF Bourn, Cambridgeshire, on a night bombing raid on Duisburg, Germany. 291 aircraft took part in the raid but marker flares, dropped using the RAF's Gee radio navigation system, were off target which meant that the whole operation was inaccurate, although the Thyssen steelworks was hit and almost 100 houses destroyed.

His aircraft was shot down by marine flak into the North Sea west of Noordwijk, South Holland, Netherlands and all six crew members were killed. His body was buried in Plot 69, Row E, Grave 14 in the Amsterdam New Eastern Cemetery, Kruislaan 126, 1097 GA Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands. He was aged 25 years. He is also commemorated on Phase 2, Panel 214 on the Wall of Names Memorial at the International Bomber Command Centre, Canwick Avenue, Canwick, Lincoln, LN4 2HQ.