Joan Lilian Williams was born on 31 May 1930, the second of the three children of George Henry Williams (1906-1990) and Maud Melbourne Williams née Sinfield (1907-1996). Her birth was registered in the 2nd quarter of 1930 in the Islington Registration District, London. Her two siblings were: Joyce Rosalyn Williams (1928-2014) and Henry George Williams (1932-1998).
In the 1939 England and Wales Register she is shown as being at school and living in the home of Mr Ernest G. Benfield, a builder's foreman and Mrs Mary E. A. Benfield, in Cherry Holt Lane, Pinchbeck, Spalding, Lincolnshire.
She married Fred Phelps (1926-1990) in the 4th quarter of 1952 in the Islington Registration District and they had two children: Lesley A. Phelps (b.1955) and Michael Phelps (b.1961).
Electoral registers in 1953 show her listed in her unmarried name, living at 50 Canonbury Court, Sebbon Street, London, N1, with her parents and her brother. This was probably due to the date registers were compiled were and not brought into effect until later in the following year.
She and her husband were listed in electoral registers from 1956 to 1959 at 46 Elizabeth Avenue, London, N1 and in 1960 at 56 Morton Road, London, N1. The registers then list them in 1965 at 13 Cleveland Road, London, N1.
She was travelling in the first of the six coaches of a Northern Line underground train when she was killed, aged 44 years, in the Moorgate tube disaster. Her death was registered in the 2nd quarter of 1975 in the London City Registration District and her death certificate that was issued on 28 April 1975, following an inquest, gave her cause of death as 'traumatic asphyxia - accidental'. Her body was buried on 13 March 1975 in Islington Cemetery, 278 High Road, London, N2 9AG.
Probate records confirm that she died on 28 February 1975 and that her address had been 5 Barnston Walk, Popham Street, London, N1. Administration of her estate was granted on 4 April 1975 and her effects totalled £614.
She is shown as 'PHELPS, JOAN' on the Moorgate tube disaster memorial in Finsbury Square, London, EC2.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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