From CWGC: Civilian of 1365 {sic} Union Street flats. Daughter of Lilian {sic} Rose Bentley. Died aged 12.
Joan Rosemary Lillian Bentley was the eldest of the four children of William George Bentley (1905-1974) and Lilian Rose Bentley née Cooper (1903-1976). Her birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1927 in the Lambeth registration district.
Electoral registers in 1934 show her parents listed at 28 Lancaster Street, Southwark, but in 1935 the registers show them at 9 Friar Street, London, SE1. Later this street name was abolished and incorporated into the existing Webber Street, SE1.
The 1939 England and Wales Register shows her parents listed at 9 The Priory, Webber Street. Also on the register were her younger sister Iris P. Bentley (1931-1997), and brother Derek William Bentley (1933-1953) who was later hanged in Wandsworth Prison for his involvement in the murder of PC Sidney Miles in Croydon. Her father's occupation was given as working in the engineers department of Southwark Borough Council where he was also a Post Warden.
She died, aged 12 years, on 10 September 1940, as a result of enemy action when a bomb fell on the Ewer Street air raid shelter. Amongst the others killed were her maternal aunt Rosina Sarah Cooper (1906-1940) and her grandmother Sarah Ann Cooper née Hutchins (1872-1940).
Her name is recorded in The Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939-1945 that is kept just outside the entrance to St George's Chapel at the west end of Westminster Abbey. In this she is shown as living at 136B Union Street Flats although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website shows her incorrectly at 1365 Union Street Flats.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
