Person    | Male  Born 19/2/1914  Died 17/4/1941

Richard Beacon

Categories: Emergency Services

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.

Richard Beacon

Richard Beacon was born on 19 February 1914, the eldest of the three children of Richard Beacon (1893-1958) and Florence Maria Winifred Beacon née Taylor (1896-1983). His birth was registered in Faversham, Kent. His father was a Water Man (Barge Mate).

His brother, Alfred George Beacon (1915-1916), died on 5 September 1916 aged 11 months. Both his birth and death were registered in the Faversham registration district. His sister, Brenda Jean Beacon (1931-2003) was born 31 January 1931 and her birth was registered in the Faversham registration district.

The 1939 England and Wales register shows him as a single man living at 9 St George's Road, Beckenham, Kent and his occupation was listed as a Hotel Barman. By 1941 he had moved and was living at Rayleigh, Maidstone Road, Borough Green, Kent.

He was killed as a result of enemy action, aged 27 years, at about 2.00am on 17 April 1941. He was travelling on the running board of an Auxiliary Fire Service car towing a pump at Wickham Road, Beckenham. They were returning to their station having been fighting a fire in Chancery Lane, London. As the vehicle turned into Court Downs Road to offer assistance at a fire they had come across, a high explosive bomb exploded about 20 feet behind the car and fragments pierced the petrol tank igniting the petrol and the vehicle was enveloped in flames killing him instantly.

He is buried in Beckenham Cemetery and Crematorium, Elmers End Road, Beckenham. He is also commemorated on the Firefighters Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance. His name is also recorded in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour that is held near the entrance to St George's Chapel, at the west end of Westminster Abbey.

See David J. Chalmers for more details of the event.

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:
Richard Beacon

Commemorated ati

Beckenham Auxiliary firemen

Those killed at Old Palace School are also commemorated (not by name) on a pl...

Read More

Other Subjects

Oliver James Steele

Oliver James Steele

Auxiliary fireman killed in the bomb attack on Henry Cavendish School, Balham. Andrew Behan has kindly carried out further research: Auxiliary Fireman Oliver James Steele was born on 11 July 1912....

Person, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial
Fireman Jeremiah Donovan

Fireman Jeremiah Donovan

Died in a fire at St Stephens Hospital, Chelsea. Jeremiah Donovan was born on 10 March 1905 in Battersea, London, one of the six children of Jeremiah Donovan (b.1868) and Mary Donovan née Cunningh...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial
W. A. Rushmere

W. A. Rushmere

District Officer in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 District, 1909-1951. Serving Brother in the Order of St John.

Person, Emergency Services, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Fireman Barry Charles Trussell

Fireman Barry Charles Trussell

Died a month after attending a fire in the Intensive Care Unit of Tooting’s St Georges Hospital. He was buried following a sudden flash explosion in the storeroom, taken to the special burns unit o...

Person, Emergency Services

1 memorial
Auxiliary Fireman Christopher Edward Seymour Hartwell

Auxiliary Fireman Christopher Edward Seymour Hartwell

Auxiliary fireman from Banstead killed in an air raid on Poplar. Christopher Edward Seymour Hartwell was born on 21 July 1898 in Chapel Brampton, Northamptonshire, the son of Elizabeth Annie Hartw...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial