Robert Alfred Delamaine was born in Deptford, London, on 2 January 1916, the sixth of the nine children of John William Delamaine (1879-1951) and Alice Ann Delamaine née Smith (1881-1953). His birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1916 in the Greenwich registration district, London. On 19 January 1916 he was baptised at St Nicholas Church, Deptford, where the baptismal register shows that the family was living at 44 Raleigh Buildings, Deptford and that his father was a store assistant.
His siblings were: John William Delamaine (1902-1977); Fanny Sarah Delamaine (1904-1967); Alice Rose Delamaine (1906-1989); Frank James Delamaine (1909-1979); Charles Leonard Delamaine (1913-1913); James Edward Delamaine (1918-2010); Ivy Miriam Delamaine (1920-1994) and Elsie Winifred Delamaine (1922-2016).
Electoral registers from1937 to 1939 show him listed at the family home of 174 Evelyn Street, London, SE8 and this address is confirmed in the 1939 England and Wales Register in which he is shown as skilled labourer at the Royal Naval Yard, Deptford and also as a member of the Air Raid Precautions service. Also at the address were his father and brother, Frank James Delamaine, who were both listed as store house assistants at the Royal Naval Yard and members of the Air Raid Precautions service, together with his mother, his brother James Edward Delamaine who was a grocery salesman working for the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society and Ivy Miriam Delamaine who worked in the bakehouse at Peek Frean.
He joined the Royal Navy, service number C/KX 147068, and died, aged 26 years, on 2 October 1942 when serving as a Stoker 2nd Class aboard HMS Curacoa, an anti-aircraft cruiser on escort duties, it collided with RMS Queen Mary and was sliced in two and sank within a few minutes about 30 miles off the northern coast of Ireland. Only a third of the officers and crew survived and as his body was not recovered he is commemorated as Delemaine R. A. on panel 61.1 of the Chatham Naval Memorial, 61 King's Bastion, Gillingham, ME7 5DQ.
It was not until 13 October 1949 that administration of his estate was granted to his mother and his effects originally totalled £16-12s-4d, but this was subsequently resworn to a value of £564-2s-4d.
He is shown as Delamaine R A on the Royal Victoria Yard war memorial that is located at The Colonnade, Grove Street, London, SE8, but which incorrectly gives his date of death as 2 September 1942. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website and on the Lewisham War Memorials website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
