Subject

Member of the ARP/Civil Defence Services - auxiliary ambulance driver.

Andrew Behan has kindly provided this research: Thomas John Steward was born on 19 December 1910 in Lewisham, the 4th of the six children of Alfred Edgar Steward (1872-1925) and Emma Jane Steward née Morris (1879-1949). His father was a Metal Polisher and the 1911 census shows them living at 31 Horton Street, Lewisham. Electoral registers show they were still at this address until 1913 but by 1918 they had moved to 37 Elmira Street, Lewisham. He remained here until he married Isabelle Devaney (1912-1981) in 1936 in Lewisham. 

Electoral registers for 1937 show them living at 97 Lee High Road, London, S.E.13, but the 1939 England and Wales Register shows them at 55 Marischal Road, Lewisham, listing his occupation as a Painter and Decorator. Their son, John Steward (1940-2010), was born on 19 August 1940.

He was a driver in the London Auxiliary Ambulance Service and died, aged 29 years, on 18 September 1940 when a high explosive bomb fell on Saunders Ness Road School, Isle of Dogs, London, E.14, that was being used as Auxiliary Fire Service Sub Station No.35U.  He was buried on 23 September 1940 in the City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery, Southern Grove, London, E3 4PX and is also commemorated in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour, located near St. George's Chapel in Westminster Abbey.