Person    | Male  Born 21/4/1912  Died 6/11/1940

Auxiliary fireman killed in the bomb attack on Henry Cavendish School, Balham.

Andrew Behan has kindly researched this man and first needs to comment on the spelling of the surname: The Firefighters Memorial Trust website shows him as Victor Baldesarre. However, looking back to the handwritten census completed by his father in 1911, the family surname was spelt as Baldessarre and it is similarly recorded on the 1939 England & Wales Register. Voters registers, marriage register, Balham local directories and probate records for his father all show the surname as Baldessarre. Confusingly, the electoral registers for 10 Zennor Road, SW12 from 1935 to 1939 show his surname as Baldesardi. He is recorded as Victor Baldessarre on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. Everything considered, I think the surname is Baldessarre. 

Victor Baldessarre was born on 21 April 1912 in Balham, the youngest son of Antonio Baldessarre and Emmeline Baldessarre née Woodley. His father was an Ice Cream Merchant. He is shown on electoral registers from 1935 onward as living at 10 Zennor Road, Balham. The 1939 England & Wales Register records him at the Auxiliary Fire Station at Bec Grammar School, Beechcroft Road, Tooting. His Auxiliary Fire Service number was shown as B.1.2565 and his normal occupation was given as a Lorry Driver. He died, aged 28 years, from injuries resulting from enemy action at AFS Fire Station 86W, that was located in the Cavendish Road School, Balham. The school was rebuilt after the war following the bomb damage and is now the Henry Cavendish Primary School, Hydethorpe Road, Balham.

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