Christopher Eric Kenneth Tasker was born on 23 September 1904 in Ide Hill, Sevenoaks, Kent, the youngest of the five children of Owen Tasker (1864-1929) and Rosetta Tasker, née Lane (1869-1907). His birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1904 in the Sevenoaks Registration District, Kent.
His mother died when he was two years old.
He was shown as aged 6 years and at school when his father completed his census return form on 2 April 1911. He was living in five rooms at Henden, Ide Hill, Sevenoaks, with his father and his four siblings; Eva Muriel Ethel Tasker (1889-1960) - a housekeeper; Herbert Robert Owen Tasker (1892-1916) - a cowman; Walter Leslie A. Tasker (b.1894) - a cowman and Rosalie Edith Maud Tasker (1897-1978) who was shown as at school. His father described himself as a widower and a farm labourer.
On 20 January 1920 he joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Class II serving at HMS Ganges, the Royal Navy’s training establishment in Suffolk. On 23 September 1922, his eighteenth birthday, he signed up for 12 years as an Ordinary Seaman and was promoted to Able Seaman on 11 July 1923. His Service Number was D/J.96441. After having served aboard a number of vessels and at the end of his twelve years engagement he transferred to the Royal Fleet Reserve on 23 September 1934, Service Number DevB15681. He was awarded the Royal Naval Long Service and Good Conduct Medal on 5 November 1937.
The electoral register for 1937 shows him living at 15 Bourne Terrace, Paddington, London and those for 1938 and 1939 show him at 33 Shirland Road, Maida Vale, London. On 6 September 1939 he was appointed as a postman in the London Postal Region. He returned to the Royal Navy and was a casualty in an air raid on HMS Drake, the Royal Naval Barracks at Devonport, Devon. He died on 21 April 1941, aged 36 years and was buried in Section C, Consecrated Area, Grave 17943, at the Weston Mill Cemetery, Ferndale Road, Weston Mill, Plymouth, PL2 2EP.
He is shown as 'TASKER C.E.K.' on the Western Postal District war memorial at Mount Pleasant, London, WC1 and as 'CHRISTOPHER ERIC TASKER' , Camberwell Lane, Ide Hill, Sevenoaks, TN14 6JW. He is also commemorated on the and on .
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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