Auxiliary fireman killed in the bomb attack on Henry Cavendish School, Balham.
Andrew Behan has kindly carried out further research: Auxiliary Fireman Eric Dudley Lewis was born on 2 February 1912 and his birth was registered in the Camberwell District. He was the younger son of the four children of James Levi Lewis and Harriett Eliza Lily Lewis née Cutler. His father was a bookseller. On 14 April 1912 he was baptised at St George's Church, Camberwell and the baptismal register shows the family living at 95b Talfourd Road, Peckham. The electoral register for 1913 confirms the family were still at this address but from 1914 onward they were 29 Shenley Road, Peckham.
In 1935 he married Jessie Welham in Wandsworth and their daughter Kathleen Lewis was born in 1936. Electoral registers from 1937 show him living with his wife and mother-in-law, also called Jessie Welham, at 159 Cavendish Road, Balham and this was confirmed in the 1939 England and Wales Register where his occupation is shown as an Operative Printer Rotary Newspaper Work and his AFS service number was 12481/B. Their son, Edward James Lewis, was born and his birth was registered in the 4th quarter of 1940 in Battersea.
He died, aged 28 years, on 6 November 1940 as a result of 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. On 30 December 1940 his widow was granted administration of his estate and his effects totalled £458-7s-0d. On 20 September 1963 probate records show that his son Edward James Lewis, a chef, was again granted administration of the estate, the effects of which now totalled £2,500. He is also commemorated in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour, located just outside the entrance to St George's Chapel at the west end of Westminster Abbey, London and his name appears on the National Firefighters Memorial at the junction of Carter Lane and Sermon Lane, London, EC4.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
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