Photograph looking up Anerley Hill showing areas cleared after bomb damage to the left and right of the road. The area in front of the Paxton Arms pub (54-70 Anerley Hill) being used as a site for advertising hoardings
In July 1944 two of Hitler’s V1 rockets hit Upper Norwood. The first rocket killed eight people, fatally injuring another five and demolishing houses in Palace Square and Belvedere Road, when it landed at 5.58pm on July 10th 1944. The second, which came just over 24 hours later at 6.10 pm on July 11th, killed 12 people, fatally injured one other person and and demolished a huge swathe of houses on Anerley Hill and neighbouring side streets.
Those who died in the July 10 blast were:
Edith Lavinia Aldred aged 60 of 53 Belvedere Road
Valerie Roythorne (Raythorne)* aged nine of 19 Palace Square
Patricia Stenhouse (Stinhouse) aged nine of 19 Palace Square
George Stenhouse (Stinhouse) aged 42 same address
Kate Simms (Sims) aged 75 of 53 Belvedere Road
Annie Marshment aged 63 of 70 Whiteley Road SE 19 who died at 57 Belvedere Road
Frances Wixey aged 35 of 13 Palace Square
Her mother Kate Julia Wixey aged 67 of 13 Palace Square.
Alice Violet Dunn (Quinn), aged 52 of 57 Belvedere Road died in Beckenham hospital that night.
Her husband Charles Dunn (Quinn) aged 69, same address, died in Beckenham hospital the following day as did Ivy Irene Winn aged 24 of 13 Palace Square and Robert Leslie Childs aged 25 of 32 Belvedere Road SE19. Mrs Elizabeth S Lorimer aged 74 of 53 Belvedere Road died in the County hospital Farnborough on July 26th. 14 other people were taken to hospital – 12 to Beckenham, 2 to Mayday.
The first aid post at St Paul’s, Hadlow Place dealt with 35 injured including 10 from Belvedere Road, 11 from Palace Square and 4 from Cintra Park. The Ashfield Road clinic first aid post SE 20 dealt with five people injured from Palace Square. Numbers 9 to 19 Palace Square and 51 – 53 Belvedere Road were demolished in the blast.
In the July 11 blast those who died were:
Eric John Dove aged 11 of 66 Anerley Road
Private George Still RASC aged 38 from Charsfield, Suffolk, living in Selsdon at the time
Elsie Maud Davies aged 44 of 9 St John’s Grove, Croydon
Charles Norton Dale aged 60 of 257 Croxted Road SE21 died at 4 Crystal Palace Station Road
Lily Elsie Smith aged 32 of 32 Belvedere Road SE19
George Robertson Carns (Cairns)* aged 69 of 35 Palace Road SE19
Kathleen Fanny Elizabeth Coppin aged 40 of 5 Seymour Villas
Frances Jean Bradley aged 24 of 68 Eden Road, Elmers End
Maurice John Stedman, aged 13 of 17 Anerley Vale
William Henry King aged 57 of 43 Palace Road (initially unidentified)
George Stephen Smith aged 14 of 67 St Hugh’s Road SE20 who was found on July 21st
James Foster aged 64 of 8 Thicket Road who was found on July 26.
Mrs Emily Collins aged 78 of 13 Anerley Vale, died in the County hospital, Farnborough on September 4.
St Paul’s first aid post dealt with 35 injured people including 8 from Palace Road, 3 from Crystal Palace Station Road, 2 from Hadlow Place and a soldier named Charles Gully, aged 43, who gave his address as c/o petrol dump, Crystal Palace. Ashfield Road dealt with 8 injured people including 3 from Palace Road and 2 from Brunswick Place.
Numbers 54 to 70 Anerley Road, 1 to 13 Anerley Road and 1 Crystal Palace Station Road were demolished in the blast. A public shelter (location unspecified) was damaged. A 20 page booklet ‘The Battle of South London’ by Arthur L Woolf published by Crystal Publications says a bus had just moved away from its stop shortly before the VI landed. Otherwise casualties would have been far worse.
*The names of Valerie Roythorne and George Carns are taken from John Hook’s book (see below). For the purposes of this article I have used the spellings and ages listed on the CWGC website. Names in brackets are the spellings in the Civil Defence records.
Sources:
Handwritten records of Penge Urban District air raid casualties moved direct to hospital (no details listed 16 April 1941 to 25 March 1944)
Handwritten records of St Paul’s first aid post Hadlow Place SE19 (no details listed between 24 October 1940 and 18 June 1944). Both available on request
Books:
The Beating of his Wings – The Air Raids on the County Borough of Bromley 1940-45 by John Hook based on Bromley Local Studies Library Archives.
Civilian War Dead. Imperial War Graves Commission London 1954.
A truncated version of the Kent section covering the Urban District of Penge, the Urban District of Orpington; the Urban District of Chislehurst and Sidcup; the Municipal Borough of Beckenham and the Municipal Borough of Bromley (available Bromley Local Studies Library).
Commonwealth War Graves Commission website lists civilian dead. Go to www.cwgc.org
For further information and pictures of V1 attacks in south London go to www.flyingbombsandrockets.com
Photographs reprinted by permission of Everitt Photography, Oxted, Surrey.
Thanks to staff at Bromley local studies library for their help in compiling this article.
First published in the Palace Mag Dec 2007
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