SECOND WORLD WAR BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE

Please note that this Second World War Book of Remembrance contains a significant and major mistake about one of the people commemorated. The School have been contacted about this several years ago but have not responded. An article has been written by me about this error which was published in the December 2022 edition of Hertfordshire People, the journal of the Hertfordshire Family History Society.

An abbreviated version of this is as follows:

Some years ago, the Richard Hale Association set boys in the Junior History Club at the Richard Hale School in Hertford (formerly Hertford Boys Grammar School), the task of researching the fifty-seven former pupils of the school whom they believed had perished in the Second World War. The resulting information has been published and distributed widely, and as a result, I have spent much time trying to pick apart what appears to be a case of mistaken identity by which my husband’s uncle is commemorated on the Richard Hale memorial despite, we believe, never having attended the school. His identity seems to have been merged with the identity of a boy with a similar name who was the Head Boy of the school and Head of Cowper House. However, this boy did not die in the Second World War and survived to old age.

My husband Malcolm’s uncle was Alfred Sidney Charles ALLEN, born on 27 April 1916 in Hertford to Arthur Charles Allen and Daisy Maria Allen (nee EASTER) joining a brother and sister born following Arthur and Daisy’s marriage on 30 Sept 1911 at Christ Church, Bengeo, Hertfordshire.

In 1939 Alfred can be found living at 12 Wellington Street, Bengeo with his parents Arthur Charles Allen (born 1886, Hertford), and Daisy Maria Allen nee EASTER (born 1885 Woodside Green, Little Hallingbury, Essex), and siblings Dora Violet E Allen (born 1912, Hertford), Arthur Thomas W Allen (born 1913, Hertford), Alice May Allen (born 1923, Hertford) and Olive Allen (born 1926, Hertford). In 1939 Alfred is listed as a Shop Assistant (Grocery and Provisions) and it is thought that he was working for Bates, a store located in what is known as the Egyptian building in Hertford, due to its unusual style and decoration.

We are not sure when exactly Alfred was called up, but on 29 November 1941, he wed his sweetheart Violet Kathleen COXALL in Ware. He joined the 2nd Battalion Border Regiment which was in India at the outbreak of the war. The Battalion then moved to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in July 1942, before fighting in Burma from November 1943 onwards. The 2nd Battalion became part of the 20th Indian Division, fighting many battles in the siege of Imphal before driving the Japanese out of Burma. It was at Imphal that 5957259 Lance Sergeant Alfred Allen lost his life on 11 May 1944 aged just 28 years old. He was initially buried but then later exhumed and transferred to the Imphal War Cemetery where his grave 5 C 18 can be found. His parents and wife added the inscription “We Shall Ne’er Forget His Footsteps and His Dear Familiar Face” to the standard CWGC headstone.

In the town of Hertford Alfred is remembered on the distinctive Hertford War Memorial in Parliament Square, built of the same Portland stone as the Cenotaph, and for which the architect was Sir Aston Webb, PRA. He is also commemorated upon the Christ Church, Bengeo memorial which can now be found in Holy Trinity Church. The memorial was transferred there in 1969 when the parishes were amalgamated following the demolition of Christ Church. After its restoration, the memorial was rededicated by the Archdeacon of Hertford on Remembrance Sunday, 8 November 1998. The emblems on the memorial represent Saint Michael the Archangel, the patron saint of soldiers; the Diocese of Saint Albans; Saint George, patron saint of England; the town of Hertford; and Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors.

So why is Alfred Sidney Charles Allen commemorated on the Richard Hale War Memorial? As far as the family is aware Alfred never attended this school, and his occupation as a shop assistant would suggest that he left school at 14 to find local employment.

The school’s memorial is an obelisk sited in front of the main building. Originally inscribed with the names of the fallen from the First World War, additional stones were added in 1996 to commemorate those who fell in World War Two. It seems therefore that the wrong attribution possibly dates to 1996 and the original research undertaken.

With the names Alfred Sidney Charles Allen, you would think there was little chance of this man being confused with another. However, on 12 January 1918, probably at 18 Jackson Road, Holloway there was another child born named Alfred Charles Sydney Allen – a rearrangement of the same names and a different spelling of Sydney. Baptised on March 31, 1918, at St Paul, Clerkenwell, this child was the son of Alfred John Willie Allen and Hilda Ellen Jones. At this time his father was described as an Officer’s Steward in the Royal Navy. Further research into this Alfred Allen born 1918 reveals that in 1921 the family can be found at 4 Wilton Road, Dalston, Middlesex where the father Alfred Allen was now a proprietor of an off licence. By this time Alfred had a younger brother John, whilst a younger sister Hilda was soon to follow.

The 1939 register shows the whole family had subsequently uprooted to Braughing, Hertfordshire where the father Alfred Allen was now a domestic gardener. The son Alfred Charles Sydney Allen was a pupil at Richard Hale School throughout the 1930s, Head Boy of the school and Head of Cowper House. He was also Captain of the Athletic Club and a member of the 1st Cricket Eleven. This Alfred Charles Sydney Allen left Richard Hale to study at the University of London and the 1939 register shows him as a student with a margin note that he was an Officer’s Cadet in the Royal Fusiliers Reserve.

Further research shows that in 1941 this Alfred Charles Sydney Allen married Veronica Saunders in Liverpool and two daughters were born to the couple, Joan in 1943 and Carol in 1947. The couple made their home at 56 Paignton Road, Liverpool and were there until at least 1963. During the previous period, however, Alfred appears to have been employed in Nigeria, travelling to Lagos by boat. This Alfred Charles Sydney Allen did not then perish in World War 2 and finally died in Westminster in 1984.

The man commemorated on the Richard Hale memorial is therefore not the boy who was the Head Boy of the school, as this man lived into his 60s, married and had children. Further confirmatory evidence of this can be found in the obituary of his father Alfred Allen who died in Hare Street and whose obituary was published in the Hertfordshire Mercury on 20 July 1979. Alfred had a long-standing career as an ambulance driver with the St John’s Ambulance Brigade (Ware branch). His obituary states that he was survived by two sons Alfred and John and a daughter Hilda.

This is the final confirmatory proof therefore that the Alfred Sidney Charles Allen on the Richard Hale memorial must be my husband’s uncle, who probably never attended Richard Hale school, but has incorrectly been commemorated there because of the close similarity to the name of the Richard Hale old boy.

Tracy Turner