Firewoman with the Auxiliary Fire Service. Killed during an air-raid at Cubitt Town School which was being used as an emergency depot. She was aged 19.
Violet Irene Pengelly was born on 4 January 1921, the third eldest daughter and fourth of the nine children of Benjamin Pengelly (1891-1962) and Lily Rose Pengelly, née Hollidge (1890-1960). Her birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1921 in the Poplar registration district, London. On 19 January 1921 she was baptised in St Luke's Church, Millwall, London, where in the baptismal records her family were shown as living at 8 Gaverick Street, Millwall (now redeveloped and known as Gaverick Mews) and her father was described as a crane driver.
Her eight siblings were: Benjamin Pengelly (1914-1992); Rosina Elizabeth Pengelly (1915-1985); Lily Rose Pengelly (1918-1976); Alfred Pengelly (1923-1944); Joseph Benjamin Pengelly (1925-2006); William David Pengelly (1927-1993); Amy Iris Pengelly (1928-1999) and Victor P. Pengelly (b.1934).
The 1939 England & Wales Register shows her living with her parents and some of her siblings at 8 Gaverick Street, Millwall and her occupation was recorded as a Clerk, Marine Casting. The register also shows her Auxiliary Fire Service number as D1/4909. Her father was described as a Travelling Crane Driver, Marine Casting.
She was a telephonist for the Auxiliary Fire Service and died as a result of enemy action, aged 19 years, on 18 September 1940, when a parachute mine fell on AFS Fire Station 35U, located at Cubitt Town School (now rebuilt and called St Luke's Church of England Primary School), Saunders Ness Road, London, E14 3EB.
She was buried with Firewoman Joan Fanny Mary Bliss Bartlett on 10 October 1940 in Plot C.WD.2, E50 at the City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery, Southern Grove, London, E3 4PX. Her name is recorded on both the National Firefighters Memorial, Carter Lane Gardens, St Paul's Churchyard, London, EC4M 8BX and on a plaque at St Luke's School that lists not only both firewomen but also the other 24 Civil Defence personnel who were killed by this one bomb. She is also recorded in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour held in St George's Chapel, Westminster Abbey and is commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website.
Our Picture Source identifies her as the woman standing on the left with her colleague Firewoman Joan Fanny Mary Bliss Bartlett.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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