Person    | Female  Born 20/1/1895  Died 29/6/1944

ARP Warden Edith Watts

Categories: Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2 i

Commemorated on a memorial as being a civilian who was killed in WW2. Includes mercantile marines and emergency services personnel.

ARP Warden Edith Watts

Edith Bacon was born on 20 January 1895 in Catfield, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, one of the eleven children of Philip Arthur Gillings Bacon (1859-1926) and Edith Bacon née Pollard (1859-1936). Her birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1895 in the Smallburgh registration district, Norfolk and she was baptised on 14 April 1895 in Catfield, Norfolk.

In the 1901 census she is shown as living in a four roomed property in The Common, Catfield, Norfolk, the home of her paternal widowered grandfather George Bacon (1826-1903), together with her parents and five siblings: Robert William Bacon (1884-1944), George Bacon (1887-1968), William Philip Bacon (1891-1943), Alice Bacon (1896-1975) and Maud Bacon (b.1900). Her father was listed as a railway labourer.

She was shown as a general domestic servant living in an eight roomed property at 101 Selborne Road, Southgate, North London, the home of James Burch, a director of a leather goods manufacturer, his wife and their two children.

In July 1925 she married Harry Watts (b.1892) in the Lewisham registration district and they had twins: John Alan Watts (1927-1944) and Joyce Constance Watts (1927-2022), whose births were registered in the 2nd quarter of 1927 in the Croydon registration district, Surrey. She is listed in the 1939 England and Wales Register as both on unpaid domestic service (i.e. a housewife) and also as a part-time Air Raid Precautions Warden, living at 7 Cottingham Road, Penge, Kent, with her husband and daughter. Her husband was described as both a timber merchant and a part-time Air Raid Precautions Warden.

She died, aged 49 years, on 29 June 1944. According to the Flying Bombs and Rockets website at 00.23 hours a V1 flying bomb impacted at 7 Cottingham Road and caused extensive damage across the area. Four houses were demolished in Cottingham Road and 39 severely damaged. 67 shops and 84 houses were also damaged in Green Lane, High Street, Croydon Road and Clarina Road. It also caused severe damage to a range of buildings used as workshops, offices and stores and also a builder's warehouse. A total of three people died, including her son.

Probate records confirm her address as having been 7 Cottingham Road, Penge and that when administration was granted to her husband, who was shown as a company secretary, her effects totalled £355-1s-4d. She is also commemorated in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939-1945 located just outside St George's Chapel at the west end of Westminster Abbey and on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website.

Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
ARP Warden Edith Watts

Commemorated ati

Penge war memorial

The WW2 civilian list identifies 14 people who worked in civil defence and wh...

Read More

Other Subjects

Keith Palmer

Keith Palmer

Police Constable 4157U, Keith David Palmer. From the Police Memorial Trust: "PC Palmer, though unarmed, stopped a knife-wielding terrorist from entering the Palace of Westminster during the 2017 W...

Person, Emergency Services, Tragedy

2 memorials
Walter J. Woodland

Walter J. Woodland

Leading Fireman killed as a result of an air raid on Old Palace School, Bow, E3 on 20 April 1941. The photo shows Woodlands as a private in the Royal Army Service Corps during WW1. Our colleague A...

Person, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial
Captain Frederick Booth, VC, DCM

Captain Frederick Booth, VC, DCM

Captain Frederick Charles Booth VC, DCM. Born Holloway. Served in the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia 1912-17. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on 12 February 191...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services, South Africa

War served, WW1
2 memorials
St John Ambulance

St John Ambulance

The St John Ambulance Association was set up in 1877 by the Order of St John to teach industrial workers first aid, so that they could provide on-the-spot treatment in emergencies.  The St John Am...

Group, Emergency Services, Medicine

5 memorials
Lt.-Col. John Lees Hall, MRCS, LRCP (FD)

Lt.-Col. John Lees Hall, MRCS, LRCP (FD)

Deputy Commissioner in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 District Metropolitan Corps, 1907-1915. Knight Grace in the Order of St John. The BMJ, 1915 Aug 28; 2(2852): 351 carries an obituary: "L...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services, Medicine

1 memorial

Previously viewed

E. Norris

E. Norris

Late addition to the Kennington war memorial.

Person

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Lou Reed

Lou Reed

Lewis Allan Reed was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band The Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five dec...

Person, Music / songs, USA

1 memorial