Person    | Female  Born 4/11/1909  Died 26/12/1944

Clara Peacock

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.

Clara Peacock

Clara Alice Tower was born on 4 November 1909 in Holloway, a twin daughter of George John Tower (1872-1929) and Louisa Tower née Lilley (1872-1944). She and her twin, Dorothy Olive Tower (1909-1912), were the last of their parents twelve children. On 28 November 1909 they were both baptised at St James' Church, Victoria Road (now Chillingworth Road), Holloway, and the baptismal register shows her living at 2 Grove Street, Holloway, with her father's occupation being recorded as a carman.

The 1911 census shows her still living at 2 Grove Street, Lower Holloway, with her parents and seven siblings: Florence Louisa Tower (1894-1965), George William Tower (1896-1950), Maud Violet Tower (1900-1944), William Alexander Tower (1903-1977), May Constance Tower (1906-1970), Leonard Edward Tower (1908-1964), Dorothy Olive Tower, together with her widowed paternal grandmother Clara Tower née McGrath (1848-1915).

Electoral registers show her parents still registered to vote at 2 Grove Street, London, N7 until 1920 but from 1922 they are listed at 83 Eden Grove, Lower Holloway. From 1935 to 1939 the electoral registers show her and her mother at 216 Wessex Buildings, Wedmore Road, London, N19.

In the 3rd quarter of 1939 she married William John Edward Peacock (1914-1944) in the Islington registration district and in the 1939 England and Wales Register they are listed at 33 Elmore Street, Islington. Her occupation was given as a rubber toy buffer whilst her husband was a factory stoker. They later moved to 16 Hollingsworth Street, London, N7.

She died, aged 35 years, on 26 December 1944, as a result of enemy action when a V2 rocket exploded in Mackenzie Road, Holloway, at 9.26pm, killing 73 people. She was at the time in the Prince of Wales public house with members of her family. Those killed included her husband, her mother, her sister Maud Violet Hopwood née Tower, her brother-in-law Frank John Hopwood (1898-1944), her nephews Frank John Hopwood (junior) (1922-1944), George L. Hopwood (1922-1944) and her niece Joyce Violet Hopwood (1926-1944). They had been celebrating the engagement of her nephew Frank John Hopwood, a Royal Marine, service number CH/X 107961 serving on HMS Quebec, to Emy Neighbour. They were all buried together in a communal grave of thirteen people in Grave 17535Z on 6 January 1945 in the Islington and St Pancras Cemetery, 278 High Rd, London N2 9AG.

She is also commemorated in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939-1945 located just outside the St George's Chapel at the west end of Westminster Abbey.

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:
Clara Peacock

Commemorated ati

Hoxton war memorial

As usual the active service death toll in WW1 is much greater than that in WW...

Read More

Other Subjects

Sir Jacob Astley

Sir Jacob Astley

Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading was a Royalist commander in the English Civil War. Born Norfolk. Served Charles I loyally and, when the cause was lost, retired to Maidstone.

Person, Armed Forces

1 memorial
H. G. Terry
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
A. D. Loosemore

A. D. Loosemore

WW2 civilian death in Loughton.

Person

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial
H. Emeny
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Harold Corby
War dead, WW1
1 memorial

Previously viewed

WAG Club

WAG Club

Former nightclub. The name derives from the initials of its predecessor, the Whiskey-A-Go-Go Club. It attracted a multi-racial clientele and regularly had a large number of potential customers queu...

Place, Music / songs

1 memorial
Antonio Papa
War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road

Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road

The church moved here at the end of the 19th century from a Knightsbridge site, where the French Embassy now is.   The British Library have a wonderful zoomable street-scape showing Knightsbridge w...

Building, Religion

1 memorial
Noel Barran
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
A. Radley
War dead, WW1
1 memorial