Person    | Male  Born 11/12/1904  Died 7/10/1940

L. W. G. Wilson

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.

L. W. G. Wilson

Station Officer -  One of two men (with Frederick Mitchell) who gave their lives at Soho Fire Station on 7th October 1940. London Fire Journal gives his name as William Wilson. See Mitchell for some details of the incident.

Our colleague, Andrew Behan, has researched the man.

Station Officer Leslie William George Wilson, B.E.M., was born on 11 December 1904 in North Hackney, the eldest child of William Henry Wilson and Selina Wilson née Harnshar. On 5 March 1905 he was baptised and the baptismal register shows the family living at 20 Sanford Terrace, Stoke Newington, and that his father was a dairyman.

In the 1911 census he described as a schoolboy living in four rooms at 4 Lancell Street, Stoke Newington, with his parents and younger brother William Ernest Wilson (1907-1990). His father was listed as a milk carrier.

In the 1st quarter of 1931 he married Ethel Kathleen Pringuer (1904-1986) in the Stoke Newington registration district and the birth of their son, Michael J. Wilson, was registered in the 1st quarter of 1932 in the Stepney registration district. Electoral registers in 1933 list him and his wife at 47 The Broadway, Wood Green, but registers from 1935 to 1939 show them both at 70 Blakesware Gardens, Edmonton, next door to his wife's parents and siblings at 68 Blakesware Gardens.

Whilst the 1939 England and Wales Register lists his wife at 70 Blakesware Gardens, he is listed at Clerkenwell Fire Station, 44 Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1, where he was recorded as an Auxilary Fire Service Company Officer, Service No 88. and that his civilian occupation was an advertising make-up clerk.

He was killed, aged 35 years, as result of enemy action when a bomb fell on Shaftesbury Avenue Fire Station, on 7 October 1940. According to probate records his body was not found until 19 October 1940 and that when administration was granted to his widow on 20 January 1941 his effects totalled £380.

On 6 March 1941 he was posthumously awarded the British Empire Medal. This was a result of a recommendation by Frank Whitford Jackson, Deputy Chief Officer of the London Fire Brigade whose report read that Station Officer Wilson, who had been been in the AFS for two-and-one-half years,"showed great devotion to duty and set an excellent example under very trying conditions at 14 fires which occurred between the 8th and 17th September 1940. In particular he was of great assistance to his superior officers at the fires at Endell Street, New Bond Street and Rathbone Place. At the latter fire at personal risk he endeavoured to extricate several persons who were trapped beneath the debris". 

His recommendation was supported by two other officers. District Officer H.R. Lucas wrote "Wilson displayed great initiative and resourcefulness at the series of fires which occured between the 8th and the 17th September 1940. His assistance to me was of great value and he refused to spare himself in the carrying out of my orders, often working under difficult conditions until almost exhausted. At the fire at Rathbone Place, W1, he worked extremely hard at personal risk to extricaate persons trapped. Wilson has since been killed on duty".

Acting Station Officer S. Pow wrote "Wilson worked with me at numerous serious fires during the period 8th-19th September 1940 and proved to be of great assistance in every way. He displayed great devotion to duty and on the occasion of the fire in Rathbone Place, W1, he assisted to extricate persons from the debris under very difficult conditions".

He is also commemorated on the National Firefighters Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance. He is also shown on the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour 1939-1945 located just outside the entrance to St George's Chapel at the west end of Westminster Abbey and on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website

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:
L. W. G. Wilson

Commemorated ati

Soho Fire Station - Wilson and Mitchell

We will remember them, Station Officer - L. W. G. Wilson Auxiliary Freman - F...

Read More

Other Subjects

William Henry Fall

William Henry Fall

William Henry Thomas Fall was born on 9 August 1879, his birth being registered in the 3rd quarter of 1879 in the St Saviour registration district, Southwark. He was one of the seven children of Th...

Person, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial
Fireman Barry Charles Trussell

Fireman Barry Charles Trussell

Died a month after attending a fire in the Intensive Care Unit of Tooting’s St Georges Hospital. He was buried following a sudden flash explosion in the storeroom, taken to the special burns unit o...

Person, Emergency Services

1 memorial
Cyril Richard (Rick) Rescorla

Cyril Richard (Rick) Rescorla

United Kingdom citizen who died in the terrorist attacks in America on 11 September 2001. Colonel Cyril Richard Rescorla was born on 27 May 1939 in Halye, Cornwall. He was a son of Stephen Douglas...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services, Tragedy, Africa, Cyprus, USA, Vietnam

1 memorial
Warden Albert Charles Thompson

Warden Albert Charles Thompson

Albert Charles Thompson was born on 10 June 1909 the third of the nine children of Thomas Charles Thompson (1884-1942) and St. Helena Thompson née Shears (1888-1938). His birth was registered in th...

Person, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
1 memorial
Denis Gerald Fitzgerald

Denis Gerald Fitzgerald

Auxiliary Fireman Denis Gerald Fitzgerald was born on 20 June 1912 in Croydon, Surrey, the son of William Fitzgerald (b.1886) and Mabel Annie Fitzgerald née Theobald (1887-1958). He was baptised on...

Person, Emergency Services

War dead non-military, WW2
2 memorials