Harold Thomas Noakes was born on 11 July 1899 in Stockwell, the elder son of Thomas Frederick Noakes (1868-1915) and Ada Lizzie Hunt Noakes née Smith (1871-1919). He was baptised on 20 August 1899 at St John the Evangelist Church, 386 Clapham Road, London, SW9 where the baptismal register shows the family residing at Apsley Lodge, Kimberley Road, Stockwell, and that his father was a civil service clerk.
In the 1901 census he is shown as living with his parents at 65 Kay Road, Stockwell. His father's occupation was described as a civil service 2nd Division clerk.
On 2 September 1902 he was admitted to Stockwell College. This was The British and Foreign School Society's Training College for Schoolmistresses, on Stockwell Road, built in 1861 to train schoolmistresses, with practising schools attached. The school admissions register confirms the family address as Aspley House, Kimberley Road. He remained at this school until 28 June 1906 when he was transferred to an unnamed boy's school.
Both our Picture Source and the South Lambeth War Memorial website give much information about this man including that he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 28th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Artists' Rifles), before transferring into the Royal Flying Corps and being attached to No.32 Squadron, gaining the rank of Lieutenant.
He died, aged 18 years, on 23 July 1917. He was flying an offensive patrol in his Airco DH.5 aeroplane, serial number A9414, when turning after take-off it stalled and dived into the ground. His body was buried in Plot 13, Row B, Grave 19 in the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Boescheepseweg 37, 8970 Poperinge, Belgium.
He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal which were sent to his brother, Sidney Henry Noakes (1905-1993), c/o The Public Trustee, Public Trustee Office, Kingsway, London, WC2.
He is also commemorated at St Andrew's Church, Landor Road, London, SW9 where his name is both on the war memorial outside and on a plaque inside the church. His name is on a plaque at St John's Church, Clapham Road, London, SW9, and also at Surrey Cricket Ground, Oval, as well as being commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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