Events in
Local History

Custom House
School

1941

The Blitz..

During World War Two, West Ham took a lot of punishment from air-raids due to its nearby industrial and dockland areas.

On April 19th 1940, during a Luftwaffe air raid, a bomb hit Custom House School in Freemasons Road, which at that time was the Post HQ for local Air Raid Wardens, eight wardens were killed by the blast whilst on duty.

They were: John Whitehouse Appleby. aged 53; William Alexander Dormer. aged 40; Arthur Edwards. aged 37; Arthur Edward Gill. aged 41; Frank Mason. aged 37; Thomas Harry Monk. aged 31; David Pollard. aged 44; and William Roscoe. aged 66.

Their names are remembered in the street names on the local area's Kier Hardy Estate and fifty years later a memorial was unveiled in East London Cemetery.

This school originated in 1893 as Russell Road board school. In 1932 it was re-organised and also known as 'Ashburton Senior Boys'. In 1945 the few undamaged buildings were combined with an adjacent elementary school and reopened under the 'Ashburton' name as a 'Mixed Modern' school.

© Lal Cook.

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