Alfred was the grandson of my 3x great grandparents Wiliam and Ann LEWIS (nee BUCKLAND) through their daughter Ann who married Edward Slater in at Hitcham, Buckinghamshire in 1871.
Alfred was the youngest son of Ann and Edward Slater and was born in 1895 in Hitcham, Buckinghamshire, and was baptised at St Mary’s Church on the 5 May 1895.
On the 1901 and 1911 censuses he is living with his parents at 4 Bath Cottages, Hitcham, where on the 1911 census his occupation is recorded as “outfitters apprentice”. He is still with his parents on the 1921 census but living at Rotherby, Station Estate, Burnham, Buckinghamshire, where his occupation is recorded as “outfitters assistant” for J Hatton & Co Gents Outfitters, 3 Queens Street, Maidenhead.
He married Millbro Ada ROBERTS on 9 June 1924 at St Peter’s Church, Harborne, Birmingham. Alfred’s occupation is down as “gentleman’s outfitter”, with his father Edwards occupation being recorded as “gentleman” – even though his father was a railway labourer and platelayer! Maybe this little white lie was done as Millbro’s father was a law clerk/solicitor.
After their marriage Alfred and Millbro seem to have stayed living with Millbro’s family at 37 Harborne Park Road, as the couple were there in 1930. Unfortunately, I can’t find them on the 1939 Register so don’t know where they were then. Certainly, at some point the couple moved to Lowestoft, Suffolk, as this is where the couple were residing in 1942. Why they moved there I don’t know, but it may have been a promotion for Alfred who in 1942 was Manager of a tailor’s shop in Lowestoft.
Alfred was tragically killed on 13 January 1942 by enemy action during The Waller’s Raid on Lowestoft.
Millbro returned to Birmingham soon after her husband’s death to live back at her family home of 37 Harborne Park Road. She died here on 22 July 1964.
The information below about the Waller’s Raid on 13 January 1942 is from Suffolk Archives website, and it mentions Alfred’s death :
Snow was falling on Lowestoft on 13 January, 1942 when at 4.20pm in the afternoon the air raid sirens sounded the alert. Seven minutes later a lone Dornier Do 217, bearing the Holzammer (“Mallet”) insignia of Luftwaffe’s 9/KG.2 unit and piloted by Oberleutnant Ernst Walbaum, swept low over the town centre. Following the course of London Road North it dropped four high explosive bombs which fell into the shopping centre. The effect was devastating and in a few seconds a row of shops and buildings were reduced to rubble and many more were damaged by blast.
Twelve buildings, Nos. 86 to 108 on the east side of London Road were totally destroyed, and many more on the opposite of the road and in the immediate vicinity were badly damaged. Seventy-one people, civilians and service personnel alike, were killed and the body of one victim was never found. The shops and businesses hit and destroyed were Aldertons (Footwear) Ltd.; Morlings Music Shop; Trueform Boot Company Ltd.; J. Hepworth & Sons, Outfitters (with five apartments above in one of which was located the Dental Practice of Peter Walter Davis), Chipperfields Hardware Store in The Marina at the rear of No. 100, Fifty Shilling Tailors Ltd., Boots the Chemist and shopping arcade, W. B. Cooper, Ltd., China Dealer, Eve Brown Gowns, Bonsall’s the Jewellers, R. Waller & Sons restaurant and grocery.
Many of the victims that were killed were in Waller’s Restaurant at the time and this raid, the worst raid of the war, has entered into the annals of Lowestoft’s history as “The Waller’s Raid”.
The ages of those killed ranged from two years to seventy years and some bodies were not recovered for over two days despite rescue teams working through the night under specially constructed arc-lamps.
Amongst the dead were Dorothy and Ernest Bonsall, proprietors of the jewellery shop and Ernest Morling, owner of the music shop. Ironically, Morling’s previous shop situated further north on London Road had been bombed out less than a year earlier, and his private house in Old Nelson Street, Lowestoft had also been bombed!
Other victims included Mrs. Emma Beard aged 52, her daughter, Edith Paul aged 27 and grandson, David Paul aged 2, who were in a shop (probably Eve Brown Gowns) buying mourning attire to wear at the funeral of Mrs. Beard’s husband who had died three days earlier. All four family members were buried together in Lowestoft cemetery six days later.
In Davis’ dental surgery above Hepworths at No. 102, Mr. Davis, aged 44, was himself killed together with 43 year old George Gayfer and his 24 years old son, Leslie Gayfer. Mr. Gayfer was employed there as a Dental Mechanic and his son was training to be the same. Also in the surgery and killed with them was a patient, 14 year old Ruby Copping of Lowestoft and a Dental Traveller, 50 year old Wilfred Wardill from Luton.
Alfred Ernest Slater, the 50 year old Manager of Fifty Shilling Tailors was also killed, but he died shielding the body of his 17 year old assistant, Beryl Bunn who was rescued with injuries to her legs. Mr. Slater was killed by the rubble and debris that fell on top of him.
© 2022 Mark Etheridge (Apart from Waller’s Raid information which comes from Suffolk Archives)
Family History of Mark Etheridge 