Alfred Marks

Lieutenant, Home Guard
27th County of London (Roehampton) Bn.
Died 17 May 1942
Buried Willesden Jewish Cemetery, United Kingdom
Age 41

Headstone Inscription
‘IN LOVING MEMORY OF ALFRED MARKS
BELOVED HUSBAND OF PEGGY
AND FATHER OF BERNARD, ROY, ADRIAN AND GRAHAME.
WHO WAS KILLED ON ACTIVE SERVICE
17TH MAY 1942
AGED 41 YEARS.
HE DIED THAT WE MIGHT LIVE’


Alfred was born on 2 May 1898 in London to Marks, a Polish born tailor, and Rachel Marks. The family surname was originally Peterkosky.

In WW1, Alfred enlisted into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers but was discharged when he was found to be underage. In 1922, Alfred worked as an employment agent and married Elizabeth Gaby in Fulham, London on 26 July 1922. They had four boys Bernard, Roy, Adrian and Grahame.

In 1939, the family were living in Worthing, East Sussex where Alfred was running an employment agency. Alfred joined the Putney Home Guard and in 1942 he was at Richmond Park, Surrey on a training exercise. An explosion occurred killing five members of the group. The Coroner stated that the men were on a cooking exercise to practise cooking for a battalion. The exercise was organised by experts from the battalion headquarters and was supervised by Alfred and Sgt Lewington at a site selected by the platoon commander. Fires had been lit when there was an explosion and witnesses stated that it looked like fireworks. It was found that there were portions of explosives in the area from a previous exercise which caused the explosion. A verdict of accidental death was given.