Special Constable Stanley Charles Palmer.
A Man Who Served.
Stanley Charles Palmer was born on 12th December 1908 in Ealing Middlesex the son of a Postman Charles Henry and his wife Emily Palmer.
On 30th December 1922 aged 14 years and 18 days Stanley enlisted in The Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment as Private 6081084. He originally signed up for 12 years with 9 as a regular and 3 in the reserves, but he in fact served 10 years before joining the reserves on 29th December 1932.
It is believed that shortly afterwards he joined the Hertfordshire Constabulary as a Special Constable. Quite why he chose to join Hertfordshire in unclear although his mother was born in Watford and in 1934 he married Ivy Prickett in Watford. In the 1939 Register he is to be found to be living at 7 Leggatts Way, Watford with his wife Ivy. Like his father before him he is working as a Postman Driver.
The photograph shows Stanley on duty during the Second World War at the scene of a house hit by a German high explosive bomb on 4th December 1940 in Eastlea Avenue Watford. Three people were killed immediately; Margaret Locking aged 34, her two daughters Margaret Hannah aged 13 and Patricia Mary aged 3. Ellen May Maby aged 42 was initially rescued but died on 9th December 1940.
On 30th August 1941 Stanley obviously decided that being a Special Constable was not enough and he needed to do more and he enlisted in the Royal Air Force serving until he was demobilised on 5th January 1946 aged 38 years. He was awarded the Defence Medal.
Sadly, Stanley died of natural causes on 25th March 1951 aged only 42 a life cut cruelly short. He nevertheless managed to serve his country, in one form or another, for more than half of his life, for which he should be rightly commended.
I am grateful to his grandson, Carlos Capdevila, as the source of most of the information.
Add your comment about this page