Roll of Honour: Lionel Lewis

Flight Lieutenant L. M. Lewis

Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve

64331

Died on active service, 7 September 1944, England. Aged 44.

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Lionel Lewis was a well known sportsman in Woking and lived at Fourth Bay, Westfield Road. He was captain of the Constitution Hill Hockey Club for 10 years and played regularly for the Old Boys Association cricket team.

Lionel was born in about 1900 in Aberdeen. His grandfather, Joseph Lewis was for many years manager of Woking Public Hall which staged theatrical events. Lionel’s father James Henry Lewis, and his mother Violet Aileen Lewis (who was from Cork in Ireland) were both locally renowned actors. By 1911 the family were living at Sunnyside, Royal Oak in Woking. Lionel had at least two younger brothers, George and Gerald. Gerald died in South Africa in 1938.

One of the first boys at the newly opened County School, Lionel left aged 17 and enlisted with a Rifle Regiment late in the First World War although it is unlikely that he saw active service. After the war he worked briefly for Harrods in London and then for 12 years with North Light Ltd. a company that imported eggs from Denmark.

In February 1939 Lionel volunteered for the RAFVR doing his training in the evenings after work. When war broke out he was called up to the Balloon Barrage and served in England and Scotland. He was later commissioned as Technical and Defence Officer. Such was his enthusiasm for the service that he undertook commando training at the age of 41.

Lionel relinquished his commission due to ill health in July 1944 and died at home 7 September. His well attended funeral was held at Brookwood Cemetery the following week. At the service Mr. F. Dixon, headmaster of Ripley CE School and a team mate at the hockey club read the following tribute in the euphemistic style of the day:

The game’s not lost,

Although the whistle’s gone,

The first half is completed

And the second half begun.

You played against the slope and the sun,

In that, you had no choice,

And when the final whistle sounds

You’ll hear the umpire’s voice

Well done!

Lionel Lewis is buried in Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking (grave 209599). He is also remembered on the Woking County Grammar School roll of honour located in Christ Church, Woking and the Woking library World War Two book of remembrance.

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Last updated 21 December 2009

Sources

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Woking News and Mail

Woking County School magazine