Sub Lieutenant (A) John Stafford-Clark was the son of former Mayor of Bromley Francis Stafford-Clark (1929-1930). This notice of his death was published in the local newspaper in March 1941.
He was part of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, H.M.S. Heron., based in Yoevilton in Somerset. He died on the 26th February 1941.
Sub-Lieutenant (A) J. Stafford Clark, R.N.V.R.
Sub-Lieutenant John Stafford Clark, of the Fleet Air Arm, younger son of Alderman F. Stafford Clark, L.L.D., J.P., and Mrs Stafford Clark, and brother of Flight-Lieutenant David Stafford Clark, M.B., B.S., R.A.F.V.R., was killed last month.
He was born at the Old Summer House*, Bromley, on May 21, 1920, and was educated at Falconbury, Charterhouse, and Merton College, Oxford. He volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm in the first week of the war, and was called up for training as a pilot on April 1, 1940. By then he had qualified for his B.A. (Oxon).
His Flight-Commander has described him as a sound but brilliant pilot. In the Service, as everywhere else, all who knew him loved him.
*The Old Summer House was the home of Francis Stafford-Clark. It was located on Burnt Ash Lane.
There is a lovely account of the house by a gentleman whose’s mother worked at the house in the 1930’s, and who recalls childhood memories of his visits there. You can read the account here >
His brother David Stafford-Clark (17 April 1916 – 1999) was a British psychiatrist and author; father of British film and television producer Nigel Stafford-Clark, and the theatre director Max Stafford-Clark.
Sources:
Bromley & Kentish Times, March 1941
CWGC entry for John Stafford-Clark
