Lucy Jane Godden Johnson: A Civilian Casualty of the Blitz

Early Life and Family

Lucy Jane Godden was born on 17 September 1883 at Lenham, Kent, the daughter of William James Godden and Mary Ann Foord. Her birth was registered in the East Ashford district during the final quarter of 1883. She belonged to a Kent family whose story later became closely connected with the expanding urban communities of Ashford, Deptford and south-east London. [1]

In the census of 1891, Lucy was living at Ruckinge Corner, Ruckinge, aged seven and recorded as a scholar. This was a rural setting in east Kent, and the entry captures her early life before work, marriage and family responsibilities took her into larger towns and then to London. [1]

By 1901, nineteen-year-old Lucy was living in Ashford and working as a servant. Domestic service was one of the principal forms of employment available to young women at the time, and her occupation suggests a move from her childhood home towards greater independence and wage-earning work. [1]

On 13 March 1904, Lucy married Edward Johnson in Lambeth. They became parents to three children: Edward Cecil Johnson, Ivy Kathleen Johnson and Stanley William Johnson. Lucy’s daughter Ivy Kathleen later married Albert John Harling and was the mother of Gordon John Harling, who also died as a civilian war casualty on 26 September 1940. [1]

Lucy Jane Johnson’s death brought the Blitz into one family with extraordinary force: on the same day, her grandson Gordon John Harling also became a civilian war casualty.

Marriage, Home and Family Life

Lucy’s adult life was centred on family responsibilities in south-east London. In 1911 she was recorded as married and a patient at South Eastern Hospital, Avonley Road, New Cross, in the parish of Deptford St Paul. Although the available report does not identify the nature of her illness or treatment, the record demonstrates the connection between her household and the public-health institutions serving London’s growing population. [1]

By 1921 she was living at 54 Canterbury Road, Deptford, described as the wife of the household and occupied with home duties. At thirty-seven years and nine months, Lucy was raising her family during a period when the aftermath of the First World War, economic uncertainty and changing employment patterns were reshaping working-class and lower-middle-class domestic life in London. [1]

On the eve of the Second World War, the 1939 Register placed Lucy, then aged fifty-six, at 30 Varcoe Road in Camberwell. The register was compiled within weeks of the declaration of war and offers a final peacetime snapshot of her household before the sustained bombing campaign against London began. [1]

Civilian War Service Context

Lucy did not serve in a military unit. She is officially commemorated as a member of the Civilian War Dead, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission category for civilians whose deaths resulted from enemy action during the Second World War. This status is significant: it recognises that the war extended into homes, workplaces, streets and shelters, and that civilians were among its direct casualties. [2][1]

Her civilian-war-dead classification places Lucy among the people caught in the first intense phase of the Blitz. German attacks on London began in September 1940 and were directed at the capital’s docks, industrial areas, railways, transport infrastructure and military-related sites. Residential districts surrounding those targets also suffered extensive destruction and loss of life. [3][4]

Londoners faced air-raid warnings, blackouts and repeated disruption to ordinary life. Families sought safety in public shelters, domestic shelters, railway arches and underground stations; yet no system could wholly protect a city under sustained aerial bombardment. The civilian war dead register, compiled by the Imperial War Graves Commission, preserves the names of those killed directly or indirectly by enemy action in the United Kingdom between 1939 and 1945. [2]

Circumstances of Death

Lucy Jane Johnson died on 26 September 1940, aged fifty-seven. Her home address was 30 Varcoe Road, Camberwell, but the record states that she died at 20 Berryhill, Shooters Hill. The same address is recorded in the 1939 Register for the household of her daughter Ivy Kathleen Harling, making it clear that Lucy died while connected with her daughter’s family. [1]

The surviving report does not describe the specific bomb, shelter, property damage or immediate mechanism of death. Those details should not be reconstructed beyond the evidence. What can be said with confidence is that her Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemoration identifies her as a civilian casualty of enemy action during the Blitz. [5][1]

The date of Lucy’s death fell in the opening month of the sustained air offensive against London. The wider campaign inflicted a devastating human cost, with tens of thousands of British civilians killed and many more injured. South-east London was particularly exposed because of its proximity to the Thames, docklands, railways, factories, military establishments and vital transport routes. [6][3]

Lucy’s death was compounded by a devastating family tragedy. Gordon John Harling, her two-year-old grandson, died on the same date at Woolwich and was likewise commemorated as a civilian war dead. The two losses connect the Godden, Johnson and Harling families to the civilian experience of the Blitz in the most personal terms. [1]

On 26 September 1940, the bombing war took both a grandmother and her young grandson from the same extended Kent and London family.

Burial and Commemoration

Lucy was buried on 2 October 1940 at Woolwich New Cemetery, Greenwich, six days after her death. Her burial provided a known place of remembrance for her husband, children and wider family at a time when London communities were living through repeated loss and destruction. [1]

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemorates her as Lucy Jane Johnson, a civilian war casualty. Its records preserve the details of civilians as well as service personnel, reflecting the Commission’s responsibility for the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour. The roll records civilians killed directly or indirectly by enemy action across the United Kingdom during the Second World War. [2][1]

Her burial and memorial can also be traced through the Deceased Online burial index and the Find a Grave memorial created in her name. These sources complement the civil registration, census and 1939 Register entries that document the stages of her life from Kent childhood to London wife, mother and grandmother. [1]

Legacy

Lucy Jane Godden Johnson’s life spans a period of profound change in British history. Born in rural Kent in 1883, she experienced the final decades of the Victorian era, married in Edwardian London, raised children through the First World War and interwar years, and died during the Blitz in 1940. Her story illustrates the movement of many Kent families between village life, service employment and metropolitan family life. [1]

Her death also serves as a reminder that wartime losses cannot be measured only through military units, ranks and campaigns. Lucy’s official unit was “Civilian War Dead”, but this phrase represents a mother, grandmother and family member whose life was ended by the war at home. The civilian casualties of the Blitz were not incidental to the conflict; they were central to the experience of Britain during 1940 and 1941. [2][1]

The shared date of death of Lucy and her grandson Gordon makes the family’s loss especially poignant. Their names preserve the link between 20 Berryhill, Shooters Hill, and the wartime history of Woolwich, Greenwich and Camberwell. Their graves and official commemoration ensure that the individual cost borne by their relatives remains visible within the wider history of the Second World War. [1]

Lucy’s legacy therefore lies in both family remembrance and public history. Her name in the Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour, and her burial at Woolwich New Cemetery, recognise a life that began in Lenham and Ruckinge, developed through Ashford and Deptford, and ended amid the danger faced by London’s civilian population in the autumn of 1940.

Sources and Further Reading

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Lucy Jane Johnson.
• Find a Grave: Lucy Jane Johnson, Memorial 24762682.
• Deceased Online: Woolwich New Cemetery burial indexes.
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Civilian War Dead records.
• GENUKI: Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour.
• Imperial War Museums: The Blitz Around Britain.
• Ancestry: census, 1939 Register, parish, civil-registration and burial records cited in the individual report.
• FamilySearch: Lucy Jane Godden Johnson, FamilySearch ID L284-PDL.

Sources
[1] Individual-Report-for-Lucy-Jane-Godden.pdf https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/141549598/33711dbb-ca83-4dda-a505-a8071d3f6f3c/Individual-Report-for-Lucy-Jane-Godden.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=ASIA2F3EMEYER2JQWQ7I&Signature=y28TSP4FKl%2FPfnmNA8t5OaycUKg%3D&x-amz-security-token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEDEaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJHMEUCIQDpcFtoHiaRt2LODz9I8QgYHKmsEDjG9rBBn4gPGadeEwIgTiTCBUvcJ%2BB9NBYPiJMIO0afVfcd61OIGLQ3PybYhFYqgwUI%2Bf%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FARABGgw2OTk3NTMzMDk3MDUiDIRlEB%2BYLcXJtzr82SrXBFtsWc02lqIDA2fcPEr5G1RYUSflP5mNo2hQPm230qXB4NC%2BgHjJ6VQwxQXKkbAc5UpHO%2FWjp2w9nJUJQHQ1ndZ7Qx%2FnfybszD%2Bna3AmEzqHwRfilTnfS7UNE0EAVwlCN%2Fwp18f9M5D%2BnUy4GsOqDO0knFkudchSGXZcf8ObOUWefPmsGLGd5jTd47xeP3pO7cnAJM3XjNmB1%2FHS1537SM5BFQtzMswJJfChFt8xmPAMg01x6vi2AWl9jruXL1IvJ8vUAd6sIvDoI9HexUlNb3lgumOioF9mmIFwrbYB90bvgq8XSLalFYPztScTVBhXooreqvjM4av0tZnUHjnd6FLDhxoWc19%2F7dzXpQ6GMgN5wJtHvHySj2XURfOjowply8WbRwfrcmTgedMAUOMWSvujGBUPeyZZCXPyzkPm6eEXxYieFo7B19UogdvSCBBQEF4qVDiWbml8P%2FvR8o1Y4z35v1WOJPvh2zu%2FEWlweqm0Rl8H4mZdG9uQ4kpuGxjL5R%2FZqPkxkDksMjDEUWJYa5NwPTQhn7kccgY9tj018Y8BRCd14rUeSkZ4aKjtH3anPGUENCED9OZUIOr%2FCZD%2BIMYyytMMzMVwgeqljt%2F3iLP4FSRjq7wIYCf3Ej0PhDAhdmLtDygereUws%2FNa5GyBKbdMvubTTeVBmItCTvBeVjRPFdX2wvbgJh36aYibPlvzX%2FKaGpL16grGI6AMJs%2FpVuQHyyfk%2BVc8IoYAZOa40wJYQbZ3izi83FWfIhL4e6jiaOxcMLdHhXo%2Ba27f3YvNZnjqzTuNvzKGMKya3NUGOpgBENWRmv88RXpSNKs9AzISyUnpSFLpO2awArgYYcvPAT%2F3oeQX34aKmKq4zbkk%2FnUCKEtx3CIU%2Bz7nTLyLR7Qpr1i6zbOnt6tGNOTeeyzCd6FJl9B1aEn9hL1p5vz8hnDlmduNvv2bAsPXqOKBJEXKJDKM5HYZRjOosoKy%2B2mxtM70vmYYXS6Amzk4az%2BozVmUHbPFsNhtr5I%3D&Expires=1790384592
[2] GENUKI: Civilian War Dead Roll of Honour https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Indexes/NE_WarDead/
[3] The Blitz Around Britain – World War 2 | Imperial War Museums https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/second-world-war/blitz/blitz-around-britain
[4] The Blitz: September 1940 – May 1941 – Spartacus Educational https://spartacus-educational.com/U3Ahistory60.htm
[5] Find Commonwealth War Records | CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/
[6] The Blitz – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz
[7] Find War Dead | CWGC – War graves search https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/
[8] Thursday 26 September 1940 | The Battle of Britain Historical Timeline https://battleofbritain1940.com/entry/thursday-26-september-1940/
[9] Battle of Britain September 1940 day by day https://www.battle-of-britain.org.uk/history/battle-of-britain-september-1940-day-by-day
[10] The Commonwealth War Graves Commission | CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/
[11] UK, World War II Civilian Deaths, 1939-1945 – Ancestry https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/5177
[12] CWGC Archive https://archive.cwgc.org/
[13] Search The WWI WWII IWGC/CWGC Death Registers – Forces War … https://uk.forceswarrecords.com/publication/1286/uk-wwi-wwii-commonwealth-war-graves-commission-death-registers
[14] The Blitz – the Second World War https://www.thesecondworldwar.org/western-front-1939-1940/battle-of-britain-1/phase-3-the-daytime-blitz
[15] WW2 People’s War – Saturday, 7th Sept. 1940 – BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/56/a3559656.shtml
[16] Search Results | CWGC https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/search-results/