Louis Block

Other Events and Attributes:

• Military Service: Infantry soldier. Private Royal Berkshire Regiment 5340010

Notes:

Died:
Killed at Dunkirk. The War Graves Commission records his age as being 21. This is incorrect. He died aged 18 because. Louis lied about his age so that he could enlist without obtaining his parents' permission which would otherwise have been required because of his young age.

Louis Bloch Private 5340010 4th Bn., Royal Berkshire Regiment who died on Sunday 26th May 1940. Age 21.
Cemetery: DUNKIRK MEMORIAL, Nord, France.
Grave Reference/Panel Number: Column 111.

Location: The Dunkirk Memorial stands at the entrance to the British War Graves Section of Dunkirk Town Cemetery, which lies at the south-eastern corner of the town of Dunkirk, immediately south of the canal and on the road to Veurne (Furnes) in Belgium.

Historical Information: Dunkirk witnessed the landing of the British Expeditionary Force in September and October 1914. Throughout the First World War, it was a seaplane base and later an American Naval Air Service base. The town was also a French hospital centre and the 8th Canadian Stationary Hospital was there from November 1918 to April 1919. Although an estimated 7,500 shells and bombs fell on the town during the war, ship-building and other port activities continued. During the Second World War, Dunkirk was the scene of the historic evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from France in May 1940. DUNKIRK TOWN CEMETERY contains 450 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, ten of them unidentified. The graves are situated in Plots 1 to 3 in the public part of the cemetery to the right of the main entrance, and in Plots 4 and 5 of the Commonwealth War Graves section adjacent to the Dunkirk Memorial. Of the 800 Second World War burials, more than 200 are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 58 soldiers known to be buried among them. These graves are in Plots 1 and 2 of the section by the Dunkirk Memorial. There are also Czech, Norwegian and Polish war graves within the Commonwealth section, and war graves of other nationalities will be found elsewhere within the cemetery. The DUNKIRK MEMORIAL stands a the entrance to the Commonwealth War Graves section of Dunkirk Town Cemetery. It commemorates more than 4,500 casualties of the British Expeditionary Force who died in the campaign of 1939-40 and who have no known grave. The memorial was designed by Philip Hepworth. The engraved glass panel depicting the evacuation was by John Hutton.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Furrier Cutter
• Immigration: Abt 1894; Came to England aged 14. Ruth Bunker says that he was part of a wider Jewish family that left during the Russian pogroms and got onto whatever boats they could. This resulted in family members ending up in different countries. Some certainly ended up in the USA.
• Census: 31 Mar 1901, 62 Greenfield Street, Mile End, Stepney, Middlesex, England; Recorded as Jacob Bloch; : 21
• Residence: 31 Mar 1901-16 Dec 1902, Stepney, Middlesex, England; 62 Greenfield Street (now called Greenfield Road)
• Occupation: 16 Dec 1902-6 Jun 1905; Cap maker
• Residence: 6 Jun 1905, Whitechapel, Middlesex, England; 30 Fieldgate Street
• Census: 2 Apr 1911, Fieldgate Mansions, Romford Street, Stepney, Middlesex, England ; Benjamin born Russia. Married for 9 years. Cap maker. Rebecca 32, Samuel 8, Henry 6, Michal 4, Rosa 2.; : 33; Address:
  162 Fieldgate Mansions

Benjamin married Rebecca Klatzow/Klotzor on 16 Dec 1902 in Jews Synagogue (The Great Synagogue), Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Rebecca (daughter of Joseph Klatzow and Leine) was born between 16 Dec 1880 and 15 Dec 1881 in Saint Petersburg, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia; died in Jul-Sep 1940 in Stepney, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Immigration: Came to England aged 14
• Census: 31 Mar 1901, 180 Brady Street Dwellings, Whitechapel, Middlesex, England; Unmarried daughter, tailoress, worker, Russia; : 20
• Residence: 16 Dec 1902, 180 Brady Street Dwellings, Whitechapel, Middlesex, England
• Census: 2 Apr 1911, Fieldgate Mansions, Romford Street, Stepney, Middlesex, England; Benjamin born Russia. Married for 9 years. Cap maker. Rebecca 32, Samuel 8, Henry 6, Michal 4, Rosa 2.; : 33; Address:
  162 Fieldgate Mansions

Notes:

Possible alternative spellings: Klatzov (Russian spelling) Klatzow (Polish spelling)

Notes:

Married:
Married at Ashville House, Camp Road, Leeds. Jewish ceremony at Jews Synagogue (The Great Synagogue), Belgrave Street, Leeds. Marriage authorisation gives surname as Klotzor.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 31 Mar 1901, 62 Greenfield Street, Mile End, Stepney, Middlesex, England; : 57
• Occupation: 31 Mar 1901-16 Dec 1902; Cap maker Ohab (own account)

Notes:

It is said in the family that ordinarily Jews were not allowed to live in Saint Petersburg without special consent. In Lewis's cases this was granted because he made a great invention. Unfortunately it is not known what that invention was.

Lewis married Jane. Jane was born about 1844 in Russia; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 31 Mar 1901, 62 Greenfield Street, Mile End, Stepney, Middlesex, England; : 21

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: 16 Dec 1902; General dealer

Joseph married LeineSaint Petersburg, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia. Leine was born in 1852 in Russia; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 31 Mar 1901, 180 Brady Street Dwellings, Whitechapel, Middlesex, England; Head of household / married; : 48