If you have any data relating to this period, particularly in Tongham, please email admin@pcworkspace.co.uk or contact me, Steve White, direct on Peterborough (01733) 57 67 87 : (07970) 57 67 86.

George Keen was born 12 March 1898, third child to George William Mark Keen, a railway worker, and Florence Charlotte Mary Beatrice Keen, formerly Selwood; and brother to two older sisters, Florence Mary 15 December 1895, and Daisy Emma 15 December 1896.

It is understood that George grew up in the Staines area, and later joined the Navy at the age of sixteen, serving his country during the First World War 1914-1918, for which he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War and Victory campaign medals for his service. During the First World War he served aboard HMS Spitfire at the Battle of Jutland, and was later on board HMS Speedy in 1923 when she was sunk following a collision with a trawler off Istanbul, then Constantinople, reportedly sending all of his eight medals to the bottom of the sea!

The same year, 1923, George married in Croydon to E Fuller from Mitcham, Surrey, and their daughter Doris was born one year later. The marriage wasn't to last however, and they were legally separated in November 1927, his wife unable to leave her parents in Mitcham when George found work elsewhere. George later met Mabel Wheeler, formerly Pike, while lodging with her parents. Mabel's husband had earlier been admitted to a mental asylum, and they became a couple, later moving in with her sister-in-law in Ashford.

Laurant Wheeler reportedly died in 1932; and George and Mabel were to have their first child that year, a girl Mavis Thelma born in Staines on 24 July. Evidently when the birth was registered, George omitted to mention that he wasn't married to Mavis' mother, and he and Mabel were to make a second visit to the Register Office the following March… firstly to record Mabel's married name and, it would seem, to have George's name removed!?

George had by this time been working for the Southern Railway some six years, spending five of them at Clapham Junction. Consequences meant that he and Mabel were forced to move from Ashford; and he went to live in Battersea. Mavis was boarded out, and Brian born at St. James' Hospital in Balam on 8 October that year, 1933, was taken home to live together with Betty and Joyce, Mabel's daughters from her marriage to Wheeler in 1923.

In July 1937, however, Mabel was to go into hospital, and Betty, Joyce and Brian were then taken care of by their Aunt, Alice Freeland. Meanwhile Mavis' foster-mother met with an accident, and Mavis was returned to her father. George found it difficult to place Mavis because of his continuing association with her mother, and with it impossible for Alice to look after another, had little choice but to leave her in the park with the ground keeper while he went off to work.

Soon after, Mabel left hospital and spent time convalescing until October that year, 1937; by which time George had found a home to rent in Westminster Road, Carshalton for 18s and 9d a week, where they all lived until the late summer of 1938. Pending George's divorce, however, it would appear that they couldn't stay together, and Mabel evidently moved to new premises at West Grove, Walton upon Thames, however, it's also understood that she lived above a bakery, possibly in Hersham, and for some time at Thistlecroft; while it's understood that George moved to Oxenden Place in Tongham. Mabel then placed both Mavis and Brian with Dr. Barnado's on 4 August 1938, initially for six months only, perhaps her ill health a contributory factor. George was earning £2.2 shillings a week, at that time, and it's understood that he was to pay 7s 6d to the home, in addition to the 5s he had to pay to his wife.

Mavis and Brian stayed for one night at Stepney Causeway, and were placed at Barkingside, Essex the very next day. It is thought that Mabel perhaps hadn't been completely honest to the home, in that she wanted to leave George, when asking for their help.

Mavis was later to understand that their stay was meant to be a temporary one; that they would be back together eventually. George is known to have visited the home, and Mavis was also later to learn that their Mum and Dad would continue to meet, apparently in secret, at a cafe by the station in Weybridge… perhaps in an effort to reconcile their differences?

Soon after, however, on 3 September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany, and George, a Sub Ganger for Southern Railway and a Scoutmaster with the 9th Farnham (Tongham) Troop, was within the year living at Cottages alongside the single-track railway at Tongham; which up until 1937 had been twin tracks when public transport came to a close, with the line subsequently remaining open for industrial use.

Now August 1940, there has been a munitions train in the sidings for some ten days, loaded with explosives intended for reception and re-issue by the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Nearing midnight on 22 August, George heard the drone of an aircraft overhead, later thought to be a lone Dornier bomber… and then a flash. Once outside he counted as many as eleven incendiary bombs as they dropped from above, then a number of explosive bombs, at least one of which hitting the third carriage.

George first assisted locals in nearby cottages, quickly helping them into shelters before attempting to muster an engine. Unsuccessful he instead set about trying to uncouple the remaining trucks from the fire blazing carriage, but was beaten back by the flames and shear weight of the trucks. At this point it's believed George Leach arrived, having cycled approximately two miles from his home, and they both started unhooking the trains from the other end, pushing them down the metals some 300 yards into a clearing away from immediate danger west of Grange Farm.

Along with others, including military personnel and the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS), they continued to work for a further two hours; with munitions igniting and debris shooting everywhere, clearly without consideration for their own safety. Finally, black to the waist, their combined efforts averting a certain catastrophe, undoubtedly preventing untold damage, reportedly saving the lives of those in nearby homes, the danger to individuals in Grange Road quite apparent.

Following the bombings there were reports of beds on fire and brave young scouts, cracks in housing, of an unexploded time bomb, and damage to St. Paul's Church and the burial grounds on Poyle Road. The RAF diary entry for that night reported High Explosive (HE), Incendiary Bombs (IB), and one casualty (unknown) so far.

Both men were publicly thanked for their courageous acts at a presentation in the Village Hall, and on 15 November 1940 the London Gazette announced that George Frederick William Keen and George Henry Leach were to be awarded the George Medal, stating: Both men acted quite regardless of their own safety and at very considerable personal risk. George Keen was also decorated with the Fire Service Gallantry award, the Southern Railway Silver Guilt Medal, and presented with the Scouts Bronze Cross, the highest award of the Association for gallantry, granted for special heroism of action in the face of extraordinary risk, 'for his gallantry in saving from destruction with the help of volunteers he had called upon, an ammunition train which had been bombed during an air raid at Tongham, August 1940'.

Nine months after the bombing, to the day, 22 May 1941, George Keen, a diabetic, was taken ill while at work. Returning home he was attended to by a nurse and, following a visit by a doctor on the Saturday, was admitted to the Royal Surrey County Hospital at Guildford reportedly suffering from shock. George subsequently slipped into a coma and died the next day 25 May 1941, just two days before he was due to collect his medal from the King at Buckingham Palace.

At the time of his death, it's understood that George lived at Rose Cottage, Kingston Lane in Tongham. His George Medal was later sent to his wife Mrs. E Keen of Mitcham, Surrey 23 July 1941. The following year, 21 January 1942, the Chairman of the Southern Railway Company sent Mrs. Keen a special illuminated certificate specifically designed for railway staff that had been awarded the George Medal. George Keen GM and George Leach GM were as a matter of fact the very first working for the railway to be awarded the George Medal, instituted 24 September 1940.