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Stanley Lester

Able Seaman - Royal Navy - HMS Quorn

Background Information

Born

26th April 1925

Academics

Rank

Able Seaman - Royal Navy - HMS Quorn

Campaigns

Died

3rd August 1944 age 19

Stanley Lester was born on 26th April 1925 in Strood, Kent. His father was Albert Edward Lester, an Electrician, and his mother was Ellen Ada (née Sutherland). The first school that he attended was Northfleet Roman Catholic School.
In 1936 Stanley Lester joined The County School for Boys – now known as Gravesend Grammar School. The Head Master at that time was the Reverend Samuel Lister. The County School for Boys was located in Darnley Road, Gravesend close to the Railway Station (now the Victoria Centre for Education). In 1938 the School moved to brand new premises in Church Walk, Milton, Gravesend opposite to Milton Church.
The School’s Admission Register lists Stanley’s address as 74 Waterdales, Northfleet, Gravesend. Whilst at the School, Stanley was in Downs House. In September 1939, he accompanied the School when it was evacuated to Shipmeadow, between Beccles and Bungay on the Suffolk/Norfolk border.
In 1941 Stanley left the School and enlisted in the Royal Navy as an Able Seaman. In 1943 he survived the sinking of HMS Limborne.
By 1944 he had joined HMS Quorn, an Escort Destroyer. On 3rd August 1944 HMS Quorn was sunk by a German “Linsen” explosive motorboat or a German “Neger” manned torpedo close to Le Havre. Stanley Lester died age 19. He is remembered at the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

There are links below to Newspaper Clippings and Photographs from the Gravesend Grammar School Archives.
Below are links to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and a few other websites that might be of interest:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2370510/lester,-stanley/
https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?11833
https://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1944-08AUG.htm

Portsmouth Naval Memorial