Cabbie's tribute to World War One heroes

02 January 2009

Marc Alexander

A PASSING visit to a war memorial inspired a cab driver to write a book on fallen World War One soldiers from the area.

Marc Alexander, 34, has spent the past seven years writing Marching Off to War - completing it on the 90th anniversary of the Armistice.

He said: "I have always had an interest in that kind of thing. There is a churchyard near where I live and grew up where there is a memorial, and one day I was passing it and I stopped to have another look."

The memorial which sparked Mr Alexander's labour of love - at St Peter's Church, Aldborough Road North, Aldborough Hatch - honours a young Canadian pilot who was killed in 1918 at the age of 22.

Further research revealed that Harry Walter Jassby, from Montreal, had been stationed at nearby Fairlop and was killed in an accident involving another plane just five days before the Armistice was signed.

Marc added: "It started off finding out about that man and I heard such a lot of interesting stories that I decided to put it in all in a book."

As well as juggling writing with his day job as a cab driver, Marc also got married to Hilary and had two sons - Sam and Rudy - before the book's completion.

He researched the 42 men listed on the Chigwell Village War Memorial who were killed between 1914 and 1918. Most of the men listed came from Woodford Bridge and Chigwell.

Marc, of Neville Road, Barkingside, also made several trips to France. He discovered that one soldier had been given the wrong initials on his grave in 1915 but managed to have the details altered from NJ Clarke to HJ Clarke in 2005.

Also featured in the book is Pte William Frank Gapes - the great uncle of Ilford South Labour MP Mike Gapes - who was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Marc said: "The research showed that a lot of families lost more than one member of their immediate family, sometimes it was two or three brothers, and it made me appreciate what I've got."

The book was self-funded by Marc. To obtain a copy, email marc.alexander@ntlworld.com.