First World War Merchant Navy Medal Pair – 1st Wireless Operator Lawrence Frederick Winsor Prestoe
British War Medal - LAWRENCE F. W. PRESTOE
Mercantile Marine Medal - LAWRENCE F. W. PRESTOE
Lawrence Frederick Winsor Prestoe was born on 14 April 1899 at Hornsey, Middlesex, the son of Frederick Charles Prestoe and Emily Sarah Elizabeth Winsor. He was baptised at Hornsey St Mary and grew up in North London. The 1901 Census records him as Lawrence W. Presler, aged 1, living in Hornsey with his parents, while the 1911 Census lists him as Lawrence Harris, a schoolboy residing with his mother and stepfather in Palmers Green.
During the First World War, Prestoe trained and served in the Mercantile Marine as a Wireless Operator, qualifying as 2nd Class. His CR10 service card (No. 201406) records his birth details, discharge number 905504, and includes a striking original photograph of him in uniform. His service continued into the postwar years, with records of his employment aboard several ships between 1919 and 1923, including the Port Elliott and American Transport.
He later achieved the position of 1st Wireless Operator, and by 1929 he married Helen Johnstone Shorey at St John’s, Palmers Green, Enfield. Following her death in 1964, he remarried Rebecca Ingber the following year in Southend-on-Sea. Prestoe lived for a time in Ampthill, Bedfordshire, before spending his later years on the Essex coast. He died on 19 February 1986 at Westcliff-on-Sea, aged 86.
A fine and well-documented example to a professional Wireless Operator who served during and after the First World War
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AJMS Medals