MANCHESTER NURSING SISTER KILLED BY V1 FLYING BOMB IN LONDON

A simple headstone in Manchester’s Blackley Jewish Cemetery bears the following inscription:

In Loving Memory of Sister Miriam Goldstone who died by Enemy Action June  18, 1944 whilst on Duty at the Jewish Home of Rest, London aged 41 years.

The Jewish Home of Rest in Birchlands Avenue, Wandsworth Common SW12 was opened in 1928 when it was decided that a home was needed where chronically ill and dying members of the Jewish Community could be nursed under the conditions of their own faith. In the 1930s the Nurses Home in Nightingale Lane was sold and buidling work began on a new L-shaped three-storey Nurses Home.

Sister Goldstone was employed at the Home of Rest and lived in the Nursing Home. At 0515 on the morning of June 18, 1944 Home of Rest was severely damaged by a V1 flying bomb, the first to land in SW12. The Nurses’ Home was completely destroyed and 13 members of the nursing and domestic staff were killed including Miriam Goldstone. The Second World War Civilian War Dead register records that Miriam was 41-years-old and lived at 105 Nightingale Lane. She was the daughter of the late Mark Goldstone. It states that she was injured at the Jewish Home of Rest, Wandsworth and died the same day St. James’ Hospital.