William Herbert Jack Spinks - Sea Scout
1916 - July 11th 1929
Best friends with Robert Usher, their bodies found together
William Herbert Jack Spinks (called Jack) was the only son of Herbert Cecil Spinks and his wife Amy Tuxill. Herbert had lost a brother, Percy Reginald Spinks in the Great War. As both their parents were deceased Herbert was listed as Percy's next of kin on his war records. Herbert died in 1973 in London, England. Amy died in 1968 also in London, England. Jack had one sister Dorothy (also known as "Jill") who was born in 1918 in Medway.
Herbert Cecil's siblings included Emily (who died 1919), Annie (Mrs. Thomas William Eley), Arthur Ernest (died 1971), Lauretta May (died 1948 - single), Mabel Daisy (Mrs. Albert Edward Newman), Edith Nellie (Mrs. Leonard Allen Hutchinson - immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada) and Percy Reginald (Casualty of the Great War).
In 1929 the family had been living at 61 Seaton Road in Gillingham. Mr. Spinks worked as a garage attendant. The Spinks family was just moving to London when the tragedy happened. Jack's heart was broken knowing he was soon to be parted from his very best friend Robert Usher. The two boys were more like brothers and were inseparable. They were found together at the bottom of the ruins of the tower after the fire. Said Mrs. Spinks ""The were both terribly upset but now they have gone together they will always be pals" Mr. Spinks identified his son's remains. Jack's coffin was carried to the cemetery on a fire engine.
Biography published in the Chatham, Rochester and Gillingham Observer July 19th 1929
Flowers laid for William on his grave by a parish member of the St. Augustine's Church during the Woodlands Cemetery Commemoration Service
Wooden cross made by Phil Oschefski of Canada, placed by his daughter Lori Oschefski
