Howard Cross

Bank: Westminster Bank

Place of work: London Threadneedle Street office

Died: 31 May 1940

Howard Gordon Cross was the only child of Howard and Jessie Cross, born on 14 December 1918, almost three months after his father had been killed in action in France while serving in the First World War.

He joined the staff of Westminster Bank at its London Threadneedle Street office in December 1935. Outside work he was an enthusiastic oarsman, a prominent member of the bank's staff rowing club, and represented the bank at Henley Regatta on several occasions. A bank colleague later recalled his 'boyish cheerfulness', and reflected that 'he possessed considerable intellectual gifts and gave promise of a successful future.'

Cross left the bank to go on military service at the outbreak of war in September 1939, and by the following spring was a Lance Corporal in the Royal Corps of Signals. During the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force towards Dunkirk in May 1940, Cross was wounded at Oudenaarde, but had the wound dressed and continued with his unit as far as Dunkirk, where he was shot again, this time fatally. Lance Corporal Cross died on 31 May 1940. He was 21 years old. 

Howard Cross is commemorated on a bank war memorial held at NatWest Group Archives.