Philip Pearce

Bank: Westminster Bank

Place of work: Head Office, London

Died: 5 January 1940

Philip Moorefield Pearce was born on 31 December 1912, the son of Robert and Laura Pearce. He joined the staff of Westminster Bank in its Joint General Manager's Department, Metropolitan Control, in May 1930. Outside work he was a keen member of the bank's staff sports club, participating in several sports but excelling particularly in hockey, where he skippered the staff team for two years. A colleague later recalled, 'he was well-known and well-liked by members and opponents and so long as he was there the club's tradition of sportsmanship and good fellowship was in safe keeping. His fitness on the field and the healthy boyishness of his complexion were the outward expression of his whole-hearted and cheerful disposition.'

Pearce was also a member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and in September 1939 he was mobilised for war service. He was serving as a signalman on board HM Trawler Kingston Cornelian when, on 5 January 1940, it was involved in a collision in the Straits of Gibraltar and sank with the loss of all hands. Signalman Pearce was 27 years old, and was the first employee of Westminster Bank to be killed in the Second World War.