Gnr Ronald Lancelot Newman Ong

Ronald grew up the son of a successful Greengrocer and fruit seller, who had a large shop called Whitehart Place in numbers 24-28 Crown Street. The family lived over the shop, Ronald being the youngest of three children.

His family were well off enough that he could study at Brentwood School, and after that he worked at his father's shop alongside one of his siters, who had started selling flowers there too.

In 1908 he joined the Essex Yeomanry, a Territorial Force for which he attended annual training. He was called up at the start of the first world war, but he was found to be medically unfit for war service and did not initially become part of the regular army.

It seems, though, that as the army grew more desperate for soldiers, he was called up again and this time he was accepted. He became a Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery, joining the 237th Battery and sailing to France on the 23rd of January 1917. His first action on the front line was near Ypres.

He returned to Brentwood after the war and lived with his parents for a few years before marrying and moving to 1 Western Road. He worked as a greengrocer and fruit seller, and died in 1969.