Ajax Veterans Street Dedication: Gifford Court

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Street Name: Gifford Court
Name of Veteran: Lewis Henry Gifford Sept. 30, 1900-Oct. 1977
Rank: Able Seaman
Ship Served: HMS Ajax
Date of Service on Ship: 1939
Year of Visit/Dedication: June 2005
Veteran or Family Visit: Norman Gifford, son
Veteran of the Battle of the River Plate: Yes
Died at Battle: No

Lewis Henry Gifford was born in Gillingham, Kent on September 30, 1900. He worked as a crane driver at the Chatham Dockyards before joining the Royal Navy in 1920.

Lewis served on sixteen different ships before joining HMS Ajax in 1938. It was on the Ajax that he took part in the famous Battle of the River Plate and the many battles in the Mediterranean Sea. On one occasion while on the Ajax Lewis caused the ship to be stopped while the surgeon removed his appendix. He continued to serve until he was invalided out of the Navy in 1944, having served over twenty four years.

Lewis was married to Dorothea Lillian and had a son and a daughter. He died in his hometown of Gillingham in October 1977, shortly after his seventy seventh birthday.

Note: Gifford Court was originally spelled ‘Glifford’ but was successfully changed and became effective on May 1, 2006.

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