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Chief Petty Officer Reginald Vincent Ellingworth (January 28, 1898 – September 21, 1940) was an army bomb disposal engineer who was killed in the line of duty. Both he and Lieutenant Commander Richard John Hammersley Ryan tried to defuse a parachute mine that had fallen in Oval Road North, Dagenham. The two men had defused many such devices together, and had just successfully defused a device in Hornchurch which was threatening an aerodrome and explosives factory when they were called to a bomb hanging from its parachute on a warehouse. Both were posthumously awarded the George Cross for the “great gallantry and undaunted devotion to duty”. Ellingworth is buried at Milton Cemetery, Portsmouth. It is one of a small cluster of streets on the Goresbrook Village Estate connected with the two world wars. Most of the streets are named after First World War battles that involved the Essex Regiment, which later became the Royal Anglians, now the official regiment of Barking and Dagenham. Nearby is Ypres Place, Gallipoli Place, Kemmel Road, Marne Road, and Krithia Road. Council leader Liam Smith, who announced the road names in 2013, said at the time: “We must never forget the sacrifice that others have made for their country and also the huge contributions and sacrifices made by Commonwealth and former British Empire troops. These street names will remain as a reminder to generations to come.” The Goresbrook Village scheme is part of the Barking & Dagenham’s estate renewal project, which also saw the Gascoigne, Leys and Althorne Way estates demolished and rebuilt. A total of 149 homes are built on the site, which was completed in 2015.
