Mother of Daniel Lizars
Beginning at West Gore Street and ending at Lorne Avenue, Home Street runs parallel to Downie Street in the south end of the city. It formed the eastern boundary of the Lizars survey, laid out by Daniel Lizars, the third judge of the County of Perth from 1864 to his retirement in 1886 (see Hamilton Street).
Home Street was named by Judge Lizars in honour of his mother, Peggy Home of Goderich. Home was also the judge's second name and his son's name.
With his father Henry Lizars already in the Huron Tract, Daniel, his mother, his wife and seven children left Scotland and arrived in Detroit in 1833, expecting to find regular transportation from Detroit to Goderich. Misled by Canada Company promotional pamphlets, Lizars had to charter a two-masted schooner called The Robroy. Halfway between Sarnia and Goderich, there was a Lake Huron storm in which the captain fell ill and Lizars had to pilot the boat. He managed to get it as far as the Goderich Harbour where it was wrecked on the sand bar. Small boats from shore rescued the passengers and brought them ashore in the middle of a gale.
The Lizars soon settled in and became part of the Goderich elite, known as the Colborne clique. When Daniel Home Lizars made his way to Stratford, he became part of the elite here, which, though never named, had a great influence on the development of Stratford and is widely reflected in its street names.
Judge Lizars donated the land for Home Memorial Church which stood on the corner of Home and West Gore streets, later the site of Centennial United Church. An offshoot of St. James Anglican Church in 1875, the church was intended to provide for members of the Anglican faith in the south end of Stratford.
When the congregation established a new church, St. Pauls Anglican, the frame Home Memorial building was abandoned. It was eventually purchased by the Evangelical church and used as their place of worship until the present brick building was opened in 1901. Today the house of worship on this site (113 West Gore St.) is CityGate Church. Source: Streets of Stratford 2004
Sgt Lloyd Murphy
Rseidence: 19 Home St.
Leroy Frances Joseph Murphy, RCAF
Leroy Frances Joseph Murphy was born in Stratford and lived with his parents, Hugh and Nellie, at 19 Home St. Leroy married Hilda Murphy of Waterloo.
When the Second World War broke out, he enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force. On April 18, 1945, he was killed in action while flying with the 420 Snowy Owl Squadron (Pugnamus Finitum). He was 30 years old.
That day, he took off at 10:03 from England's Tholthorpe airfield to attack a naval base. His Halifax aircraft NP 946 crashed in the North Sea off Norfolk, England, during the attack against Heligoland, Germany, a small archipelago in the North Sea.
A rescue aircraft landed near the scene about four hours later and found two airborne lifeboats, two dinghies, two crew members in Mae West life jackets, and one crewman in either the lifeboat or a dinghy. Artificial respiration was started immediately but was too late; there were no survivors. W. J. Dunnigan, G. F. Montgomery, R. A. McDonald, D. W. Newman, D. M. Neilson and D. F. Ross were also killed.
Leroy Murphy, a Sergeant Flight Engineer, has no known grave, but his name is inscribed on the Runnymede War Memorial, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey, England. Source: RCAF Association