gb-003348-wl2242
type: RecordSet
biographical history: Clive was born during WWII, in Finchley, London on 16.10 1944, an only child. He attended Highgate School, a fee-paying, Public School in Highgate village, London N6. He obtained a MA degree in 1966 from Clare College, Cambridge where he studied Electrical Science. His second degree, a MSc, was at Imperial College London 1969 where he specialised in Electrical Engineering. His hobbies were foreign travel and musical appreciation. His main employment was in industry with Philips Electronics, where he was latterly the Chartered Patent Agent and European Patent Attorney. Unfortunately he succumbed to ME (chronic fatigue syndrome) in 1986, and took early retirement from Philips. His last years were spent living alone, housebound since 1991, in a bungalow in Kimpton, Hertfordshire. His parents had both left Berlin, Germany before the war, to escape the Nazi regime. His mother, Annemarie, a photographer, and grandfather, Dr Alfred Berliner, a retired surgeon, came to London in the mid 1930s. His father, Gerhard Sommerfeld, having obtained a law degree from Freiburg arrived in London in 1937 (?) and enrolled at the LSE. Annemarie & Gerhard had once previously met in Berlin in 1933 at a party, but were reintroduced in London. They married in June 1938 at the Hampstead Register Office. Gerhard was initially employed at Bloomsbury House, helping other Jewish immigrants. After the war, they changed their surname to Somerfield, by Deed Poll. Gerhard was unable to practise law in the UK, but found office work with British Rail instead. Family members that were direct victims of the Nazi regime were:- Great-uncle Willi Hermann Berliner who committed suicide 1.3.1943, the day he was due to be deported from Berlin. He had travelled widely, visiting USA & Japan with his father, and also South Africa. Hedwig Sommerfeld, his grandmother, who had visited England in 1939, but returned to Berlin, against family advice, was deported to Minsk Concentration camp in 1944 and disappeared. Gre…
conditions of access: Open
has or had holder: gb-003348
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: eng
has or had some members with language: fra
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had subject: 680
has or had subject: 304
has or had subject: 285
has or had subject: 842
has or had subject: 825
has record set type: Collection
identifier: WL2242
record resource extent: 5 boxes
results or resulted from: 1
title: Clive Somerfield collection