Stockwell War Memorial

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John Packer

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J. Packer
Service no. G/17678
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 4th Battalion
Killed in action age 28 on 26 March 1918
Born in Battersea; enlisted in Southwark; lived in Wandsworth
CWGC: “Son of the late Joseph and Mary Ann Packer; husband of Lily Cecilia Packer, of 2 Heyford Terrace, South Lambeth Road, London.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Information from the 1911 census

John Packer, 21 in 1911, was a carman. He was born in Battersea and lived with his widowed father, Joseph Packer, 59, a grocer from Chelsea, brother George Packer, 18, a clerk, and sister Elizabeth Packer, 29, who kept house for the family. Joseph Packer and his deceased wife Mary Ann had had 11 children, of whom eight survived. The Packers occupied 5 rooms at 4 Currie Street, Battersea.

John Packer married Lily Cecilia Baker on Christmas Day 1914 at All Saints Church, South Lambeth. John Packer’s father had died by then.

Charles William Pace

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C. W. Pace
Service no. 722461
Private, London Regiment, 1st/24th Battalion
Enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Lambeth
Killed in action on 15 September 1916, aged 28
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

The records for Charles William Pace in the main show nothing very remarkable. He was 26, lived at 55 Dawlish Street and was working as an outdoor porter before he signed up at Camberwell on 4 March 1916.  He stood 5 feet 1 inch tall, with a 33½ inch chest, which he could expand by 2½ inches. He gave his mother Sarah as next of kin, but this was later amended to his new wife, Florence, of 21 Seaham Street. William married Florence Meredith at St Barnabas, South Lambeth on 23 July 1916.

One item does stand out – a letter from ‘per pro’ Mrs. Pace (Pace’s mother as the address given is Dawlish Street), in which, on 18 October 1916, over a month after Pace had died, she pleads, “I have received no letter or tidings from him for some time now … If he has been wounded or fallen sick and has been removed to hospital would you please endeavour to trace him through your Records.” Clearly, for his mother, the possibility that Pace is dead was too dreadful to admit in a letter.

Pace’s record for the 15 September 1916 merely states “missing after action”. He was probably absorbed into the mud of France, lost without trace. He had served 280 days.

Information from the 1911 census

Charles William Pace, 21, was a tea packer, born in Walworth. He, and his elder brother James Stephen Pace, 24, a window cleaner, also born in Walworth, lived with their widowed mother, Sarah Ann Pace, 56, who was from Bermondsey, at 14 Gladstone Street, Stockwell (now gone), where they had two rooms. Sarah had nine children, seven of whom survived to 1911.

George Frederick Osborne

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G. F. Osborne
Service no. 48694
Rifleman, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort’s Own), formerly 35391, Royal Engineers (Postal Section).  Posted to London Regiment (Post Office Rifles)
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Clapham
Died of wounds on 10 July 1918, aged 23
CWGC: “Son of Lydia Osborne, of 110 Dorset Road, Clapham Road, London.”
Remembered at Pernois British Cemetery, Halloy-les-Pernois, France

Information from the censuses

George Frederick Osborne, 15 and working as a telegraph messenger for the General Post Office (GPO), is found on the 1911 census living at 7 Bolney Street, South Lambeth, where his family had five rooms. His father, George Lewis Osborne, 36, was a plasterer’s labourer; he was born in Lambeth, as was his wife, Lydia Osborne, 35. The couple had five children, all born in Lambeth: George Frederick, 15; Alfred James, 12, at school and working as a milk boy; Thomas John Osborne, 11, William Frederick, 3; Florence Maud, 6 months. Joseph Alfred Wyld, 35, a carman in the newspaper trade, boarded with the family. In 1901 George and his family lived at 41 Vine Cottages, Bond Street.

George Ormond

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G. Ormond
Service no. G/37729
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 11th Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 30 September 1918, aged 22
CWGC: “Son of Mrs H. Ormond, of 56, Larkhall Lane, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Unicorn Cemetery, Vend’huil, France, and at Waterloo Station, London

Information from Shani Wheatley

George Ormond was born in 1896. Before joining the Army, he was a van shifter working on the railway.

George’s father was William Ormond (born 1850 in Tolpuddle, Dorset. His mother was Harriet Norris (born 1858 at Fordington, Dorset). William and Harriet married in lambeth in 1877. William worked on the railway as a porter.

William’s grandfather was James Orman (born 1822 born the Hampreston or possibly the Horton area of Dorset) and his grandmother was Mary Wey (born 1830, Dorset). She is listed as Orman on the Births, Marriages and Deaths index but was buried as Mary Wey Ormond on 19 June 1851. As spelling was sometimes a hit-or-miss affair, these changes of spelling were not unusual.

Members of the Ormand family have traced their tree back to 1556, mainly from to parish records and visiting the area.

Ernest Frederick Oehring

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E. F. Oehring
Service no. 71553
Private, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), 142nd Coy.
Enlisted at Camberwell; lived in Brixton
Killed in action at age 21 on 11 January 1918
CWGC: “Son of Frederick Ambrose and Alice Hannah Oehring, of 85, Ferndale Rd., Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 14-year-old Ernest Frederick Oehring was working an engraver’s errand boy. He lived at 85 Ferndale Road, Clapham, where his family had 7 rooms.  His father, Frederick Oehring, 44, was a bookbinder’s finisher, born in Lambeth. Alice Oehring, Ernest’s mother, 38, was also from Lambeth. The couple had two children, Ernest, who was born in Walworth, and Winifred Oehring, 10, born in Lambeth.

In 1901 the Oehring family lived at 29 Knowle Road.

Frederick A. Oehring’s father was also called Frederick A. Oehring. Frederick senior was a tailor born in Leipzig, Saxony and was described in the 1891 census as a “naturalised British subject”. He was 63. His wife, Caroline Oehring, was 54 and born in Lambeth. The family lived at 4 Pownall Terrace, off Kennington Road.

Leonard William Oakes

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L. W. Oakes
Service no. 50044
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 26th Battalion
Assumed dead 2 April 1918, aged 19

Leonard William Oakes was baptised at All Saints, Devonshire Road, South Lambeth on 26 August 1898, the son of John Thomas Oakes and Mary (née Spearing).

The service medals and awards rolls show that Leonard William Oakes first joined the 10th Battalion, was moved to the 23rd and then the 26th. For unknown reasons, his name is not included in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Leonard William Oakes, 12, lived at 64 Paradise Road, Clapham with his widowed father, John Thomas Oakes, 56, a platelayer for the railway from Burton-on-Trent, and four of his five siblings. Lillie Anna Oakes, 28, born in Wilton, kept house. Alfred John Oakes, 22, was a welder in a wheel works. Allan Henry Oakes, 21, railway porter. Leonard Gosmay, a single 24-year-old carpet salesman from Kidderminster, boarded. The latter three were born in London.

In 1901 Oakes lived with his family at 10 Riverhall Street, South Lambeth. His mother, Mary Oakes, 47, was from Stowell, Somersetshire.  In 1891 the family lived at 170 Wandsworth Road with two lodgers: James Gillard, 23, a fitter’s assistant from Drayton, Somerset, and Ernest H. Stenning, 21, an engine cleaner born in Lambeth.

The household also included Maurice G. Spearing, a 14-year-old engine cleaner described as “stepson” (ie Mary’s son from a previous marriage) born in Hambridge, Somerset. The 1881 census reveals that at the age of four, Maurice was with his step-grandparents, carpet weaver Samuel and Ann Oaks, and their two sons, William and John, in Burcombe, Wiltshire.