Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

SWM

G. H. A. Fisher

by

Tentative identification by Chris Burge of Mitcham War Memorial website.

This might be George H.A. Fisher, a Rifleman (Service no. 5492) who enlisted on 11 May 1914 in the Rifle Brigade (5th Battalion, Prince Consort’s Own) and was discharged at Winchester on 25 April 1918.

Excerpt from The National Roll of the Great War

Fisher, G.H.A., Rifleman, Rifle Brigade

He volunteered in August, 1914, and the following year saw service on the Western Front, wher ehe took part in many engagements, and was wounded in the fighting at Ypres. During 1916 he was again in action, and was seriously wounded at Mailly-Mailly in July, as a result of which he was discharged on account of wounds, in April 1918.

He holds the 1914-15 Star, General Service and Victory Medals.

102, Burn’s Road, Harlesden

No firm connection to Stockwell has yet been established. Fisher does not appear to be listed in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database.

John Morgan French

by

J. M. French
Service no. 668
Gunner, Royal Garrison Artillery, 1st/5th Glamorgan Bde.
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Cardiff
Died of wounds aged 25 on 31 August 1916
CWGC: “Son of John W. French, of 282, South Lambeth Rd., London.”
Remembered at Richmond Cemetery, Surrey

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901 the French family lived at 59 Mawbey Street, South Lambeth. John French, 41, was a brakesman. He was born in Little Baddow, Essex. Sarah French, 41, was born in Glamorganshire, Wales. Rose A. French, 12, John M. French, 10, Frederick French, 7, were all at school and all were born in Lambeth. Lawrence Swan, 25, a 25-year-old single steam engine maker from Burntisland, Fifeshire, Scotland, and William Freeborn, 21, a railway porter from Turweston, Northamptonshire boarded with the family.

John Morgan French, who at some point moved to Cardiff and worked for the Western Mail as a compositor, is also remembered on the Roath Local History website Western Mail Roll of Honour, where you can find further details.

Victor Edwin Finch

by

V. E. Finch
Service no. 2829
Rifleman, London Regiment (Post Office Rifles), 1st/8th Battalion
Killed in action at around age 21 on 25 May 1915
Remembered at Le Touret Memorial, FranceInformation from the censuses

In 1911 Victor Edwin Finch was living in 2 rooms at 11 Stockwell Green with his family. Frederick James Finch, 46, was a brewer’s drayman, born in Surrey. His second wife Elizabeth Finch, 45, was from Headley, Surrey. Victor Edwin Finch, 17, was a telegraph messenger for the Post Office. His half-siblings were Edward James Finch, 9, Alexandra Hilda-May Finch, 8, Gilbert Arthur Finch, 6 and Margery Emily Elizabeth Finch, 4. All the children were born in Stockwell.

In 1901 Victor Finch was 7 and living at 47 Stockwell Green with his father, stepmother Elizabeth and two sisters Nancy Rebecca Finch, 11, and Dorothy A. Finch, 5.
Frederick Finch was married first in 1899 to Nancy Bella Pickard, mother of Nancy, Victor and Dorothy, at St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, in 1889. Nancy died in childbirth in 1895, and Frederick married Elizabeth May in 1900. The couple went on to have the four chiildren listed in the 1911 census.

Victor Finch’s great nephew Adrian Purkiss adds the following interesting information:

Victor Edwin Finch’s first cousin once removed was Albert George Richard Henley, Mayor of Bermonsey, who was killed on 11 May 1941 clearing incendiaries from the roof of the town hall during a bombing raid. Another first cousin once removed was Sir Cyril Stanley Pickard KCMG of the British Diplomatic service. Angela Simmons, a first cousin twice removed, married Canon Paul Simmonds, who was for many years the Vicar of St Andrew’s Church Stockwell Green where Victor Finch is remembered.

George Edward Fensome

by

G. E. Fensome
Service no. 955621
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery
Died aged about 24 15 March 1919
Remembered at Lambeth Cemetery, London and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Information from the censuses

In 1911 George Fensome, aged 16, was working as a ticket collector for the City and South London Railway and living with his family at 38 Osborne Terrace, Clapham Road (this street was merged with Richmond Terrace to become Richborne Terrace). The family occupied 3 rooms. Mark Fensome, 52, was a sewer flusher for the borough council, born in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. Caroline (here given as Carriline in her husband’s hand) Fensome, 51, was born in Lambeth. The couple had had 8 children, but only 3 survived by 1911:
Mark Fensome, 19, an engine driver’s assistant working for the City and South London Railway
George Fensome, 16, a ticket collector working for City and South London Railway
Florence Fensome, 2
The children were all born in Lambeth.

Ten years previously, in 1901, George Edward Fensome, then 6, lived with his at 17 Portland Place South, South Lambeth. The same 3 children were recorded on this census. In addition, Bertha Burden, Caroline’s single 28-year-old sister who worked as a calico machinist, lived with the family, as did Edith Burden, 20, a domestic servant and another sister to Caroline. Frederick Dovinge, 20, a 20-year-old mason from Paddington, boarded.

William George Frederick Feltham

by

F. W. G. Feltham
Service no. 32204
Private, Lancashire Fusiliers, 18th Battalion
Lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 23 October 1917
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium

In 1911 a ‘Frederick William George’ Feltham, aged 20,  lived with his parents, Alfred James Feltham, 47, a railway guard, and Ann, 46, and his sisters Florence Mary, 18, a cashier, and Cecilia Anne, 16, a blouse maker, in four rooms at 13 Cavendish Grove, off Wandsworth Road. He married Agnes Mary Tidman in 1916.

Agnes married Reginald Claud Morison in 1919, who served in the East Yorkshire Regiment before and during the First World War.

Emanuel Feder

by

E. Feder
Service no. 354910
Private, London Regiment, 7th Battalion
Also London Regiment, posted to 1st/19th Battalion
Killed in action, aged about 28, on 1 September 1918
Born in Soho, London; lived in Brixton
Remembered at Vis-en-Artois Memorial, France and at the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

See We Were There Too, which gives his address as 15 Lorne Road and his synagogue as Borough New Synagogue in Heygate Street (Vowler Street), Walworth Road, London SE17.

Manny Feder and Hettie Bicknell

In 1912 Hettie Bicknell (1893-1985) and Manny Feder had a daughter, Gladis Hettie (d. 2018), followed in 1913 by Deborah Frances (d. 1998). Hettie and Manny married in 1914 in Islington. Hettie gave birth to a third daughter, Peggy G. Christey (d. 1934) in 1926. The Brixton and Kennington electoral rolls to 1936 record Hettie Feder as living at 15 Lorn Road with George Christey (d. 1962), after which they appear to have married and moved to Downton Avenue in Streatham.

Information from the censuses

The 1911 Census has a match for a “Manny Feder”, born around 1890, living at that time at 58 Wardour Street, in the borough of Westminster, with his parents, Wolf Feder, 58, a clothes dealer who emigrated from Russia, and Dina Feder (née Herz), 44, who emigrated from “Austria” (then the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Two of their 5 children survived: Manny Feder, 21, and his brother David Feder, 18, both born in west London, assisted in the family business. The family lived in 3 rooms (including kitchen).

Ten years earlier, in 1901, they were living at the same address. The census describes the Feder parents as “naturalised British subjects”.

The 1891 census clarifies the family’s origins, giving Littin, Russia as Wolf’s birthplace and Tardiff, Austria, as Dina’s (she is listed as Dora). David is listed as Esidorf. Sara Prolen, a married 35-year-old domestic servant born in Poland, lived with the family, who were then resident at 33 St James Residences, Little Pulteney Street, Westminster.

Notes
(1) Birth years vary between the censuses, with Manny listed variously as 1890 and 1889. Haziness about Western-style years and varying first names were normal for Jewish families at this time.
(2) Littin (various spellings), Russia, was a Jewish shtetl (village), now in Ukraine. I have been unable to identify Tardiff.

Manny’s brother David served as a driver in the Royal Field Artillery and survived the war. In 1919 he gave his address as 117 Lambeth Walk, S.E.

Information from Wolf Feder’s certification of naturalisation (23 January 1896)

Wolf Feder swore that he was a subject of Russia, born at Taurogen (Tauragė [Lithuanian], Tovrik [Yiddish], Tauroggen [German], Taurogen [Russian], now in Lithuania), the son of Isaac and Janie Feder, that he was a clothier, married with two children, “Many” aged 6 and “Davis” aged 2.