Stockwell War Memorial

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SWM

John Henry Burns

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J. Burns (listed on the Memorial as J. Burns)
Corporal, Royal Army Medical Corps, 15th Field Ambulance
Service no. 6003.
Died on 20 April 1918, aged 28
Remembered at Tannay British Cemetery, Thiennes, France

Chris Burge writes:

John Henry Burn was born in 1890 and baptised on 15 January at St Mary the Less, Lambeth, the first child of Henry Thompson Burn and Elizabeth (née Castle) who had married on 11 May 1886 at St Paul, Walworth.  By 1901 there were five children and the family lived at 39 Neptune Street (Seaham Street in 1912) along with two other families, totalling 16 people. 

In the 1911 census, John, then 21, is shown living in three rooms at 35 Dashwood Road with his parents and six younger siblings. John’s father Henry worked as a bill poster,  while John worked as a cellarman. By then Elizabeth had given birth to 13 children, seven surviving. 

Dashwood Road, sandwiched between the Longhedge and Nine Elms locomotive works and criss-crossed by the lines of the competing railway companies, was an area of social deprivation.  John’s home was a few yards from both St Andrews Church and the Bolingbroke Public House. It  was never silent and always grimy. 

John’s service number is within the range of men who joined the RAMC early in 1912, when initial training took place at Aldershot.  To the Army he was 6003 Burns.

John was sent to France on 20 August 1914, one of four men attached to the Regimental Medical Officer’s team for the 5th Divisional Ammunition Column. At some later date he was transferred to the Division’s 15th Field Ambulance, a mobile medical unit with orderlies, bearers, horse and motor transport.  It had been a long war and on 14  April 1918 the 15th  FA moved near Boeseghem.  Five days later, a party of 20 men was sent to assist the 13th  FA, based at Thiennes, who were hurriedly moving their advanced dressing station to the safety of a cellar, after their farmhouse location was shelled.  The keeper of the 15th  FA war diary noted on 20 April that ‘1 man Cpl. Burns killed by shell at CROIX MORRAISE ref map 36A 1/40000 J.21.C.10.2’ (50°38’49.5”N 2°32’03.4”E Rue de Tannay France).          

John’s parents wanted an inscription for their son’s headstone at Tannay British Cemetery, making sure his name was correct.  It seems possible the evidence they provided to those dealing with the Stockwell War Memorial led to his name being spelt as he was known to the Army. 

Henry Thompson and Elizabeth Burn were living at 55 Gaskell Street by 1918, remaining there for several years after the war.

Harry George Burls

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H. G. Burls
Service no. 15147
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, “B” Bty. 211th Bde.
Died of wounds age 25 on 25 October 1918
Born in Stockwell, enlisted at Camberwell
Son of George and Elizabeth Burls, of 25 Moat Place, Stockwell, London.
Buried at Romeries Communal Cemetery Extension, France

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

BURLS, H. G., Gunner, R.F.A.
Volunteering in April 1915, he was sent to the Western Front in the same year. He took part in many important engagements, including those on the Somme, and was wounded. He also served in the Retreat and Advance of 1918, and was killed in action at Cambrai in October of that year. He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.
25, Moat Place, Stockwell, S.W.9.

There is also an entry for Harry’s brothers Walter Alfred (born 1897) of 25 Moat Place and Frederick Arthur Burls of 1 Combermere Road, a few streets away. Both these men survived the war (the latter being invalided out of the Army).

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Harry George Burls lived with his widowed mother and siblings in 5 rooms (including kitchen) at 25 Moat Place, Stockwell SW9. Elizabeth Burls, 45, was a housekeeper, born in Finchenfield, Essex. She had given birth to 9 children, 8 of them surviving. Six of them lived with her:
Frederick Burls, 24, a labourer
Harry Burls, 18, a labourer
Zillah Burls, 16, a daily servant
Alfred Burls, 13, part-time schoolboy and baker
Eva Burls, 12
Nellie Burls, 6
All were born in Lambeth

Charles Henry Burchell

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C. H. Burchell
Service no. SD/3529
Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, 13th Battalion
Killed in action aged 22 on 30 June 1916
Son of Thomas and Harriett Burchell, of Mate’s Nest, Balcombe, Sussex.
Remembered at Loos Memorial, Pas de Calais, France

This is a tentative association. This is the only British-resident C. H. Burchell in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database.

William Bunyan

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W. Bunyan
Service no. 7848
Serjeant, York and Lancaster Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Killed in action age 34 on 20 July 1915
Son of the late William and Mary Elizabeth Bunyan; husband of Ellen Eliza Bunyan, of 8 Andalus Road, Landor Road, Stockwell, London. Native of Bengeo, Herts.
Remembered at New Irish Farm Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London 0DA.

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

The file for WIlliam Bunyan is very damaged and therefore difficult to read.

William first joined the York and Lancasters in 1904. He gave his occupation as “groom”. At the time of joining he was about 23 and stood 5 feet 4¼ inches tall, weighed 120 pounds and was 36 inches around the chest (which he could expand by 2 inches). The Regiment carefully noted his progress after six months Army service and a “gymnastic course”. He had grown a triumphant 2/20ths of an inch, gained 3 pounds and increased his chest measurement by an inch. His eyes and hair were noted as brown. He bore a scar on his left wrist and had a “white patch” on his left breast. He was judged to be of “good character” and indeed during this period of service gained a good conduct badge.

After serving over 10 years (with some intervals) Bunyan was killed on 20 July 1915.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 William Bunyan, then 27, was working as a miller’s labourer and living with his grandmother and sister in 4 rooms (including kitchen) at 12 Russell Street, Hertford. Mary Bunyan, 73, was a widow born in Wadesmill, Herfordshire. Florence Bunyan, 29, was working as a shop assistant for a confectioner (sweet shop). She, like William, was born in Bengeo, Herfordshire.

John Bunn

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J. Bunn
Service no. R/32876
Rifleman, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, “C” Coy. 10th Battalion
Formerly TR/13/29465, T.R. Battalion
Died of wounds age 30 on 10 August 1917
Son of the late Thomas and Jane Harriett Bunn.
Remembered at New Irish Farm Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 John Bunn’s widowed mother, Jane Harriett Bunn, was living in 4 rooms at 35 Meadow Road, London SW8 with 2 single daughters:
Jane Bunn, 38, born in Lambeth
Rosa Bunn, 26, a dressmaker, born in South Lambeth
Jane Harriett was born in Milbrook, Southampton.
Jane Harriett had 6 children – all surviving to this date.

Sidney Alfred Bunker

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S. A. Bunker
Service no. G/8995
Private, Middlesex Regiment, 11th Battalion
Killed in action at about age 21 on 18 October 1915
Remembered at Loos Memorial, Pas de Calais, France

Information from the 1911 census

The Bunker family lived at 4 Richmond Street, Kennington, Lambeth (the street has now disappeared). Henry Bunker, 51, was a widower from Shepherds Bush, west London, who worked as ox tongue curer. Three sons (all born in Lambeth) lived at home:
Charles Bunker, 19, a warehouseman
Sidney Bunker, 17, a press boy in the printing industry
Rodney Bunker, 14, an errand boy
Henry Bunker, 28, Beatrice Bunker, 26 and Ada Bunker, 23 (all named in the 1901 census) appear to have been living elsewhere.

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901 the Bunker family lived at 36 Richmond Street. Sidney’s mother, Mary, 41, was born in Camberwell. Henry Bunker, 18, was working as a carman; Beatrice Bunker, 16, was a “boot socker”; Ada Bunker, 13, Charles Bunker, 9, Sidney, 7, and Rodney, 4, were all at school.