Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

F names

Victor Edwin Finch

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Charles Bernard Farrell

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C. B. Farrell
Service no. 8272
Colour Serjeant, South Lancashire Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Died after a fall from his horse, age 26, on 15 April 1916
CWGC: “Son of Michael and Elizabeth Farrell, of 66, Dalyell Road, Brixton, London. Born at Warrington.”
Remembered at Streatham Park Cemetery

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

FARRELL, C. B., C.S.M., 2nd South Lancashire Regiment.
A serving soldier, he was mobilized at the outbreak of hostilities, and embarked for France in November 1914. He was in action in many engagements, including the first and second Battles of Ypres. Owing to a fall from his horse he broke his thigh and complications arising he was invalided to England but subsequently died at Edmonton Hospital on April 15th, 1916. He was entitled to the 1914 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.
66, Dalyell Road, Landor Road, S.W.9.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the Farrell family is found at 66 Dalyell Road, Brixton. Michael Farrell, 56, was an army pensioner (musician), born in St Mary’s, Cork, Ireland. Elizabeth Farrell, 40, an attendant in an art gallery, was born in Jersey, Channel Islands. They had 4 children (all surviving), 2 of them living at home: John Farrell, 19, a gunsmith, born in Warrington, Lancashire, and Mary A. Farrell, 10, born in Stockwell. Amelia Waters, sister to Elizabeth Farrell, a 42-year-old widowed housemaid born in Toronto, Canada, was visiting. Charles Bernard Farrell does not appear on this entry – presumably he was serving with his regiment.

Henry Joseph John Farrant

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H. J. J. Farrant
Service no. 254446
Private, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), 3rd Battalion
Killed in action, age 18, on 28 August 1918
Born in Stoke Newington, north London; lived and enlisted in Tottenham, north London
CWGC: “Son of Mr. H. J. Farrant, of 121, Peabody Cottages, Lordship Lane, Tottenham, London.”
Remembered at Bronfay Farm Military Cemetery, Bray-sur-Somme, France

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

FARRANT, H. J. J., Private, Royal Fusiliers.
He joined in November 1917 and after his training was drafted to France, where he took part in the Battle of the Somme. On 28th August 1918 he was killed in action at Albert.
He was entitled to the General Service and Victory Medals.
121, Peabody Cottages, Lordship Lane, N.17

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Henry J. J. Farrant was 11 and living with his family at 51 Abbotsford Avenue, South Tottenham, where the household occupied 8 rooms. Henry John Farrant, 54, a former ironmonger now working as a “commission agent”, was born in Limehouse, east London. His wife, Alice Jane Farrant, 52, was born in Kingsland, Hackney. They had 2 children: Alice M. S. Farrant, 16, and Henry J. J. Farrant. Both children were born in Stamford Hill. The household included 3 boarders: George Walker, 39, a warehouseman, born in London, his wife Florence J. Walker, 36, born in Brixton, and their son, Archibald Walker, 11, also born in Brixton.

A strong connection between Henry Joseph John Farrant and the Stockwell area of London is yet to become apparent. It is possible that he went to school at Stockwell Grammar or some other local establishment. There is only one H.J.J. Farrant in the military records.