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Frederick Ernest Joslin

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soldiers in world war one: albert, george and frederick joslin
The Joslin brothers: Albert, George and Frederick

F. Joslin
Service no. L/30147
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, “A” Bty. 38th Bde.
Enlisted at Camberwell; lived in Brixton
Killed in action age 24 on 11 May 1918
CWGC: “Son of Albert and Agnes Joslin (nee Sqirkell), of 3 Hargwyne Street, Brixton, London. Born at Brixton.”
Remembered at Cinq Rues British Cemetery, Hazebrouck, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Frederick Joslin, a 16-year-old shop assistant, was living with his family in 4 rooms at 51 Stockwell Green. Albert Joslin, 43 and from Rotherhithe, south-east London, was a general labourer in a granary (he was described as a granary foreman in the 1901 census); Agnes Joslin, 43, was from Needham, Suffolk. There were 5 children:
Albert Joslin, 20, a carter, born in Lambeth (pictured on the left)
George Joslin, 18, a shop assistant, born in Newington (middle)
Frederick Joslin, 16, a shop assistant, born in Lambeth (right)
May Joslin, 13, born in Lambeth
Florence Joslin, 11, born in Lambeth

In 1901 the Joslin family 19 Nealdon Street, Stockwell. 10 years previously, the family were living at 10 Burgoyne Road, Brixton and Albert Joslin was describing himself as a corn porter.

Arthur Ernest Homewood

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Arthur Ernest Homewood, who worked as a footman before he joined the army. Photo courtesy of Paul Wood.
Arthur Ernest Homewood in uniform, from an album created by Arthur’s niece. He served as a batman. Photo courtesy of Jo Kercher.
The inscription on Arthur Homewood’s gravestone reads ‘A loving brother, a devoted son. He loved and was loved by everyone.’ Photo courtesy of Paul Wood.

A. E. Homewood
Service no. 59585
Private, Northamptonshire Regiment, “B” Coy. 6th Battalion
Enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Lambeth
Killed in action, age 20, on 4 November 1918
CWGC: “Son of Eliza Ann Homewood, of South Lambeth, London, and the late John Homewood.”

Arthur was killed only seven days before the Armistice.

Remembered at Preux-au-Bois Communal Cemetery, Nord, FranceInformation from the 1911 censusArthur Ernest Homewood, 13, who was at school and also working as a grocer’s errand boy, lived with his widowed mother at 18 Radnor Terrace, South Lambeth (now disappeared). The family occupied 4 rooms. Eliza Ann Homewood, 53, earned her living as a charwoman in private houses. She was born in Bermondsey. Her sons were:
John Edward Homewood, 22, a warehouseman in a government office
Thomas George Homewood, 16, a messenger for the “Army & Navy Auxiliary and Co-operative Stores”
Arthur Ernest Homewood, 13
All were born in South Lambeth.

Paul Wood writes:

Arthur was my great-uncle (his brother William was my grandfather, who survived the war from 1914 through to 1918). When William went to the enlisting office he told them he was a footman and the officer in charge said he was taking him with him to France. He went the following day without basic training and served as a batman to a Captain Bird. William was from South Bermondsey also.

Alfred Edward Hogg

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Alfred Edward Hogg. With kind permission of Adrian Hogg.

A. E. Hogg
Service no. S/12345
Private, Seaforth Highlanders, 1st Battalion
Killed in action age 29 on 5 November 1917
CWGC: “Son of Edward Hogg, of 56 Sidney Road, Stockwell, London, and the late Jessie Mary Hogg (nee Skepelhorn).”
Remembered at Basra Memorial, Iraq

Information from the 1911 census

Edward (aka Alfred Edward) Hogg, 55, a mercantile clerk born in Bermondsey, and his wife Jessie Mary Hogg, 48, born in Blackfriars, lived at 56 Sidney Road, Stockwell with 8 of their 9 children (Alfred Edward Hogg was missing from the household).  Two children had died by 1911.)
Ethel Josephine Hogg, 27, a shirt machinist, born in Stockwell
Edith hogg, 26, a shirt machinist, born in Stockwell
WInifred Jessie Hogg, 24, a clerk, born in Stockwell
Alice Mary Hogg, 21, a typist, born in Stockwell
Ernest Leonard Hogg, 16, a “boy clerk”, born in Southwark
Elsie Kathleen Hogg, 13, born in Southwark
Amy Lillian Hogg, 11, born in Southwark
Eric Douglas Hogg, 6, born in Southwark

Information from Roots Web

Jessie Skepelhorn was born in 1863 at at 127 Blackfriars Road, Southwark, Surrey, married Alfred Edward Hogg, a wharf clerk, born in Bermondsey, at St Saviour, Southwark, and died in Lambeth in 1915, aged 52. Alfred and Jessie had eight children, listed in the 1901 census at which point the family was living at 81 St George Road, Southwark:
Ethel Josephine Hogg, born 1884 at Clapham. In the 1901 census she is described as a shirt-maker.
Edith Nellie Hogg, born 1885 at Clapham, also described as a shirt-maker.
Winifred Jessie Hogg, born 1886 at Clapham
Alfred Hogg, born in 1888 at Clapham
Alice Mary Hogg, born in 1889 at Clapham
Ernest Cecil, born 1892 in Southwark
Elsie Kathleen Hogg, born 1897 in Southwark
Amy Lilian Hogg, born 1899 at Southwark
In 1901 Cecil H. Skepelhorn, Jessie’s brother lodged with the family. He was a 19-year-old general labourer, born in 1881, married in 1907, which was also the year of his death. The Skepelhorn family originated in Overton, Wiltshire.

In 1891 the family was living at 17 Market Place in Stockwell.

Ernest Austin Hoare

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Ernest Austin Hoare
Ernest Austin Hoare

E. A. Hoare
Service no. 106556
Corporal, Royal Engineers, 186th Special Coy
Killed in action aged 18 on 21 December 1915
Son of John A. and Martha Hoare, of 12 Lansdowne Rd., Clapham, London.
Remembered at Cambrin Churchyard Extension, France

At the time he signed up on 7 August 1915, Ernest Austin Hoare was living with his family at 12 Lansdowne Gardens, Stockwell. He described his “Trade or calling” as “Chemist”.

He was one of six children of John, a police constable, and Martha Hoare, the others being brothers Arthur, 24, Stanley, 17, and Leslie, 15; and sisters, May, 26, and Madge, 20.

Hoare went to St Olave’s School (until 1968 located in Southwark and now in Orpington, Kent) between 1909 and 1912.

After six months at the Albany Engineering Works, Hoare became assistant to Dr. Fyleman, an analytical chemist, of Victoria Street. He was so interested in this work that in September 1913 he decided to join The Borough Polytechnic Institute. When war broke out, his employer became works chemist at Osram’s lamp factory (this may have been the large complex at Wembley, north London)and Hoare went with him. In July 1915 he gained a scholarship at the Imperial College of Science and after gaining a promise that this would be held over for him on his return, joined the Royal Engineers.

There is not much service history for Hoare in the National Archives. However, one interesting document, bearing Hoare’s name, outlines the Army’s appeal for chemists:

Form 121/1/1 (A. G. 2B)
Men with training in Chemistry are required for service with the Royal Engineers overseas.

The particulars of service are as follows:

(1) Term of service will be for General Service for the duration of the War;
(2) Age 19 to 45 years;
(3) Ordinary standards of height and chest measurement will be waived provided the candidate is organically sound and fit for service in the field. The eyesight test may be passed with the aid of glasses;
(4) Men selected will be enlisted in the Royal Engineers and at once promoted Corporal;
(5) Pay will be 2/6 a day with 6d Engineer Pay, with the usual Separation and Dependants allowances under Army conditions. (Further promotion to the rank of Serjeant will be given to selected men in the field.)
If you are willing to enlist under these conditions you are requested to take this circular to the nearest Recruiting Officer, who is hereby directed to medically examine you, and, if you are passed fit, give you Army Form B. 178 (Medical History Sheet) and a railway warrant to London.
On arrival you should present yourself to the Chief Recruiting Staff Officer, Central Recruiting Officer, Great Scotland Yard, Whitehall, who will carry out your enlistment and despatch you to Chatham to be clothed and equipped.

After a month as a “pioneer” Hoare was promoted to Corporal. He embarked for France with the British Expeditionary Force on 16 August. He survived only until 21 December.

On 17 January 1917 Hoare’s father received a letter from the Records Office at Chatham:

Sir
Special information has been received with regard to the burial of your son the late Corporal E. A. Hoare R. E.

He was interred in Cambrin Churchyard on the 23rd of December last.

The village of Cambrin was only 800 yards (730 metres) from the front line trenches and the Extension, where Hoare is buried, was used for front line burials until February 1917. Hoare is in Grave ref J1.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the Hoare family lived at 228 South Lambeth Road. John Hoare, 45, a police constable from Chatham, Kent, and Martha Hoare, 45, from Troston, Norfolk, had 4 children (all born in Sidcup, Kent, apart from Stanley and Leslie, who were born in South Lambeth):
May Hoare, 17, a sorter for the G.P.O. (General Post Office)
Jack Hoare, 16, an apprentice car body maker
Ernest Hoare, 13
Madge Hoare, 12
Stanley Hoare, 8
Leslie Hoare, 7
In addition, there were 2 boarders: Anne Watts Bray, 69, from Plymouth, and Ada Inwood, 33, a single dressmaker from Croydon.

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901, the Hoare family was living at 2 Cromer Villas in South Lambeth.

St Olave’s School

The picture of Hoare is taken from a presentation by Peter J. Leonard available on the St Olave’s School website at www.saintolaves.net. When you enter the site, click on ‘Welcome’ then on ‘Chaplaincy’ and scroll to the bottom. There is a thread on St Olaves at the Great War Forum.

Hoare attended the school between 1909 and 1912.

Harold Joseph Hill

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H. J. Hill
(Harold Joseph Hill)
Service no. 43809
Lance Corporal, Machine Gun Corp, 53rd Coy.
Born in Wandsworth; enlisted in Stockwell
Died of wounds on 17 May 1917, aged 21
Son of Joseph Snare Hill and Emma Elizabeth Hill, of 32 Herbert Road, Stockwell, London.
Remembered at Mont Huon Military Cemetery, Le Treport, France

world war one soldier harold hill's family in 1916
Harold hill's family 1916

Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 the Hill family lived at 153 Trentham Street, Wandsworth, where they occupied 5 rooms. Joseph Snare Hill, 57, was an ornamental plasterer. He was born in Westminster. His second wife, Emma Elizabeth Hill, 55, was from Hanwell, Middlesex. Joseph Hill had a three children by a previous marriage to Sarah (Arthur Frank, Florence and Ethel Mary (who is on the census return for this address, aged 27, born in Clapham and working as a ledger clerk).
Joseph and Emma had 2 children surviving in 1911 (of 3):
Henrietta Emma Hill, 18, a compiling clerk, born in Wandsworth
Harold Joseph Hill, 14, a student, born in Wandsworth

title page of The British Army From Within
The British Army From Within

THE INSCRIPTION

About 15 years ago, in the 50p box of an Oxfam shop on the Isle of Wight, Peter M-D found a copy of The British Army from Within by E. Charles Vivian, published around 1914, just as the Great War was starting. He bought it for the inscription alone.

Inside the front cover H H has been written in bold letters. Below, in a different handwriting, is “Harry got his wishes. Harry got one stripe. He got to fire the machine guns.”

Below that, in the same handwriting but different coloured ink, is “Harry got his name on the memorial in Stockwell.”

He felt compelled to find out more.

At that time, the vast resources of the internet were not available, so he went to Stockwell and made a list of all the names with the initials HH. Then he spent a day in the reading room of the Imperial War Museum and after a few hours found his man and solved the riddle.

“He had one stripe so was a lance corporal,” says Peter. “He fired a machine gun so had to be in the MGC – the Machine Gun Corps. His name was Harry. Lance Corporal Harold Joseph Hill MGC 4309 born May 17th 1896 died of wounds May 17th 1917. He is buried in Mont Huon Military Cemetery in Le Treport, France. I was in Normandy a few years ago and I went to pay my respects.”

“I found a reference giving the name of the base hospital where he died – near Le Treport – and that his mother was present at his death from gangrene. I made a note of it on paper, entered it onto my database, moved house four times, had hard drive failure – and the reference is lost. The hospital is easy, it was the one they built of wood and canvas near Le Treport. At the end of the war they took it down and all they left behind were the graves. When I visited, the cemetery was in a thousand-acre cabbage field miles away from anywhere.

“The book had been smoke damaged and then water damaged, so I suspect it had been in a house fire. Harry Hill lived in 32 Herbert Road, Stockwell, which I think was damaged during the Blitz so maybe that was the cause.”

Herbert Road, now gone, ran almost parallel with Sidney Road, between Stockwell Road and Aytoun Road.

SERVICE RECORDS

Peter was told that Harry’s military records were destroyed during the Blitz along with 85 per cent of the Machine Gun Corps archives. However,
Harry’s service record has survived in the National Archives although, like many others, they are badly smoke and water damaged during a bombing raid. These records tell us more about Harry the person.

Harold Joseph Hill worked for the Admiralty as a clerk. On 13 November 1915, the day Hill volunteered, J. S. Barnes, Head of War Registry, wrote a careful note: “Mr. H. J. Hill has received permission to leave the Admiralty in order to elist in the army.” Later, on 9 December 1915, they made a request, which sets out all the possibilities for their former clerk, aside from survival: “43809 H. J. Hill. Please notify Admiralty in event of this man’s discharge, death etc, or of his being granted a commission or being reported missing or a prisoner of war.”

This duly happened, with a note coming back on 6 June 1917 addressed to the Secretary, Admiralty, Whitehall: “With reference to your letter of the 9th December, 1915, ref number 4E 5800/1914, I deeply regret to inform you that No. 43809 L/Cpl Harold Joseph Hill, MGC, formerly No 5131 2nd London Regiment, has been reported to this office as having Died of Wounds on the 17th May, 1917, at No. 3 General Hospital, Le Treport, France. Lieut. for Colonel i/c of Records, MGC, 91 York St, SW.”

Harry’s records show that he was wounded in action on 6 May and was admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds to the abdomen, forearm and back the following day. He died 10 days later.

The records also show that Harry was, at 5 feet 5 inches (165cm), above average height and weighed 119lbs (54kg). His chest measurement was 33 inches (84cm), which he could expand 2 inches (5cm). He signed up at 9 Tufton Street, London SW1 (it is just behind Horseferry Parade). He had one sibling: Henrietta, 26, who lived at Herbert Road.

CENSUS INFORMATION

The 1901 census shows that the Hill family was then living at 23, Tonsley Road. Harry Hill’s father, Joseph Suare Hill, was a plasterer, born in Westminster in 1854. His mother, Emma, was born in Hanwell in 1856. Emma’s pension declaration of 18 April 1919 states that Harry had only one sibling – Henrietta, born in 1893 in Wandsworth. However, the census shows that he had two other siblings: Albert F. Hill, 19, a flour merchant’s clerk, born in Battersea in 1882, and Ethel M. Hill, 17, a tea merchant’s clerk, born in Clapham.

By 1911 the family had moved to 153 Trentham Street, Streatham, Joseph Suare Hill had died and Albert had left home or was otherwise absent from the house, Ethel was working as a ledger clerk, and Henrietta was now a “compiling clerk”. By 1911 his father, Joseph Suare Hill, was deceased.

George John Hatch

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G. J. Hatch
Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps and London Regiment, 17th Battalion
Died age 20 on 6 April 1917
CWGC: “Son of John Cosens Hatch and Maria Hatch, of “Meadlands,” Pickwick, Corsham, Wilts. Born in London.”
In 1917 the death of George John Hatch was announced on page 1078 of Flight, listed in the Roll of Honour among those “Previously missing, now reported killed”.
Remembered at Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, Pas de Calais, France.

Information from the 1911 census

The Hatch family lived at 9 St Johns Road (now called St John’s Crescent), Brixton, where they had 11 rooms. George John Hatch’s father, John Cosens Hatch, was the manager of a vinegar brewery. We can speculate that this may have been Beaufoy’s Distillery on South Lambeth Road. John Hatch, 48 in 1911, was born in Stonehouse, Devon. His wife Maria Hatch, 49, was from Southwark. They had 4 children, all born in Lambeth:
Florence Hatch, 25
Hilda Hatch, 23
William E. Hatch, 19, a bank clerk
George John Hatch, 14
A nephew, 33-year-old George Foster, single and born in Peckham, also lived in the house, as did Violet Winter, a 21-year-old single domestic servant from Chelmsford, Essex.

Information about George Hatch from specialist watch collector Robert Stokes

Lt. George John Hatch (Nov 20, 1896 – April 6, 1917) was a WW1 Royal Flying Corps aerial reconnaissance pilot who was killed in action over Arras, France by German war ace Lieutenant Wilhelm Frankl. George’s death (and that of his observer Cpl Ernest Langridge) was part of the “Bloody April 1917” offensive along a 100-mile stretch of northern France. By the end of April, the British had lost 250 aircraft, and some 400 aircrew had become casualties.

George was born in Brixton, London in 1896; by 1911, his family moved to Stockwell. He attended City of London School, where he was a cadet in the Officers Training Corps. On Oct 1, 1914, George enlisted in the 17th (County of London) Battalion of the London Regiment (Poplar and Stepney Rifles), and was quickly promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. He was wounded in July 1915 at the Battle of Loos (Belgium).

Lt. Hatch volunteered to join the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in October 1916, and completed his pilot training in November. On December 6, 1916, he was promoted as a Lieutenant and assigned to the 8th Squadron, headquartered in Bellevue, France. “The Squadron specialized in the Corps Reconnaissance role, carrying out contact patrols and artillery spotting in close cooperation with the army. The squadron flew in support of the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916 and the Battle of Arras in April–May 1917.”

George Hatch’s watch

George Hatch acquired his trench watch shortly after his promotion to the RFC; it is engraved “Lt. G. J. Hatch / RFC”. He used it continuously; the silver case is corroded and the original leather strap is well-worn. Hatch’s watch was acquired by Russ Cook (Basildon, Essex) in 2014 at a second-hand market: “I recently bought this trench watch at one such market. I am not an expert on these, but it felt right, and I was very taken with the very sad story that emerged when I read the accompanying paperwork. The box, with the watch had just been thrown in another larger box, as if it had just been discarded. On the case back is a dedication to an officer in the RFC, Lt. G. J. Hatch [Royal Flying Corps, precursor to the RAF], with a very old handwritten note giving the history of the young man, who tragically was killed in action 6/4/17….”

Inside a small (3 ½” x 1 ½” x 2”) leather-covered box, Russ found Lt Hatch’s watch, and the following hand-written note: “Lt. George John Hatch R.F.C. ~~  K in A 6/14/17 ~~ 17th County of London Battalion ~~ The London Regiment Poplar and Stepney Rifles”

The events of April 6, 1917

Lt Hatch and his observer, Cpl Ernest Langridge, were flying reconnaissance over the German lines near Arras, France in their Royal Aircraft Factory BE2e biplane (Serial # A2879) on the morning of April 6, 1917. “The BE2 was originally designed without any provision for armament.While some crews flew entirely unarmed, or perhaps carried service revolvers or automatic pistols, others armed themselves with hand-wielded rifles… this weaponry proved to be of questionable effectiveness. It was still necessary for the observer to be located over the center of gravity, in front of the pilot… In this awkward position, his view was poor, and the degree to which he could handle a camera (or, later, a gun) was hampered by the struts and wires supporting the center section of the top wing. In practice, the pilot of a B.E.2 almost always operated the camera, and the observer, when he was armed at all, had a rather poor field of fire to the rear, having, at best, to shoot back over his pilot’s head.”

Lt Wilhelm Frankl

Lt Wilhelm Frankl, commander of Jasta 4  (“Hunting Squadron”), had already shot down three British aircraft with his Albatros fighter plane during the early morning hours of  Friday, April 6, 1917. “At 09:30 Frankl was airborne again, this time to intercept a reconnaissance  plane from 8 Sqn RFC. After 25 minutes’ chase the British aircraft falls to the ground north-east of Boiry. The crew – Lt. G. J. Hatch and Cpl. E. Landridge – do not survive. It is the fourth victory scored on this day by Lt. Frankl…”

Lt. Frankl, son of a Jewish merchant, was one of Germany’s most honored Aces, with 20 confirmed kills. In 1916, he becomes the first and sole German pilot of Jewish descent to be awarded the Pour le Mérite. He was shot down and killed two days later on Easter Sunday 1917. “He was buried with due military honors at the Berlin-Charlottenburg cemetery… In the thirties, after the Nazi party gained power, Frankl’s name disappeared from the official lists of medal holders because of his Jewish nationality. Only forty years later, in 1973, was Frankl restored to the pantheon of German fighter ace.”

Lt George Hatch and Cpl. Ernest Landridge were buried at the Cabaret Rouge British Cemetery lies just south of the town of Souchez and 11.4 km. north of the center of Arras.

With grateful thanks to Robert Stokes for permission to use his research.