Stockwell War Memorial

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G names

John Albert Grainger

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J. A. Grainger

Private, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 6th Bn.
Service no. G/14181
Died on 12 July 1917, aged 26
Remembered at Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais France

Brother of Robert Grainger

Chris Burge writes:

John Albert Grainger was born in 1891 and baptised in Kennington on 25 January, the fourth child of Robert and Amelia Sarah (née Lea) Grainger. John’s father, who was born in Cork, Ireland was a carter; his mother, Amelia, was born in Clerkenwell. 

In the 1891 census, the Grainger family were living at 83 Thomas Street (now Warham Street) in the parish of St Mark’s, Kennington, close to the open space of Kennington Park and the Oval Cricket Ground. 

By the time of the 1901 census, there had been two more additions to the family. The Grainger family had moved to 14 Mitre Street, North Lambeth, close to Waterloo Station. John’s father was recorded as a cartage foreman and his older brothers Robert Jr and Frederick worked as errand boys or porters. When the social researcher Charles Booth visited the area in 1899 he described Mitre Street as having ‘a few fairly comfortable remaining but the majority [were] poor to very poor’. 

The Grainger family soon moved to Weston Street, close to London Bridge Station, and by 1907 were living in the Hayles Buildings, St George’s Road. 

In the 1911 census, the Grainger family had returned to Kennington and were living at 236 Hillingdon Street. John’s father Robert Snr described his occupation as a ‘Cartage manager for the Railway’. All six of their surviving children (Amelia had given birth to 11 in total), lived in the family home. Robert Jnr, 25, was a cellarman; Frederick, 24, a porter; Amelia, 21, a tobacco worker; John, 20, a porter; Alfred, 20, and Benjamin, 15, Post Office telegraph messengers. They shared five rooms and another family of three shared just one room at the same address. 

After the outbreak of war, John’s parents moved to Morat Street and then Camellia Street, near Nine Elms. Robert Jnr had been living with his younger brother John at 16 Bramfield Road, Clapham, half a mile from the Clapham Junction railway complex where the brothers worked as ‘goods porters’. 

Robert Jnr attested under the Derby Scheme (see Alfred Thomas Evans) on 12 December 1915, and was not called up until 1 March the following year. Six weeks later John, then aged 25, was conscripted. After reporting locally, he was directed to Kingston where he joined the Royal West Surrey Regiment. His details were recorded in the pages of the Surrey Recruitment Registers: he was 5ft 11in, 144llb, with a chest size of 37in. He was assigned to the 12th Battalion.

Little is known of John’s military service after this, other than at some stage he was posted to the 6th Battalion RWS as private G/14181, J. Grainger. The 6 RWS were involved the Arras offensive in April and May 1917 on its southern extreme, near St Leger. After a period of rest, on 1 July they returned to the front line trenches south-east of Arras. Their part of the trench was attacked and shelled on the 11th and 12th. Casualties reported were: ‘4 OR killed and 3 wounded’. 

At the end of the war, John’s parents should have received his medals and war gratuity. But there is no entry for Private 14181 J. Grainger in the Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects. Some time after his parents  moved from Stockwell to Norwood Amelia applied for her son’s medals. They were finally issued on 17 February 1930. The Arras Memorial was not unveiled until 31 July 1932.

Arthur Laurence Gooding

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A. L. Gooding
Information from Soldiers Died in the Great War and Ireland’s Memorial Records, 1914-1918
Service no. 42122
Formerly 34611, K.R.R.C.
Rifleman, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action 7 June 1917

Jesse William Goff

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photo of soldier Jesse William Goff
Jesse William Goff. Photos © Sue and Ron Falder

P. W. Goff (erroneously given for J.W. Goff)
Service no. 300319
Rifleman, London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade), 1st/5th Battalion
Born in Clapham; enlisted in London; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 1 July 1916 (the first day of the battle of the Somme), aged 19
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

Jesse William Goff is consistently misnamed as P.W. (Percy William Goff) – in his Army records, on his medals cards, in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database, on the Thiepval Memorial and at Stockwell War Memorial. Why this should be is still a mystery to his descendants. The family have his medals and death plaque – they give his Army number so there is no question that this is the correct man.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the Goff family lived at 63 Chelsham Road, Clapham, where they had seven rooms. Jesse William Goff, then 13 and an only child, lived with his father, William Percy Goff, 43, a prudential assurance agent from Poole, Dorset, and Grace Mary Goff, 38, an assistant mistress at a London County Council school. There was a boarder, Frank Cutten, 28, a compositor from Chichester, Sussex.

Sue and Ron Falder have sent the photo of Jess, above, and the text of two letters he wrote to his Aunt “Op” (Annie Margaret Carroll (nee Williams) Jesse’s mother’s sister, who is Sue Falder’s grandmother, at 42 Risingholme Road, Weald Village, Harrow, Middlesex.

They provide a vivid portrait of the hard work required at the front, and of the dry good humour life there brought to the surface. He sounds both hard-working (“hard work and fresh air”) and sweet-natured in his expressions of affection for his young cousin Molly and the newborn baby.

The first letter is dated 28 May (1916). He mentions the fact that Jim (Op’s husband) may be called up. By January 1916 compulsory conscription was in place. It applied to unmarried or widowed men between 18 and 41, but on 25 May 1916 married men were included. Those in trades that were considered vital to the war economy – the so-called “starred occupations” – were exempt. I am not sure who “our boss” mentioned in the letter is, but it could be Jess’s sardonic description of his own mother.

Sue and Ron Falder have sent the photo of Jess, above, and the text of two letters he wrote to his Aunt “Op” (Annie Margaret Carroll (nee Williams) Jesse’s mother’s sister, who is Sue Falder’s grandmother, at 42 Risingholme Road, Weald Village, Harrow, Middlesex.

They provide a vivid portrait of the hard work required at the front, and of the dry good humour life there brought to the surface. He sounds both hard-working (“hard work and fresh air”) and sweet-natured in his expressions of affection for his young cousin Molly and the newborn baby.

Jesse William Goff's letter home on 19 June 1916
Jesse William Goff’s letter home on 19 June 1916

The first letter is dated 28 May (1916). He mentions the fact that Jim (Op’s husband) may be called up. By January 1916 compulsory conscription was in place. It applied to unmarried or widowed men between 18 and 41, but on 25 May 1916 married men were included. Those in trades that were considered vital to the war economy – the so-called “starred occupations” – were exempt. I am not sure who “our boss” mentioned in the letter is, but it could be Jess’s sardonic description of his own mother.

My Dear Op,

I have just got your address from Ma.

I was going to write before but I could not remember the name of your street. I remembered the number of the house that was all.

Well I am out here again & very near where I was before in fact we pass some of our old billets daily.

It is rather warmer than before in more ways than one. Nevertheless by dint of hard work & fresh air we manage to keep ourselves alive & fit. Mind you it’s not all cakes & ale but our various little “grouses” would fill a book.
We go out & work every day with picks & shovels just like navvies (the only difference is that the latter get about three times the pay). Sometimes we get a little shelling or “strafing” sometimes not, usually the former but we have managed without any casualties so far. Our week usually consists of seven days (working) & after a lengthy discussion today we have come to the conclusion that the man who could put forward an invention that would get another 24 hrs out of a week, would make his fortune.

I have heard from Ma about Uncle “Jim” & the “garrison duty abroad” business. Really I should not think that he would be called up at all. I’m sure I don’t know how our “boss” will get on if the age limit extends much more. But I must not express my own views on the subject as this epistle has to pass through other hands.

“Let’s” hope it will be all over soon.

Shall be pleased to hear from you when you can spare the time. Hope you are all well: I am quite fit. Love to both of you. Lot’s of kisses for Molly and I can only say “the other”. I do not know the name or sex.

Anyhow just mention that “he or she” has got a cousin.

Yr Loving Nephew, Jess.

The second letter was written on Friday 23 June, just a few days before he was killed, on 1 July 1916. He mentions the “official P.C. [postcard]”, shown left.

My dear Op & Jim

Thanks very much for your letter and parcel. Many of us enjoyed the contents. As a matter of fact it arrived at a most opportune moment – we were in the trenches.

That is the reason I was unable to write there and then, but I hope you received the official p.c.

We had a rather rough time up there but are very now resting (& very glad too).

Really there is next door to no news. One cannot say everything & – well all that remains is I am quite well and the weather has not been at all good.

We see rather more life & more grub now since we have left the “navvies”. I don’t think anyone was very sorry to leave.

By the way I’m afraid I’m putting the cart before the horse. I don’t think I told you that we moved and are now with our regiment.

My address for the future will be No. 255 A Coy. London Rifle Brigade B.E.F. France.

Now I’m afraid that is all.

Best of love to Molly & the new arrival.

Y. Loving Nephew Jess

George Harry Glover

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G. H. Glover
Service no. 11773
Private, Border Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Died of wounds age 20 on 31 March 1915
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Stockwell
CWGC: “Son of George Harry and Mary Jane Glover, of Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, France

At six foot two, George Harry Glover was one the tallest of the men on the Stockwell War Memorial. He would have towered over most of his fellow soldiers. He was well built too, for the time. 140 pounds, with a 36 inch chest which he could expand by 2 inches. Hazel eyes, brown hair and fresh complexion, complete a picture of an attractive, fit and healthy young man. He enlisted early in the war – 4 September 1914 – at the age of 20. Before the war, Glover was a furniture salesman. He had spent 2½ years in the National Naval Cadets (Wandsworth Battalion) and was discharged in 1910.

Glover was on the home front until 16 February 1915, joining the British Expeditionary Force on 17 February. He lasted just over a month on the Western Front, and after only 210 days as a British soldier succumbed to a gunshot wound to the shoulder sustained on 15 March 1915. After transferring to a hospital in Boulogne, he was deemed on 22 March he was deemed to be “improving”, but he died on 31 March.

His effects, sent to his parents, included
2 leather purses
1 keyring
5 keys
1 chain
1 watch key – broken
I combination ?
1 cigarette case containing 7 cigarettes
1 Gospel acc St John
4 letters
6 postcards
3 photos
Other items are unreadable – the records are badly damaged.

On 3 April 1915 Glover’s mother, Mary Jane, wrote to the Officer in Charge at the Record Office in Preston from her home at 19 Hargwyne Street, Stockwell, London SW:

Sir
I beg to ask if you can give me any information as to the whereabouts of Private G. H. Glover, No 11773, A Company, 2nd Batt. Border Regt, with the Expeditionary Force…

The rest of the letter is missing, but on 11 April Mary Jane wrote again:

With reference to your letter No 19550/17 of 6th April 1915 addressed to Mr Lee I wrote on behalf of my son death. He died died of wounds 31st March. Private George Glover 11773 of the Border Regt. I beg most respectfully to ask as I am his mother would you kindly say when I can have any further news regarding his death. I am sir your Obediant Servant M. J. Glover

The letter has all the appearance of having been written through tears. Even allowing for the damage to the original document, her expressions are garbled.

The army replied on 16 April: “If you write to the Officer in Charge of the hospital where your son died giving his Regiment, full name, Regiment [sic] and date of death they may be able to give some further information.”

Her son was buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Grave No 303.

Ernest Girdlestone

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E. Girdlestone
Service no. 16374
Private, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, 6th Battalion
Killed in action age 38 on 17 September 1916
Enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Brixton
CWGC: “Son of the late Owen William and Clara Morten Girdlestone, brother of Mrs. L. Boughey, of 283 Rosendale Road, Herne Hill, London.”
Remembered at London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Ernest Arthur Girdlestone, 30, was working as a painter’s labourer and living with his brother Percy James Girdlestone, 28, a widowed upholsterer, and his son, William Girdlestone, 6, at 188 Icknield Port Road, Birmingham, where they occupied 2 rooms. All were born in Brixton, south-west London.
Twenty years earlier Ernest was living with his parents and siblings at 99 Stockwell Road, where the household included:
Owen Girdlestone, 63, an upholsterer from Halesworth, Suffolk
Clara Girdlestone, 44, from Colchester, Essex
Owen Girdlestone, 16, a tailor’s porter, born in Holborn, London
Ernest Girdlestone, 13, born in Holborn, London
Percy Girdlestone, 12, born in Holborn, London, “speech and hearing imperfect”
Clara Girdlestone, 2, born in Lambeth

There is a discrepancy between the 1891 and 1911 censuses in place of birth for Ernest and his siblings. It is possible that, since the death of Owen and Clara Girdlestone, this knowledge was lost.