Stockwell War Memorial

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Thomas Henry Mizen

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natal
The Natal

T. H. Mizen
Service no. 202018
Able Seaman, Royal Navy, H.M.S. “Natal”
Died 30 December 1915 aged around 32
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

The Natal was a Duke of Edinburgh class armoured cruiser, built by Vickers Maxim of Barrow and launched on 30 September 1905. She was sunk by an internal explosion near Cromarty on 30 December 1915.

Information from Wikipedia:

On the 30th December 1915 Natal was lying in the Cromarty Firth with her squadron, under the command of Captain Eric Back RN. Shortly after 3.20pm, and without warning, a series of violent explosions tore through the ship. She capsized five minutes later. The most probable explanation was that a fire had broken out, possibly due to faulty cordite, that ignited a magazine. The exact number of casualties is still debated, and ranges from 390, up to 421. Some were killed in the immediate explosions, others drowned as the ship capsized, or succumbed to the freezing water of the Cromarty Firth. Most of the bodies which were recovered from the sea were interred in Rosskeen Churchyard, Invergordon. A small number of casualties were interred in the Gaelic Chapel graveyard in Cromarty.
The picture shows her upturned hull, visible at low water.
There is an interesting thread about the explosion at www.black-isle.info

Thomas Henry Mizen was born on 25 January 1883 in Brixton to Albert Duncan Mizen and Emma Amelia Turner. Thomas is listed on the 1891 census as visiting with his father, a carman, and younger sister at 38 Ingleton Street, Stockwell. In 1904, at St Paul’s, Lorrimore Square, Walworth (Southwark) Thomas married his first cousin Edith Miriam Payne.

The couple had six daughters (five surviving):

Doris Hetty, born 1905
Elsie, born 1906
Edith Miriam, born 1908
Alice Frances, born 1909
Helen Elizabeth, born 1912
Grace Henrietta, born 1912, died 1913

At the time of Thomas Mizen’s death his family address was recorded as 7 Moat Place, Stockwell Road. Edith died in 1929.

Frank Sidney Minter

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F. S. Minter
Service no. 60899
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 22nd Battalion. Formerly 4542, East Surrey Regiment
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Clapham; lived in Upper Tooting
Killed in action 10 March 1917 aged about 35
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

Information from the 1911 census

Frank Sidney Minter was a 29-year-old commercial traveller selling herbs and seeds. He was born in South Lambeth, and was married to Ada Mary Minter, also 29, from Stockwell. They lived in three rooms at 49 Jeffreys Road, Stockwell, and had one child, Lilian Ada Minter, 5 months, born in South Lambeth. Mary Goldsmith, 63, Ada Mary’s mother, a laundress born in the City, lived with them.

Frederick Edward Milnes

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F. E. Milnes
Service no. 917
Private, 12th (Prince of Wales’s Royal) Lancers
Born in Kennington; enlisted in London; lived in Lambeth
Died on 24 June 1918 aged 28
CWGC: “Son of Frederick and Annie Louisa Milnes, of 3 Albert Mansions, South Lambeth Road, London.”
Remembered at Berlin South-Western Cemetery, Germany
In 1922–23 it was decided that the graves of Commonwealth servicemen who had died all over Germany should be brought together into four permanent cemeteries. Berlin South-Western was one of those chosen and in 1924-25, graves were brought into the cemetery from more than 140 burial grounds in eastern Germany.

Brother of William Alexander Milnes.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Frederick Milnes, 22 and single, was serving as a private with the 12 Royal Lancers in Potchefstroom, Transvaal, South Africa.

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901 the Milnes family were living at 30 Smeaton Road, Wandsworth. Frederick Milnes senior was probably registered elsewhere on the night of the census, as he does not appear on the listing. Annie Milnes, 37, was born in Easton Square. Her children at the time were:
Frederick Milnes, 12, born in Kennington
William Milnes, 8, born in New Cross
Florrie Milnes, 6, born in Camberwell
John Milnes, 1, born in Southfields

William Arthur Alfred Mills

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W. A. Mills
Service no. 30986
Private, Devonshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Lambeth
Died on 30 May 1918 aged 19
CWGC: “Son of William Hugh and Laura Ellen Mills, of 8, Tradescant Rd, South Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Chambrecy British Cemetery, France

Information from the 1911 census

William Arthur Alfred Mills was 12 in 1911. He lived with his parents and sisters at 8 Tradescant Road, South Lambeth, where they occupied four rooms. William Hugh Mills, 49, was a railway porter from Islington, north London. Laura Mills, 46, was from Bermondsey. They had three children: Maude Mills, 16, a book folder born in Bethnal Green; William Mills, 12, born in South Lambeth; Alice Mills, 7, born in South Lambeth.