Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

R names

William Charles Ray

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W.C. Ray
Private, East Surrey Regiment, 8th Bn.
Service no. 39290.
Killed in action on 23 October 1918, aged 23.
Remembered at Forest Communal Cemetery, Nord, France

In 1911 William Charles Ray lived with his parents, William, a 37-year-old carman, and 32-year-old Louisa Esther (née Rainbow), and four siblings at 10 Broomgrove Road, Stockwell Green, where they occupied three rooms. Louisa’s mother Caroline Rainbow lived in the other half of the house with a son, adopted daughter and a lodger.

William was almost 21 and working as an engine driver when he was called up 30 May 1918. He stood 5ft 5in, with brown hair and hazel eyes. His chest measured 33in. His physical development was judged to be ‘Good’. 

Ray had two misdemeanours on his Service record: failure to wash before breakfast, for which he was confined to barracks for three days, and overstaying his pass when on active service, for which six days’ pay was withheld. 

Ray married Annie Florence Judd in 1917. She lived at 44 Tregenna Street, Brixton Hill with their two daughters, Annie Edith, born in 1916, and Florence Violet, born posthumously in May 1919. She received his identity disc and a weekly widows’ pension of 20s and 6d.

Frank William Edmund Russell

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F. W. E. Russell
Service no. 302875
Rifleman, London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade), “D” Coy. 1st/5th Battalion
Born in Southwark; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 16 August 1917, aged 26
CWGC: “Son of Mr and Mrs F. Russell, of 89, London Rd., Southwark, London; husband of Katherine L. Russell, of 33 St Martin’s Rd., Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census and other sources

Frank Russell with his wife Katherine Louisa Kies

Commercial clerk Frank William Edmund Russell, 20, was the youngest child of Farnham-born Francis Russell, 49, the owner of a coffee shop at 89 London Road, Southwark, and Catherine Russell, 49, from Camberwell. He had two siblings, Catherine Annie Elizabeth Russell, 24, an assistant in the coffee shop, born in Walworth, and Emily Rosian Lucy Russell, 22, a milliner. The family lived in five rooms.

On 2 August 1915, at the Church of St Saviour with St Thomas in Southwark, Frank, aged 24 and working as a book-keeper, married 28-year-old typist Katherine Louisa Kies, of 34 Newcomen Street, Southwark, the daughter of Jacob Kies, German baker. She later gave her address as 33 St Martin’s Road, Stockwell. 

Frank’s family have preserved some postcards and letters from Frank. On 25 August 1916 Frank wrote to his sister’s fiancé Jack (John Thomas Moore) from the training camp at Havant in Hampshire:

I have just found out that I can get leave and will act as your best man, I hope your ankle is better than that you are able to use it. I am sorry Ern has to go under another operation, He seems to be having a rough time with his leg, I hope he will soon be better although I hardly think he will be able to go out again. A good thing too so long as he does not have any trouble in the future. I expect he will get off with a slight limp. 

A letter from Quartermaster Segeant Denny of ‘D’ Company to Katherine reads:

…I am reluctantly writing to inform you that your husband […] has been reported “MISSING” since Aug. 16 in an attack on the Prussian trenches East of Ypres. He may possibly gave gone down to a hospital through the dressing station of another battalion, in which case you shall be informed.

In the summer of 1929 Katherine married Albert A. Anderson. She died in Bromley, Kent in 1965.

With thanks to family members Andrew Tate and Stephanie Higgins.

Thomas William Rudge

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T. W. Rudge
Service no. S/6582
Private, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), 7th Battalion
Killed in action on 18 November 1916, aged about 28
Born in Stockwell; enlisted in Maidstone
Remembered at Stump Road Cemetery, Grandcourt, Somme, France and at St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Thomas William Rudge, the son of Richard Daniel Rudge and Isabella (née Baker) was baptised at St Paul’s, Clapham on 11 December 1887 when his parents were living at 7 Trollope Street.

Information from the 1911 census

Brewer’s labourer Thomas William Rudge, 23, lived at 8 Eastcote Street, Stockwell (it runs behind the Stockwell YMCA), where his family had four rooms. His widowed father, Daniel Rudge, 59, from Dedham, Essex, was a pipe joiner for the Metropolitan Water Board. There were three siblings: Annie Isabel Rudge, 26, at home; Thomas William Rudge; Arthur Ernest Rudge, 19, a railway porter; Percy Rudge, 16, a bookstall boy for Willings Ltd. Annie was born in Clapham, Thomas and Arthur in Battersea; and Percy in Stockwell.

Arthur Frederick Victor Routledge

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St Leger British Cemetery, courtesy of Peter Bennett
St Leger British Cemetery, courtesy of Peter Bennett

A. F. V. Routledge
Service no. G/14788
Private, Leicestershire Regiment, 9th Battalion
Killed in action on 14 April 1917, aged 28
Born in Highgate; enlisted in Leicester
CWGC: “Son of Arthur and Selina Routledge, of 13 Tregothnan Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at St Leger British Cemetery, France
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Bennett)

Information from the censuses
In 1901 Arthur Frederick Victor Routledge lived at 116 Junction Road, Islington. His parents, Arthur Chapelhorn Routledge, 40, an upholsterer, and his wife, Selina, 34, had five children:
Lilian D. Routledge, 14
Arthur F. Routledge, 12
Edward H. Routledge, 10
Emily Routledge, 7
Leonard G. Routledge, 2
All the family are listed as having been born in Islington.

I have not been able to find Arthur Routledge on the 1911 census. However, his father, Arthur C. Routledge, now describing himself cabinet maker, is located at 10 Belvedere Road Bournemouth. He was out of work, and his wife, Selina Routledge, 44, made a living letting apartments. The couple lived with their youngest son, 12-year-old Leonard G. Routledge. The other members of the family were dispersed: one daughter to Boscombe, another to Wimbourne.

February 2010

Norman  (Arthur) Routledge has emailed with this additional information about Victor Routledge, who was his uncle:

“Vic’s fiancée, Maud Seaman, kept in touch with us. She did not marry for a great many years and worked as a cook in Huntingdon. In old age she married three times – no doubt the cookery had something to do with that! When I was at King’s College in Cambridge (c.1950) I used to bicycle over to see her at the Literary Institute in Huntingdon, which she and her husband cared for.

You might be interested that Vic’s younger brother, my father, Leonard George Routledge, also joined up (RAF) and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, which we have together with the citation signed by Pétain. Maud had the very handsome bronze commemorative plaque for Vic which the authorities sent to all the families of dead soldiers.”

Thomas Edward Ross

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T. E. Ross
Service no. R/6733
Able Seaman, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Hood Battalion R.N. Div.
Died on 29 September 1918, aged 24 (missing, later reported killed in action or died of wounds)
Next-of-kin & home address: Wife, Emily [née Brown], 56 South Island Place, Clapham Road, Clapham, London SW9.
Service history: Army Reserve 24 June 1916
Entered 29 April 1918
Draft for BEF (British Expeditionary Force) 3 September 1918; joined Hood Battalion 8 September 1918-29 September 1918; Discharged Dead
Remembered at Anneux British Cemetery, France