Stockwell War Memorial

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Charles Rhodes

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C. Rhodes
Private, Worcestershire Regiment, 14th Bn.
Service No. 26775
Died on 19 September 1918, aged about 28
Remembered at Bac-Du-Sud British Cemetery, Bailleulval, Pas de Calais, France

Chris Burge writes:

Charles Rhodes was born in 1890 and baptised as Charles Ernest at St Peter’s Church, Norbiton in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey on 29 October 1890, when his family was living in nearby Washington Road. The 1891 census shows Charles to be the second youngest of Henry and Rossetta’s seven children. Charles’s mother died in January 1894 at the age of 34 and he lost his older sister, also named Rossetta, who died in 1899 aged 16. Charles’s widowed father Henry and four of the children were still living at Washington Road at the time of the 1901 census: Kate Louisa, 20; Frederick, 15, a van boy; Charles, 13, an errand boy; and schoolboy Frank, 11. Kate had helped bring up her younger brothers and effectively became the head of the family when Charles’s father died in the middle of 1901, aged 43. 

By the time of the 1911 census, Kate was living in Battersea and working as a general domestic servant. Frank had found work as a groom in Patcham, near Brighton. Frederick and Charles were living in one room at 12 Kimpton Road, close to Camberwell Green in southeast London. The property housed six other people in five additional rooms. Charles, now aged 22, was working as a carman for a ‘Fruiterers & Greengrocers’. Frederick, aged 25, completed the census return, giving his own occupation as ‘soldier’ and describing himself as ‘boarder’ which was later changed to ‘head’ of household. 

Charles married Ellen Butler on 15 February 1914 at St Andrew’s, Stockwell Green, opposite Hammerton’s Stockwell Brewery. Ellen had grown up in Stockwell Green and had been working as a domestic servant before her marriage. Frederick was one of the witnesses at the wedding and the couple gave 9 Moat Place as their address. Their daughter Ellen Rose was born on the 23 June 1914 and baptised on 19 August 1914 at St Andrew’s, just two weeks after the outbreak of war when Charles and Ellen were living in Louth Road.

Charles Rhodes’ service number and war gratuity imply an enlistment around December 1915, under Lord Derby’s Group Scheme. He was probably called up some time between January and March 1916. He may not have been considered A1 fit and was either posted initially to the Worcestershire Regiment’s 1st (Reserve) Garrison Battalion or directly to the ‘Severn Valley Pioneers’, the 14th (Service) Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment. The battalion landed at Le Havre on the 21 June 1916. They were on the Somme between July and November 1916, at Arras in April 1917, again on the Somme March to August 1918, and near the Hindenburg Line between September and October 1918. The battalion often worked close to the front line and acted as infantry during the fighting when the 63rd Division were forced to retreat across the old desolate Somme battlefields in March 1918. 

Charles Rhodes’ death in September 1918 was not combat-related and he was buried at Bac-Du-Sud British Cemetery at Bailleulval where a number of Casualty Clearing Stations were based. 

Charles’s Ellen and her daughter Ellen Rose were still living in Moat Place when Ellen Rose married William Crease in 1938. Three years later, Ellen married for a second time in 1941. She passed away in 1967, aged 72. Ellen Crease passed away in May 1971, aged 56.

Ernest Reynolds

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E. Reynolds
Service no. 143376
Sapper, Corps of Royal Engineers, 104th Field Coy.
Born in Lambeth; enlisted at Croydon; lived in Lambeth
Killed in action on 20 January 1918, aged about 20
Remembered at Templeux-le-Guerard British Cemetery, France

In 1911 Ernest Reynolds, 13, lived in three rooms at 20 Tradescant Road, South Lambeth. His father, George Reynolds, 49, was a joiner and carpenter originally from Lowestoft, Suffolk. His mother, Jeanie, 45, was from Dufftown, Banffshire, Scotland. Ernest had three siblings, Ethel, 18, a mantle and coat maker, George, 16, a cinematographer, and Mabel, 11, at school. Ernest was born in Vauxhall. He enlisted at Croydon.

John James Renton

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J. H. Renton

This may be an error on Stockwell War Memorial. There is a John James Renton in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. He lived at 12 Stockwell Cottages and was the son of J.H. Renton. This entry gives his details.

J. J. Renton
Service no. 6074
Private, East Surrey Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Killed in action on 9 May 1915, aged 23
CWGC: “Son of Mr. J. H. Renton, of 12, Stockwell Cottages, Stockwell Green, London.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Information from the 1911 census

John James Renton, 19, a coal porter, lived at 1 Stockwell Cottages, Stockwell Green. He was born in Brixton. Renton’s father, John Henry Renton, 47, was a nightwatchman for Lambeth Borough Council, born in Walworth, Southwark, and his mother, Kathrine Renton, 44, was a washer, born in Lambeth. The couple had had 12 children, with six surviving. These children were at home.
Ellenor Renton, 24, a starcher, born in Walworth
John James Renton
William Renton, 18, an assistant in an oil shop, born in Brixton
Kathrine, 9, born in Loughborough Junction, Brixton

Henry Ray

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H. W. Ray
Service no. 42425
Private, Lancashire Fusiliers, 10th Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Camberwell; lived in Lambeth
Died on 26 September 1917, aged 19
CWGC: “Son of Daniel David and Catherine Ray, of 9, St Andrews Place, Windmill Street, New Cut, Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France

This is a tentative identification. There was an H. Ray (Private, Middlesex Regiment) who was born in Battersea and died on 26 March 1918.

Information from the censuses

Henry Ray, 13, was at school in 1911. He lived with his family at 17 Mary’s Buildings, Tanswell Street, north Lambeth, where the family of nine had four rooms. Daniel D. Ray, Henry’s father, was 40 and worked as a costermonger. He was born in Southwark. Catherine Ray, 39, was from Ireland. The couple had eight surviving children (of nine), of whom seven were at home:
Daniel P. Ray, 17, a costermonger
George Ray, 15, a news boy (sold newspapers)
Henry Ray, 13
Mary Ann Ray, 11
Margaret Ray, 8
Catherine Ray, 6
William Ray, 3
All were born in Southwark.

Charles Henry Randell

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C. H. Randell
Service no. 9114
Private, South Lancashire Regiment, 2nd Battalion (described as a “drummer” in the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919 database)
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Wandsworth
Killed in action on 25 September 1915, aged about 26
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

Information from the censuses

Charles Henry Randall’s two sisters, a nephew and a boarder were living with his mother, Lilian Randell, in four rooms at 15 Sterndale Road, Battersea. Lilian had had 13 children of whom only five survived.

In 1901 the Randell family were living at 94 Crimsworth Road, Lambeth. William Henry Randell, 39, was a motorcycle maker born in Dalston; his wife Lilian Randell, also 39, was a “tailoress” born in Paddington. Their children were
William J. Randell, 15, a waiter born in Wandsworth
Lilian T. Randell, 14, born in Wandsworth
Charles H. Randell, 12, born in Wandsworth
Daisy E. Randell, 7, born in Wandsworth
May E. Randell, 1, born in Wandsworth

In 1891 the family were living at 34 Camelia Street, Lambeth, and William Randell was described as a “cab driver”. There were two older children, Ernest E. Randell, born in 1883 and then aged 8, and Florence E. Randell, born in 1885 and then aged 6.

Going back 10 years, in 1881, William Randell was a railway lampman, married to Lilian, who was described as a mantle maker, and living with his father, James Randell, 52, a cigar maker, at 68, Regent St, Lambeth.

There are some discrepancies in all the three censuses on place and dates of of birth but these may be transcription errors.

Charles Henry Randell, born on 9 August 1888, the son of William Henry Randell and Lillian Randell of 43 Thorne Street (now Thorne Road), was baptised on 20 September 1888 along with two older siblings at St Barnabas Church, South Lambeth. Aged 20, working as a labourer, he married Caroline Lillian Shepherd at the same church. In 1911 Caroline had returned to her parents at 22 Camellia Street, Stockwell and was working as a machinist. The whereabouts of Charles is unknown.