Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

S names

Alfred Frank Spice

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A.F. Spice
Service no. M/1766
Cook’s Mate, Royal Navy, HMS Good Hope
Killed in action on 1 November 1914 at the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile, aged 23
Remembered at Portsmouth Naval Memorial
See LondonWarMemorial.co.uk

This identification was made by Chris Burge, who writes:

Albert Frank Spice was born on 9 March 1891 in Clapham, the third child of James Spring and Julia Spice. The family were living in Larkhall Lane at the time. Albert’s father worked as a house painter and decorator and by 1901 there had been two further additions to the family at Larkhall Lane. But fortunes changed with the death of Albert’s father in 1905.

The 1911 Census shows Albert’s widowed mother Julia was employed at home as a sewing machinist doing piecework, and Albert’s sisters Florence and Elsie worked as cardboard box makers. A cousin of Albert’s mother was staying with them, together with a paying boarder. Five people where sharing five rooms at 133 Larkhall Lane, Clapham.

Albert was not to be found at the family home in 1911, he was in the Navy. Albert joined on 11 April 1910, as a 2nd Class Cook’s Mate and had progressed to Cook’s Mate in the intervening year. He served on HMS Dreadnought for two years and moved to HMS Ariadne in 1913 when he had passed for Leading Cook’s Mate. At the outbreak on the war, Albert had been on the armoured cruiser HMS Good Hope since 31 July 1914. Later that year, HMS Good Hope was part of the 4th Cruiser Squadron, which engaged the enemy off the coast of Chile on 1 November. Outnumbered and outgunned, the HMS Good Hope was lost with all hands, a total of 926 officers and ratings.

Albert’s mother and sisters were left to mourn his loss as the war dragged on with no end in sight. The creation of the Stockwell War Memorial offered them a lasting act of remembrance. It had been a long wait.

Frederick James Edmund Spencer

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F.J. Spencer
Second Lieutenant, Wiltshire Regiment
Died of influenza as a prisoner of war on 9 November 1918, aged 23
Remembered at Niederzwehren Cemetery, Kassel, Germany 

Chris Burge writes:

Frederick James Edmund Spencer was born on 25 September 1895 in the Manchester area (Date of birth as in CWGC records, alternatively 25 September 1896 as recorded in German POW records. No registration of birth found in the GRO index.)Frederick’s half-bother Reginald Spencer Wilson was born on 31 October 1900 in Pimlico, London, after Frederick’s mother Maud Spencer married William Wilson on 25 July 1899 at All Saints Church, Stretford, Lancashire. William was an Army tailor and Maud was described as a 27-year-old spinster at the time of her marriage, which was witnessed by her sister Adeline. Maud’s address was 22 Sydney Street and she had worked as a dressmaker before her marriage. Reginald Spencer Wilson was baptised on 27 November 1900 at St Saviour’s, St George’s Square, Pimlico, London, when William and Maud lived at 22 Aylesford Street. Their address was close to the Royal Army Clothing Depot in Pimlico.

In the 1901 census, William, Maude and baby Reginald were in Lancashire again, recorded as boarders at 20 Sydney Street, Stretford, next door to Maud’s widowed mother and siblings. William Wilson was now a lance corporal. Frederick Spencer did not appear in the 1901 census. 

Maud Spencer died on 15 December 1907, while her husband was based in Aldershot. William Wilson was married for a second time in 1908 to Margaret Elizabeth McPherson on 23 July at Holy Trinity, Vauxhall Bridge Road. Margaret gave her address as 3 Bessborough Place and William his as ‘Borden Camp Hants’. 

In the 1911 census, Sergeant William Wilson was a master tailor with the 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment at St George’s Barracks, Malta. His wife Margaret and their children were in the married quarters, along with Reginald Spencer Wilson. Frederick Spencer’s whereabouts in 1911 are unknown. 

William Wilson left the Army in 1912 on the termination of his second period of service, with the intention of returning to 3 Bessborough Place. He had been in Egypt before his final discharge in Jersey. He soon moved his family across Vauxhall Bridge to Lambeth and was in Kennington by 1913 and first appeared at 22 Guildford Street in 1915, an address close to St. Barnabas Church. It was in March 1915 that Frederick’s half-brother Reginald joined the Army as a boy solider and was with the 5 Coldstream Guards. Reginald was an office boy at the time of joining and gave 22 Guildford Street as his home address. The recurrence of a childhood ailment was not helped by an operation to drain an abscess on his right kidney and Reginald was discharged unfit on 29 December 1916.

Frederick Spencer volunteered at the end of 1915, or early January 1916, and served as Private F/2792 in the Middlesex Regiment (data from Medal Index card of Frederick James Edmund Spencer). His service number and first date of entry in France on 4 May 1916 indicate he served in the 23rd Battalion, nicknamed the 2nd Football Battalion, of the Middlesex Regiment. Frederick Spencer served for around a year on the Western Front before he was recommended for a commission. He was gazetted on 1 August 1917 as a temporary 2nd Lieutenant in the Wiltshire Regiment, the notice appearing in the 1 September 1917 issue of the London Gazette. 

F.J.E. Spencer was one of several junior officers who joined the 2nd Wiltshire at the Wytschaete Sector from the Rouen base in October 1917. The keeper of the battalion’s war diary noted on 6 October 1917 that: ‘2/Lts G.R Gosling, G.D. Chapman, C.D. Baker, G.M. Jeans and C. Hirschhorn joined from Rouen and posted to “C”, “B”, “D”, “A” and “D” Coys. respectively.

Frederick Spencer’s arrival was noted on the 10 October 1917: ‘2/Lt F.J.E. Spencer arrived from Rouen & posted to “B” Coy.’

Like Frederick, William Robert Gosling (MM) and Cecil Hirschhorn were commissioned from the ranks. All had been the afforded the status, privileges and responsibilities of officer gentlemen, literally on a temporary basis for the duration of the war. As far as the battalion’s war diary is concerned, 2/Lt F.J.E. Spencer remained an anonymous figure for many months until he was noted as being on leave on 16 March 1918, one of the last of his original group to be granted leave. A fact that saved his life, at least in the short term. 

The 2nd Wiltshire were holding a part of the front in the Savy area, south-west of St Quentin when they were in the path of the enemy’s spring offensive which broke on 21 March 1918. Subjected to an intense five-hour bombardment, they faced an infantry assault of overwhelming numbers and were forced to give ground over the coming days. They were not relieved until 1 April 1918, by which time the battalion had lost 23 officers either killed, wounded or missing. Of other ranks, four were killed, nine wounded and 597 were missing. The battalion had in many senses ceased to exist. 

Among the missing were Frederick’s fellow officers 2/Lts W. R. Gosling and C.D. Baker. It had been a fluid and chaotic period, but there was no indication when, or if, Frederick Spencer had rejoined, what remained of his battalion by April, or when they had moved north again in mid-April. A composite battalion was formed from what was left of the 2nd Wiltshires and 2nd Bedfordshire on 19 April 1918. Between 25 and 28 April this composite formation was heavily engaged in the area south of the Yser Canal near a feature called the ‘spoil bank’. According to the 2nd Bedfordshire war dairy, ‘Captain Smith (Wilts R.) and part of his company were captured on 26 April 1918’ after the enemy crossed the canal. It is possible 2/Lt. F. J. E. Spencer was taken prisoner here, but his name does not appear in either the 2nd Wiltshires or 2nd Bedfordshire official war diaries. It is only German records which show he was taken prisoner in the Wytschaete area on 25 April 1918. 

Frederick was held at the Offizierlager, Mainz, a camp housing up to 700 prisoners. His records gave his address as 22 Guildford Road and incorrectly referred to his father as W. Spencer. Frederick James Edmund Spencer died in the camp hospital on 9 November 1918 of ‘infolge lungenentzundung und grippe’– he had contracted influenza. A death certificate was issued at the Festungslazarette I.Mainz dated 11 November 1918, the date of the ceasefire, and a copy passed to the International Red Cross, stamped ‘Comminqué famille 29.11.18’. 

At the end of the war, the balance of Frederick James Edmund Spencer’s account and war gratuity, which amounted to £98 15s 1d, was paid to his only blood relative, his half-brother Reginald Spencer Wilson. A RNVR record dated April 1919 shows Reginald Wilson had been a ship’s steward and part of the Mercantile Marine Reserve when he volunteered to work on mine clearance for a period of six months. Reginald passed way in Essex in 1927, aged 27. 

When the Stockwell War memorial was unveiled in 1922, William Wilson and family were still living at 22 Guildford Road, which remained their home until at least 1939.

Reginald Charles Southon

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R. C. Southon
Service no. 13008
Private, Essex Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Born in Hampstead, enlisted in Westminster, lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 23 October 1916, aged about 19
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, France

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Reginald Charles Southon, 14, was an errand boy living at 27 Rossiter Road, Balham, where his family shared 5 rooms. He was born in Hampstead, north London. His father, John Charles Southon, 46, was a gas meter maker born in Clerkenwell, married for a year to Reginald’s stepmother, Olivia Estall, 48, from Peterborough. Reginald had a younger brother, Ernest John Southon, 12, born in Clerkenwell. Sarah Combs Tournies, 79, a widow from Lambeth, boarded with the family.

Sydney Herbert John Sore

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S. H. J. Sore
Service no. 614318
Private, London Regiment, 2nd/19th Battalion, formerly 5508, 9th London Regiment
Born in Clapham; enlisted at Oxford Street, London; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 22 March 1918, aged 22
CWGC: “Only son of Alfred Harry and Mary Emma Sore, of 8 Larkhall Lane, Clapham, London. Served also in France and Salonika.”
Remembered at Jerusalem War Cemetery, Israel

Information from the censuses

Sydney Herbert John Sore, 15, was an architect’s clerk, born in Clapham. His father, Alfred Sore, 48, was a solicitor’s clerk born in South London; his mother, Mary Emma Sore, 40, was from Tuddenham, Suffolk. Kathleen Mary Sore, Sydney’s 7-year-old sister, was born in South Lambeth. The family lived at 8 Larkhall Lane, Stockwell. Ten years previously, they lived next door at 10 Larkhall Lane. They shared their home with Mary’s brother, Ernest Daniel Aldous, 25, a single warehouseman born in Peckham.

William Thomas Snelling

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W.T. Snelling
Service no. R/2283
Able Seaman, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Howe Bn. R.N. Div.
Died on 26 October 1917 (missing, assumed killed in action), aged 23
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Brother of Frederick William Snelling and cousin of Harold Measday Snelling 

William Thomas Snelling, born in Limehouse, east London on 5 May 1894, the third son of Charles Henry and Emily Jane Snelling, and baptised at St Anne’s, Limehouse on 30 May (see Frederick William Snelling for family details). Formerly of the 2/1st Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry, enlisted in the Territorial Force on 30 August 1916, transferring to the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 16 June 1917. He joined the British Expeditionary Force on 4 July 1917 and Howe Battalion on 1 September. 

William’s father Charles Henry Snelling of 260 South Lambeth Road, Stockwell, was named as his next of kin. 

Ex-315900 Private 2/1st Westmorland & Cumberland Yeomanry, enlisted Territorial Force 30 August 1916, transferred to RNVR for RND 16 June 1917 ; Draft for BEF 4 July 1917, joined Howe Bn. 1 September 1917 to 26 October 1917 DD (declared dead).
Born 5 May 1894
Next-of-kin: Father, Charles Henry Snelling, 260 South Lambeth Road, Stockwell, London SW9.

Harold Measday Snelling

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H.M. Snelling
Rifleman, London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s Rifles), 1st/9th Bn.
Service no. 4746
Killed in action on 1 July 1916, aged XX
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France, at Sandwich War Memorial and on a now lost wooden war crucifix outside St Anne’s Church, South Lambeth Road

Cousin of Frederick William Snelling and William Thomas Snelling

Chris Burge writes:

Harold Measday Snelling was born in Ramsgate, Kent in 1898, the third child of Frederick and Ellen Sophia (née Rogers) Snelling. In the 1901 census, Frederick worked as a baker and confectioner from premises at 15 King Street in the centre of Ramsgate, two doors from the Prince Albert public house. Ellen’s younger sister Rose Rogers assisted with the business as did a journeyman baker and his sister. 

By 1911 the Snelling family had moved to the more genteel surroundings of the market town of Sandwich, where Frederick ran his bakery from 9 The Cattle Market, in the heart of of the town. Frederick and Ellen were now 43 and had been married 20 years. Frederick listed his three children (one had died) in age order on his 1911 census return: Winifred, 19; Frederick John, 16; Harold, 13. He added Annie Lilian Rogers, his wife’s younger sister, as a visitor. Ellen, Winifred and Frederick John all worked in the business. The family were the sole occupants of the five-room property. 

According to the 1911 census returns, Ellen managed to be in two places at once on census day. She also appeared as a visitor on the return of Frederick’s brother, Charles Henry Snelling, whose family were living at 154 Glengall Road, Peckham. Frederick William and William Thomas were two of Charles Henry Snelling’s six children.

Charles Henry Snelling and family moved to 260 South Lambeth Road around 1914 at which time Harold Snelling seemed to be living with his uncle and working in London. Harold was baptised as an adult at St Anne’s, South Lambeth, on 22 December 1914. His cousin Frederick William Snelling, a civil service clerk, had volunteered at the beginning of the war. Harold volunteered around May 1915 in Central London joining the Queen Victoria’s Rifles. He was drafted to the 1st/9th Battalion in France on 30 March 1916, joining the battalion in a group of 38 men. The QVR were out of the line for most of March, April and until they moved to Hebuterne, south of Gommecourt, at the end of May. They suffered numerous casualties in the front line until the final week of June when the QVR were digging service and assembly trenches in preparation for the beginning of the Somme offensive. On 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the QVR were part of the ill-fated diversionary attack at the northern extreme of the Somme sector at Gommecourt. The battalion suffered horrendous casualties in one day’s fighting. Among the officers six were killed, five were wounded and five missing; in other ranks 51 were killed, 290 wounded and 188 missing; a total of 16 officers and 529 men. Harold Measday Snelling, an acting corporal at the time, was posted missing on this day . 

An article appeared in the Deal, Walmer & Sandwich Mercury on 26 August 1916, entitled, ‘SANDWICH LAD MISSING’: 

‘The following appears in the “St Anne’s (South Lambeth) Parish Magazine’ for August regarding the youngest son of Mr. Frank Snelling, baker, of the Cattle Market, Sandwich, who was recently announced missing:- “News reaches us that Harold Snelling. A member of our choir and A.S.M of our scouts, has been posted missing since July 1. He was in the Queen Victoria Rifles somewhere in France. We fear there is not much hope of his having been saved. It is just possible that he may be a prisoner of war, but confess it is unlikely. We are very sorry, and yet not a little proud. He was one of those people who do not talk a lot, but put a lot of reality into anything they undertake. Not least did Harold count his faith in Jesus Christ, and so we confidently believe he is all right where-ever he is.’

In the course of time, Harold Measday Snelling was officially presumed to have died on, or since, 1 July 1916. His cousin Frederick William Snelling was killed on the Somme on 18 September 1916 and another cousin, William Thomas Snelling, was killed in 1917 during 3rd Ypres.