Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

S names

Frederick David Shea

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F. D. Shea
Service no. G/11619
Lance Corporal, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 11th Battalion
Died of wounds on 18 or 19 January 1918, aged 28
Born in Peckham, enlisted at Lambeth, lived at Stockwell
CWGC: “Son of Frances and the late James Shea, of Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Giavera British Cemetery, Arcade, Italy

Brother of George Shea

Information from the censuses

Frederick David Shea, 22 in 1911, was a clerk in a grocery warehouse. He lived at 425 Forest Road, Walthamstow, east London in four rooms, which he shared with his mother, Frances Shea, 49, a widow from Clapham living on private income; sister Amelia Shea, 23, a booking clerk, born in Clapham; and brother George Shea, 14, born in Manor Park, east London. Ten years previously when Frederick Shea was a 12-year-old schoolboy, he lived with his grandmother, Amelia Couturier, 67, a Clapham-born bookseller, at 209 Clapham Road, his uncle, Francis L. Couturier, her 37-year-old married son described as a “bookseller’s assistant” and born in Newington, and his younger brother, George Shea, 14, born in Manor Park, Essex.

VLUU L210 / Samsung L210
209 Clapham Road

Information from British History Online (Survey of London, 1956)

No. 209 Clapham Road, formerly The Bays or No. 2 Stockwell Common
“This is probably the oldest surviving house in Clapham Road, but unfortunately nothing has been discovered about its origin. It is a double-fronted house of three storeys, its painted stucco face clothing a front of mid or late 18th century date. The central doorway is surmounted by two windows and flanked on each side by a splay sided bay rising through the three storeys. The wood doorcase is of charming design, the arched opening being framed by panelled pilasters with consoles supporting an open triangular pediment. The front finishes with a cornice and blocking course.”

William James Sharp

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W. J. Sharp
Service no. 656082
Rifleman, London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles), 21st Battalion
Killed in action on 22 August 1918, aged 31
Born in Lambeth; enlisted at Camberwell; lived in Clapham
CWGC: “Husband of Grace Elizabeth Sharp, of 16 Paradise Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Norfolk Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt, France

Information from the 1911 census

Clapham-born William Sharp was a tram car driver, aged 24 in 1911. He lived with his widowed father, Joseph Sharp, 65, an unemployed coachman from Pimlico, in two rooms at 1 Northall Street, Stockwell.

Edgar Stanley Sharman

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E. S. Sharman
Service no. S/30908
Rifleman, Rifle Brigade, 16th Battalion
Killed in action on 31 May 1917, aged 25
Born in Lambeth; enlisted at Camberwell; lived in Lambeth
CWGC: “Son of Charles William and Louise Sharman, of 5, Tradescant Road, South Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Vlamertinghe Military Cemetery, Belgium

Information from 1901 census

Edgar Stanley Sharman, 19 in 1911, was a ship’s steward. He lived at 5 Tradescant Road, South Lambeth, with his widowed father, Charles William Sharman, 50, a travelling salesman (hairdresser sundries) from Battersea, and siblings Herbert Henry Stanley, 23, a commercial clerk, and May Louise Sharman, 18, who worked for a milliner and draper. All the children were born in South Lambeth.

Arthur Sharman

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Sharman A Lijssenhoek
Photo © Marietta Crichton Stuart

A. Sharman
Service no. A/187
Rifleman, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 8th Battalion
Born in Battersea; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Wandsworth
Died of wounds on 31 July 1915, aged 21
CWGC: “Son of Elizabeth Sharman of 15 Brooklands Street, Wandsworth Road, SW London. His brother Harry also fell.”
Remembered at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium

Brother of Harry Sharman

Information from the censuses

Aged 17 in 1911, Arthur Sharman was working as a labourer. He was one of 14 children (only seven survived) of Edward Sharman, 62, from Diss, Norfolk, and Elizabeth Sharman, 50, from King’s Lynn, Norfolk. Besides Arthur and his parents, the two-roomed household at 17 Richmond Place, Stockwell included Ann Maria Sharman, 15, a box maker, and Harry, Sharman, then 11. The children were born in Battersea.
Note: The names of Arthur Sharman and his brother Harry were added, out of sequence, to the last panel on the war memorial.

Edgar Stanley Sharman is also on the war memorial – it is not known how or whether he is related to these two brothers.

Cecil Francis Seymour

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C.F. Seymour
Lance Corporal, Scots Guards, 2nd Bn.
Service no. 14265
Died on 24 August 1918, aged about 26
Remembered at Mory Street Military Cemetery, St Leger, France and on the Rainhill Asylum roll of honour, now in the care of Rainhill British Legion

Cecil Francis Seymour was born in 1892 at Christmas Common, Watlington, Oxfordshire, the youngest of Henry and Sarah Seymour’s eight children. At the time of the 1911 census, Cecil was working as part of the large domestic staff of the Scottish-born landed proprietor Charles Adrian James Butter and his American wife Agnes Marguerite at the Abbey, Witham, Oxford. Most of the staff were from Scotland. 

On 9 August 1915 Cecil Francis Seymour volunteered in Liverpool for the Scots Guards. He had previously been working as an attendant at Rainhill County Lunatic Asylum in St Helen’s, Merseyside. His place of birth was either falsely given or incorrectly recorded as Edinburgh. In keeping with the Guards, Cecil Seymour was a tall individual at 5ft 11in. He was first sent to France on 5 October 1916 but suffered trench foot and a damaged ankle and was returned to England just after Christmas. This, and other illness, prevented him from being declared fit for active service until he returned to France on 30 March 1918. 

While in England, on 30 April 1917 Cecil married widowed Amy Maria Petrie (née Carrett) at Holy Trinity, Clapham. Amy gave her address as 12 Landor Road. Her first husband Robert Alexander Petrie, a tailor, died on 7 May 1916 after being discharged from the Army with tuberculosis. 

Petrie, an old soldier who had re-enlisted on 2 August 1914 in the Army Service Corps, had married Amy at St John’s, Newington on 5 April 1908, after six years service as a military tailor in the Scots Guards. His service record was incorrect, which meant that Amy had difficulty claiming her widow’s pension, so she  turned to the Moffat Institute at Esher Street, Upper Kennington Lane, for help.  Further assistance was given by the Lambeth Branch of the London War Pensions Committee before an award of 10 shillings a week was made in September 1916. 

Cecil Seymour rejoined his battalion when the enemy were at their most active on the Western Front. The 2nd Scots Guard had suffered around 160 casualties during nine days of constant heavy shelling at the end of March 1918. There was little respite until July when the battalion had its first contact with US troops, but they had to endure a night of gas shelling in the final week of July. After a period of rest and training the battalion was ordered to attack and encircle the enemy at St Leger. Over the two days of 24/25 August 1918 the battalion suffered 16 other ranks killed and 94 wounded. Amy Maria had been made a widow for a second time. 

A letter from the Ministry of Pensions dated 28 March 1919 informed Amy that as the widow of the late 14265 Lance Corporal C.F. Seymour 2nd Scots Guards she has been awarded a weekly pension of 13 shillings and ninepence. Four weeks later, a small parcel of her late husband’s effects was posted to her. 

On 24 October 1923 37-year-old Amy departed England to start a new life in Australia. Her last address in the United Kingdom was recorded as 12 Landor Road.