Stockwell War Memorial

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St Andrew's War Memorial

Frank Wybrew

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F. Wybrew
Service no. 10622
Private, West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own), 1st Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Lambeth
Killed in action on 18 September 1916, aged 23
CWGC: “Son of Maria Rose Whitehouse (formerly Wybrew), of 11 Irving Grove, Stockwell, London, and the late William Wybrew.”
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France and at St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Frank Wybrew was baptised at St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, Stockwell on 14 May 1893, the second of three children of William Joseph Wybrew, a saddler, and Maria Rose (née Millett). They gave their address as 65 Andalus Road, Stockwell. 

Frank’s father died in 1896, at around the time Maria Rose gave birth to their third child. She subsequently married James Edward Whitcombe, a harness maker.

In 1911, Frank Wybrew lived with his mother, stepfather James Edward Whitcombe, a harness maker, a younger sister, three of his five half-siblings and his maternal grandfather in a four-roomed flat, 12 Emily Mansions on Landor Road, Stockwell.  He worked as a ‘general hand’ for a seed merchant.

Thomas James Woodley

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T. J. Woodley
Service no. 203597
Private, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, 1st/4th Battalion; formerly 2725, Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars
Born in Deptford; enlisted in London; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 15 June 1918, aged 29
CWGC: “Husband of Mrs E. Woodley, of 14 Glenelg Road, Acre Lane, Brixton, London.”
Remembered at Boscon British Cemetery, Italy and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Brother-in-law to Arthur Worby

Information from the censuses

Printer’s labourer Thomas James Woodley, 23 in 1911, lived at 6 Edithna Street, Stockwell, where his family occupied six rooms. The other members of the household were his widowed mother, Rosa Ann Woodley, 55, from Southwark; siblings Susan Elizabeth Woodley, 28, a blouse hand, Beatrice Amelia Woodley, 27, a dressmaker, George Thomas Woodley, 25, a printer’s labourer, William Woodley, 19, a shop assistant, Henry Woodley, 17, a shop assistant. Two other siblings lived elsewhere, and three had died.

Ethel Maude Woodley
Ethel Maude Woodley

Information from Howard Anderson

Thomas James Woodley was a career soldier, formerly a regular in the Royal Bucks Hussars before being killed whilst serving with the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry during the Battle of Asiago fighting the Austrians. He was the brother-in-law of Arthur Worby, having married Worby’s sister Ethel Maude Worby.

Howard Anderson writes: “There is an added poignancy about the names on the memorial. T. J. Woodley is right next to A. Worby, close in stone and in life, they were brothers-in-law. Thomas married Arthur Worby’s sister Ethel Maude Worby but was killed just 18 months later. Although she married again, it ruined her life. I remember her as a sad old lady.”

Howard Anderson, great-nephew to Arthur
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Arthur Webb

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A. Webb
Service no. 651657
Serjeant, London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles), 21st Battalion
Died of wounds on 31 August 1918, aged 35
CWGC: “Son of James and Mary Jane Webb, of 22, Kendoa Rd., Clapham, London. Native of Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

The Army was evidently impressed by draper Arthur Webb. Shortly after he presented himself at the London Regiment’s Camberwell recruiting office in June 1915 he started on a trajectory through the ranks. Exactly a month later, he was appointed paid Lance Corporal. By the end of July he was Corporal, by October Lance Serjeant, and before he was posted to France he was Acting Serjeant. By January 1917 he was Serjeant.

Webb’s conduct was excellent – but not perfect. There was one black mark against his name: for being late for company parade some time in May 1917, for which he was reprimanded.

It was all over on 31 August 1918, when Webb died of a gunshot wound to the neck, “penetrating the spine” as noted in his file.

What else do we know about Webb? Physically, he was short (or rather, not tall) and not well built. He stood 5 feet 4½inches, with a 36½ inch chest (plus 2½ inches). He weighed 8 stone 10 pounds. He left a collection of effects, all forwarded to his mother, including the usual photos, letters, discs, pipe and notebook, but also two pairs of glasses, a watch and chain and, a small surprise,  a rosary in a tin box. We have plenty of evidence that Webb was an Anglican: his documents state it clearly, he is remembered on the memorial plaque at St Andrew’s, Landor Road and he lived in a Church institute with his mother, he may nevertheless have been “High Church” enough to find comfort in the use of a rosary. Or it may have merely been his good luck charm in a world in which every iota of luck was worth keeping beside you.

Information from the 1911 census

Arthur Webb, 27 in 1911, worked as a commercial clerk. One of six children, he lived with three siblings, two boarders and his widowed mother, Mary Jane Webb, 51, the caretaker at 57 Stockwell Road, a “preventive home” for girls, dedicated to training girls for domestic service. The property had 14 rooms, most probably not for habitation. The siblings were Henry James Webb, 30, an insurance clerk; Florence Webb, 23, no occupation; Alfred Webb, 21, an insurance clerk. The two boarders were Church of England ministers: John Smith, 24, single, from Hackney, and Harry Thomas James, 25, from Penarth in Glamorgan.

William George Ware

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W. G. Ware
Service no. 1187
Private, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), 2nd Battalion
Born in Brixton; enlisted in Westminster; lived in Lambeth
Killed in action on 27 March 1915
CWGC: “Son of Mr W. H. Ware, of 34 Bessborough Gardens, Westminster, London.”
Remembered at Ferme Buterne Military Cemetery, Houplines, Nord, France and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Information from the 1911 census

William George Ware, 16, was a junior clerk at the Army & Navy Stores. He lived at 16 Dalyell Road, Stockwell, with his parents, William Henry Ware, 45, a foreman for a timber merchant, born in Battersea, and Edith Annie Ware (née Etheridge), 39, from Chelsea, and elder sister Edith Annie Ware, 17, a “lady clerk” at a coal office. The family had eight rooms. WIlliam Henry Ware has written “householder” proudly in the space for “Number of rooms in this dwelling.”

Albert John Tooley

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A. J. Tooley
Service no. 1797
Private, London Regiment (County of London), 20th Battalion
Born in Stockwell; enlisted in Blackheath; lived in Brixton
Killed in action on 23 January 1916, aged 23
CWGC: “Only son of John and Bessie E. Tooley, of 44 Stockwell Green, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Maroc British Cemetery, Grenay, France and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Information from the censuses

Albert John Tooley, 18 in 1911, was a student teacher born in Stockwell. He lived in a three-roomed apartment at 14 Kimberley Road, Stockwell with his parents John Tooley, 56, a railway guard from Stockwell, and Bessie Tooley, 56, from St Columb, Cornwall. He was an only child (his parents had had two other children who died).

He was born in Stockwell on 3 May 1892 and baptised at St Andrew’s, on 29 June. 

Leonard Hastings Teakle

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L. H. Teakle
Service no. 157
Lance Corporal, London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade), “D” Coy. 1st/5th Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 2 May 1915, aged 25
CWGC: “Son of Elizabeth Mary Ann Teakle, of 10 Rhodesia Road, Clapham, London, and the late Hastings Charles Teakle.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Information from the censuses

Leonard Teakle, 21 in 1911, was a bank clerk. He lived with is widowed mother, Elizabeth Teakle, 47, from Hackney, and at 26 Finchley Road, Walworth. There were four siblings: Henry Teakle, 23, was an insurance clerk; Wilfrid Teakle, 19, was a bank clerk; John Teakle, 11, Ethel Teakle. Harry Collis, 48, a married printer’s warehouseman from Southwark, boarded with the family, who shared six rooms. Leonard’s deceased father Hastings C. Teakle was a wheelwright from Avening, Gloucestershire.