Stockwell War Memorial

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St John's War Memorial

Alfred Roskilly

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A. Roskilly
Second Lieutenant, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 7th Battalion
Killed in action age 26 on 3 May 1917
CWGC: “Son of Mr and Mrs A. J. Roskilly, of 96, Stockwell Park Road, London; husband of Ruth Roskilly, of 16, Briarwood Road, Clapham Park, London.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France and at St John’s Church, Clapham Road, London SW9

After Alfred Roskilly died, there was some confusion in the War Office as to whether he was killed in action on 3 May 1917 or died just over a month later as a prisoner of war. The authorities had received information via the International Red Cross, that an “A. Rostkeilly” of the Royal West Surrey Regiment was held by the Germans. However, no real conclusion emerges from the files, except that, in the absence of real evidence, the Army accepted the earlier date as the date of death. The date of death was important as it affected the payments owing to the deceased, inherited by his widow.

Roskilly, an assistant clerk in the Post Office Savings Bank at Blythe Road, West Kensington, had considerable military experience, having joined the 2nd (Cadet) Battalion of the London Regiment (Civil Service), moving to the 15th Battalion, and subsequently transferring to the London Field Ambulance on 9 July 1915. He served 1 year and 225 days before being granted a temporary commission in March 1917. He survived less than 10 weeks.

Arthur Roskilly, the eldest of four children of compositor Alfred Joseph Roskilly, from Dalston, east London, and Clara (née Guest), from Southampton. His military character was described as “very good.” He stood 5 feet 7½ inches, weighed 9¾ stone and had a 39-inch chest. In 1911 the Roskilly family lived at 32 Clitheroe Road, Stockwell, where they occupied six rooms. Arthur married Ruth Lambert at St Anne’s and All Saints Church, South Lambeth Road on 2 April 1914.

Information from the censuses

In 1911, Alfred Roskilly, the eldest child of compositor Alfred Joseph Roskilly, 41, from Dalston, east London, and Clara Roskilly, 42, from Southampton, was 20 and working as a civil service clerk. The couple had three other surviving children (one had died): Frank Roskilly, 19, a “boy clerk’, like Alfred born in Southwark; Doris Roskilly, 8, born in Stockwell; Ruby Roskilly, 6, born in Stockwell. A boarder, Henry Goerge Downer, 19 and from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, another boy clerk, lived with the family at 32 Clitheroe Road, Stockwell, where they had six rooms. A decade earlier, the Roskilly family lived at 16 Grantham Road.

Reginald Parnham Ridley

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R. P. Ridley
Service no. 589
Rifleman, London Regiment (Queen’s Westminster Rifles), 16th Battalion
Killed in action on 23 September 1916, aged 23
Born in Clapham; enlisted at Westminster; lived in Clapham
CWGC: “Son of Frederick William Ridley, of 420 Clapham Road, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Delville Wood Cemetery, Longeuval, France, at St John’s Church, Clapham Road, London SW9

Information from the censuses
Reginald Parnham Ridley, 18 in 1911, was an electrical engineer. He was the eldest of three sons of Eliza Mary Ann Ridley, 47, a dressmaker. Ridley lived in nine rooms at 420 Clapham Road with his mother and two brothers, Roy Trevor Ridley, 16, an optician’s apprentice, and Leslie Howard Ridley, 11. The boys were born in Clapham. Ridley’s father, Frederick W. Riley, a grain merchant, does not appear on the return for this address. Eliza has listed herself as “wife” rather than “head”, so it is possible that he was away from the house that night. However, the London County Suburbs Directory for 1913 lists her as “Ridley, Mrs. Eliza, dressmaker” without mentioning her husband. A visitor, Alice Hannah Wright, 38, from Brighton, was staying on the night of the census.

Everard Vaughan Ridge

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E. V. Ridge
Lieutenant, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), 153rd Coy.
Died on 9 April 1917, aged 21
CWGC: “Son of the late Edward H. Ridge, of 15, Bedford Row, High Holborn, London.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France and at St John’s Church, Clapham Road, London SW9

Everard Vaughan Ridge attested for service in the Territorial Force on 13 April 1913. He served as Gunner in the 7th County of London Battery Royal Garrison Artillery. He was discharged to a commission in the 13th Reserve Battalion Worcestershire Regiment in September 1915. Transferred to the 153rd Company Machine Gun Corps, he was killed in action, on 9 April 1917, aged 21 years.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Everard Vaughan Ridge was a 15-year-old schoolboy living with his family in nine rooms at 55 Chelsham Road, Clapham. His father, twice-widowed Edward H. Ridge was a 52-year-old solicitor born in Manchester. There were five children from the first marriage and one from his second (all born in Clapham).
Violet Maude Ridge, 20, a millinery shop assistant
Phyllis Myfanwy Ridge, 18, a clerk in an insurance office
Ronald Edward Trevor Ridge, 16, an engineering apprentice
Everard Vaughan Ridge, 15
Victoria Gwenllian Ridge, 13
Reginald Nelson Ridge, 4
Dorothy Robinson, 21, a housekeeper from Bootle, Lancashire, lived with the family.

Claude Cecil Andrews

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C. C. Andrews
Service no G/11433
Private, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 7th Battalion
Killed in action 21 October 1917, aged 23
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium and at St John’s Church, Clapham Road, London SW9

Information from the 1911 census

This is a somewhat tentative identification – the best fit of the data available. The 1911 census includes an entry for the Andrews family at 30 Haselrigge Road, Clapham. Charles Thomas Andrews, 63, was a schoolkeeper from Shaftesbury, Dorset. His wife Emma Andrews, 59, was from Rendlesham, Suffolk. They lived in 6 rooms with their 21-year-old daughter Gracie, who was a school cleaner, born in Chelsea. The couple had had 13 children, 6 of whom had died.

On the night of the census, their son, Claude Andrews, 17, a clerk for a builder’s merchant, was visiting, along with a daughter, Chelsea-born Maud Price, a widow at 23 and working as a schoolkeeper, and her two-year-old son George Price, who was born in Brixton.

Haselrigge School closed in 2001.

Frederick John Allen

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F. J. Allen
Second Lieutenant, Devonshire Regiment, “C” Coy. 9th Battalion
Died age 22 on 27 September 1915
CWGC: “Son of Frederick Herbert and Alice Allen, of 79 Union Road, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Lapugnoy Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, at St John’s Church, Clapham Road, London SW9

Frederick John Allen

Information from the Royal Bank of Scotland archives:

Frederick John Allen joined the London County and Westminster Bank on 6 October 1910 at the Victoria Street branch in London SW1. He remained there until he joined the Army. The bank was later incorporated into Royal Bank of Scotland. The following is an extract from the County & Westminster staff magazine of November 1915:
A photograph also appears of Second Lieut. J. F. Allen, of the Victoria Street Branch. He was educated at the Westminster City School, and received his earliest military training in their cadet corps. He joined the Artists and was a first rate shot, being in the eight that won the Daily Telegraph Cup for H Company, and later in the sixteen which ran second in the Inter-Battalion Cup. He was the first volunteer to mount guard at the outer gate of the Tower of London. After receiving his commission in the 9th Devons he became Signalling Officer and was selected for a special job by the Brigadier.

Information from the 1911 census
Frederick John Allen, then 17, is registered on the 1911 census as the only surviving child of 43-year-old schoolmaster Frederick Herbert Allen, an assistant elementary schoolmaster for London County Council born in Newington, and his wife Alice Minta Varney Allen, also 43 and born in Norwood. Frederick was working as a bank clerk for London County and Westminster Bank. They lived in 6 rooms at 47 Mayflower Road, SW9.
The family is also on the 1901 living at the same address.