C. P. Guy
Service no. 7658
Private, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 1st Battalion
Born in Gloucester; enlisted in London; lived in Clapham
Died of wounds age 31 on 26 November 1914
CWGC: “Husband of Margaret Hannah Guy, of 30 Portland Place South, Clapham Road, London.”
Cited in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918
Remembered at Zantvoorde British Cemetery, near Ypres, Belgium
St Mark's War Memorial
Stanley Henry Compson
S. H. Compson
Service no. G/19059
Private, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), 10th Battalion
Died aged about 21 on 23 March 1918
Awarded the Military Medal
Remembered at Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France
Enlisted at Maidstone, resident at Hunton, Kent
British Army Service Records 1914-1920
Stanley Henry Compson was assumed dead on 23 March 1918. Like so many other families of soldiers, the Compsons not only had no body – generally only those gravely injured soldiers who managed to get back to Britain were buried at home – but no imagined foreign resting place.
Grieving families clung to whatever was left in order to mourn their dead. Memorials such as St Mark’s and Stockwell went some way to fill the gap left by the absence of a funeral. They are places to focus on and a place to point to with pride. Medals do the same – physical remnants of the deceased. Perhaps this is why Compson’s father, Joseph H. Compson, enquired often about the medals.
On 17 July 1919, he wrote to the military authorities with is change of address (he had moved to 77 St Agnes Place, SE11). “What is to be done about his M. M. [Military Medal]?” he asked. He requested that his was presented “publicly” and the medal arrived on 20 January 1920.
On 17 February 1921 he wrote again: “When may I expect to receive the medals due to my late son?”. Again, on 8 November 1921 he sent a change of address and added, “By the way, when may I expect to receive any medals that he is entitled to?”
A notice in the Edinburgh Gazette Supplement of 22 October 1917 stated that “His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to award the Military Medal for bravery in the Field to the undermentioned Non-Commissioned Officers and Men” includes Compson’s name.
Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 Stanley Henry Compson was 14 and working as an errand boy for a grocer’s. He lived with his grandmother and other family members at 240 South Lambeth Road, London SW8. The household included
Jane Compson, 60, widowed, the mother of 6 children, 3 surviving: Joseph (Stanley’s father), Albert and Alfred.
Her son Albert Compson, 31, a motor cab driver
Another son, Alfred Compson, 28, also a motor cab driver
A granddaughter Lilian Compson, 16, a dressmaker’s assistant
Stanley Compson, 14
All the Compsons were born in Lambeth
Henry Hussey, 43, a boarder, working as a motor cab driver, born in Greenwich.
Information from the 1901 census
In 1901 four-year-old Stanley Henry Compson lived at 6 Wynyard Terrace, Lambeth, with his family: his father, Joseph H. Compson, a 27-year-old stockbroker’s clerk born in Lambeth; his mother, Catherine B. V. Compson, 23, born in Kennington; his brother, William E. Compson, 10 months, born in Kennington. Stanley was born in Brixton.
Albert Edward Chandler
A. E. Chandler
Service no. 3527
Private, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), 1st Battalion
Killed in action age 19 on 1 July 1916
Enlisted at Handel Street, lived in South Lambeth
Son of James and Ada Chandler, of 3 Oval Place, Clapham, London.
Remembered at Hubuterne Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France
Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 the Chandler family lived in 2 rooms at 3 Oval Place, off Dorset Road. James Walter Chandler, 41, was a timber carman, born in Clapham. Ada Emily Chandler, 39, was born in St George’s in the East. There were 2 children on the census, both born in South Lambeth:
Ellen Ann Chandler, 15, a checker at a laundry
Albert Edward Chandler, 13
Ernest James Batterbury
E. J. Batterbury
Service no. S/7006
Lance Corporal, Rifle Brigade, 7th Battalion
Died age 23 on 18 August 1916
Son of Henry Hooper Batterbury and Sarah Alice Batterbury, of 162 Old South Lambeth Road, South Lambeth, London.
Remembered at Thistle Dump Cemetery, High Wood, Longueval, France and at St Mark’s Church, Kennington Oval.
Information from 1911 Census
Ernest James Batterbury, 18 in 1911, was a hosier’s assistant, born in Lambeth. He lived at Buckstone Cottges, Oval Place, Dorset Road, London SW8, with his mother, Sarah Alice Batterbury, 47, who was born in the City of London, and father Henry Hooper Batterbury, 47, a theatre attendant, originally from Windsor, Berkshire, five siblings and a boarder.
Ernest, the eldest, was followed by
Rachel May Batterbury, 16, a milliner’s assistant, born in “West Newington, Surrey”
Alice Batterbury, 15, no employment given, born in Lambeth
Alfred Herbert Batterbury, 10, born in Lambeth
Ethel Elizabeth Amy Batterbury, 7, born in Lambeth
Harry Batterbury, 6, born in Lambeth
The boarder was Charles Thomas Gabriel Bottomley, 62, a widowed confectioner from Marylebone.