Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

St Michael's War Shrine

Sydney Walter Billingsley

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S. W. Billingsley
Service no. 4001
Rifleman, London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles), 1st/21st Battalion
Killed in action age 18 on 12 September 1916 (Billingsley’s enlistment record shows that he claimed to be 19)
CWGC: “Son of Mrs A. H. Handel, of 18a Morat Street, Brixton.”
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, France and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

Brother of George Frederick Billingsley
Stepson of Harry Frank Handel

Information from British Army WWI Service Records

Sydney Walter Billingsley, 5 foot 2, 8 stone and 33 inches around the chest, enlisted at Camberwell on 28 May 1915. He was 19 and his war lasted just 1 year and 107 days.

The military record Army Form W. 5080, undated but probably completed in 1919, shows that he was survived by a full brother, Albert William Billingsley, 26; full sisters, Winnie Billingsley, 17, and Eva Billingsley, 23, as well as three half-siblings: Robert Handel, 10, Arthur Handel, 7, Ida Helen Handel, 3, and his mother, Ada Handel. His brother George Frederick Billingsley died in 1918 at the age of 24.

Billingsley was hospitalised at least 4 times – each time with pyrescia or fever. He was disciplined at least 10 times, his crimes including “breaking out of camp” (twice) and having dirty equipment; hesitating to obey an order; being late for parade. It is clear that he and Army life were not a good combination.

Before joining up, Billingsley was an electrical engineer’s assistant. He lived with his family at 2 Arlington Mansions, Morat Street, London SW9.

George Frederick Billingsley

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G. F. Billingsley
Service no. 10356
Private, Yorkshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Died age 24 on 29 September 1918
CWGC: “Son of Mrs. A. H. Handel, of 2 Arlington Mansions, 18A Morat Street, Brixton.”
Remembered at Sucrerie Cemetery, Epinoy, France and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London 0DA.

Brother of Sydney Walter Billingsley.
Stepson of Harry Frank Handel

George Frederick Billingsley was born on 23 June 1894 at 6 Robert Street, near Regent’s Park in north London and baptised on 10 July 1894 at Holy Trinity, Gray’s Inn Road.

George and his brother Sydney were among six siblings and three half-siblings. 

Information from the censuses and other sources

In 1911 Sydney and George Billingsley, both remembered on the Stockwell War Memorial, lived with their mother, stepfather Harry Frank Handel (also remembered on the memorial), sister and half-brother in 2 rooms at 101 Cornwallis Road, Upper Holloway, north London. Harry Handel, at 29 much younger than his wife, was an army pensioner, now working as a cook. He was born in Kennington. Ada Harriett (née Mew), 42, was born in Banstead, Surrey. The couple has a son, Robert Harry Handel, 11 months, born in Highgate, north London. George  Frederick Billingsley, 16, worked as an office boy for a publisher. He was born in Holborn. Sydney Walter Billingsley, 13, was born in Kensal Rise, north London. Winifred Kate Billingsley, 9, was born in Highgate.

Billingsley’s father, Alfred Billingsley, was listed in the census as 37, a printer’s machine minder born in St Luke’s. The family lived at 309 Hornsey Road, Islington. He died in 1903 in Islington.

William Spencer Benson

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W. S. Benson
Service no. 35733
Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, 17th Field Ambulance
Died of wounds 23 April 1917, aged 20
Born in Brixton, enlisted in Holborn
Remembered at Bethune Town Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA.

Information from the 1911 census

William Spencer Benson, 14, was the eldest child of William Spencer Benson, 43, and Jessie Elizabeth Benson, 35. William the elder was a general labourer, while William the younger was a paper boy. The other children were
Jessie Elizabeth Benson, 12
Henry James Benson, 9
Rose Esther Benson, 4
Edith Phyllis Benson, 7 months
Henry James Benson, 33, brother to William, and Richard Smith, 28, both single and both working as labourers boarded with the family. All in the household, at 62 Ingleton Street, were born in Brixton.