Stockwell War Memorial

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Stockwell War Memorial

Albert George Tilling

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A. G. Tilling
Service no. 83361
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, “A” Bty. 93rd Bde.
Born in Wandsworth; enlisted in Camberwell
Killed in action on 8 June 1917, aged about 23
Remembered at Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery, Fleurbaix, France

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918
TILLING, A. G., Gunner, R.F.A.
Volunteering in 1915, he was sent to France in the same year and was in action on the Somme and at Ypres. He fell fighting at Armentieres in 1917, and was entitled to the General Service and Victory Medals.
“And doubtless he went in splendid company.”
82, Wilcox Road, Wandsworth Road, S.W.8.

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

The file for Albert Tilling in WWI Service Records archive relates to an Albert Tilling born in Lambeth in 1895. I have made a connection between the Albert Tillings on the 1911 census, in the National Roll and in the Service Records. However, there are some anomalies, one of them being occupation. The 1911 census gives Albert Tilling as a horse keeper working for the London and South West Railway. The Army records state that Albert Tilling was an electrician’s mate. For me, this does not rule out a connection, but it brings in an element of doubt.

Electrician’s mate Albert Tilling, born in Lambeth and two days’ shy of his 20th birthday, signed up with the Dragoons of the Line (2nd Reserve Cavalry Regiment) at Clifton Street on 20 August 1914. He was tall and thin (5 feet 10 inches and only 9 stone, with a chest of 34½ inches) and his complexion was noted as “sallow”. However, he was accepted as fit for service.

However, after 65 days the Army noticed its mistake – this man’s physical development and pulse rate were “poor”. What’s more, he was suffering from tuberculosis. Tilling was duly discharged on 23 October.

In 1915, possibly cured of his TB or in remission, he must have enlisted again, this time with the Royal Field Artillery, and in 1917 he was killed in action.

Information from the 1901 census
In 1911 Albert Tilling, 17, was a horse keeper, working for the London and South West Railway. His family lived in six rooms at 82 Wilcox Road, South Lambeth. Albert’s father John Tilling, 50, from Wiltshire, was also a horse keeper for L&SW Railway. His mother, Annie Tilling, 49, was from Hampshire. There were four siblings: Florrie Tilling, 19, a waitress in a restaurant; Sidney Tilling, 14; Harry Tilling, 11; William John Tilling, 8. All the children were born in Lambeth. A cousin, Harry Burrell, 20, another horsekeeper for the railway, shared their home, as did a boarder, William Shickey, 30, a single fireman from Somerset. The family had lived at 82 Wilcox Road since at least 1901. In 1901 Albert was six and living with his family at 82 Wilcox Road. There were five boarders, three of them railway horse keepers, born in Iddesdone, Berkshire

William Charles Tidnam

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W. C. Tidnam
Service no. 227258
Able Seaman, Royal Navy, H.M.S. “Vanguard”
Died on 9 July 1917, aged 30
CWGC: “Son of William Tidnam, of Harleston, Norfolk; husband of Kathleen Mary Tidnam, of 2 Burnley Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

Information from the parish register

On 11 December 1916, William Charles Tidnam married Kathleen Mary Roberts at St. Michael’s Church, Stockwell. Kathleen’s address was 15 St. Martin’s Road, Stockwell. She gave her father’s occupation as carpenter and joiner. William gave his father’s as coachman.

Information from the censuses and other sources

In 1911 William Charles Tidnam, 23, was staying at the Union Jack club in Waterloo Road, Lambeth. He was listed as a  “Navy able seaman” from Reddenham, Norfolk. In 1901 he was a 14-year-old errand boy, living at “Mendham Lane, Redenhall With Harleston” in Norfolk. His 45-year-old father, also called William, was a “groom (domestic)”; his mother, Emma Tidnam, 44, was born at Reddenham. Besides William the couple’s children included
Ellen Tidnam, 11
Alice Tidnam, 10
Percy Tidnam, 7
Fred Tidnam and Herbert Tidnam, 5
Winifred Tidnam, 11 months
Ernest Singleton, a 22-year-old Irish-born “motor car driver”, boarded with the family.

Francis William Thurgood

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F. W. Thurgood
Service no. G/1529
Private, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 8th Battalion
Killed in action on 25 September 1915, aged about 20
Remembered at Loos Memorial, France

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918
THURGOOD, F. W., Pte., The Buffs (East Kent Regiment).
Mobilised at the outbreak of war he immediately proceeded to France, and fought gallantly in the Retreat from Mons, and in the Battles of the Marne and Aisne. He also took part in the severe fighting as Ypres, and was unhappily killed in action at Loos in September 1915. He was entitled to the Mons Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.
“He passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and self-sacrifice.”
11, Arlesford Road, Stockwell, S.W.9.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Francis William Thurgood was a 16-year-old doctor’s page living at 11 Arlesford Road, Stockwell. He lived with his parents, William Francis Thurgood, 42, a night inspector for trams employed by London County Council, and Ellen Thurgood, 40. They were both originally from Terling Witham, Essex. Francis’s six siblings were:
Gertrude Gladys Thurgood, 20, and Kathleen Eunice Thurgood, 20, both dressmakers born in Peckham
Francis William Thurgood
Mildred Emily Thurgood, 14
Irene Madeline Thurgood, 12
Leslie Alfred Thurgood, 9
Muriel Lilian Thurgood, 6
One child had died. The family had 5 rooms.

Thomas Thorne

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T. Thorne
Corporal, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 2nd Bn.
Service no. 9948
Died on 31 October 1914, aged 22
Remembered  at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Chris Burge writes:

Thomas Thorne was born in Lambeth in 1892 and baptised on 31 January at St Andrew’s, Stockwell Green, the third child of William and Sarah Jane Thorne. By 1901, William and Sarah were living at 52 Burgoyne Road [location] with their seven children. Thomas’ father worked as a brewer’s carman, and his older brother Harry was a telegraph messenger. 

In the 1911 census, William and Sarah were living with four of their children in five rooms at 70 Dalyell Road, Stockwell, across the road from the Marquis of Lorne pub. William was still working for a brewer. Older brother Henry was now a Post Office sorter, younger sister Annie was a daily domestic and William was a school newsboy. Frank was still at school. The property was shared with a middle-aged couple living in two other rooms and a young couple and their baby living in one other room. 

In 1911, Thomas was a new recruit at the Army’s Shorncliffe Camp near Folkestone, Kent. He had enlisted in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in January close to his 18th birthday. The 2nd KRRC, based in Blackdown, Aldershot in the two years prior to the war. Thomas’s records no longer exist, but private 9947 Frederick John Wallace Austin joined in London on 11 Jan 1911. Fred Austin’s next of kin was living in the Stockwell Park Road. If Fred and Thomas were friends, their paths would soon diverge when Fred was posted to the 3rd KRRC and Thomas to the 2nd KRRC.

In the spring of 1914 Thomas Thorne married Gertrude Nellie Hall. Their son Thomas Clement was born soon after, on 12 May 1914. Within three months, Thomas was in France.

The 2nd KRRC were mobilised on 4 August 1914, the day war was declared. They crossed from Southampton reaching Le Havre at 2.45pm on 13 August 1914. They were near the Belgium border when the retreat from Mons began in late August. The battles of the Marne and Asine followed, a period when the battalion suffered a total of 322 casualties. By 20 October they had moved to Boesinghe north-east of Ypres. By then the opposing forces had dug in. An assault on enemy trenches on 21 October was deemed a success despite the cost of 36 killed and 60 wounded. Before dawn, on the 31st, the enemy delivered a furious assault with overwhelming numbers of infantry and guns. In a desperate fight, the 2nd KRRC held the line before withdrawing to a less exposed position. The losses were severe, with over 400 men killed, wounded or missing. 

Thomas Thorne was not accounted for and was posted missing. His wife and family hung onto the belief he may have been taken prisoner. When Gertrude baptised her son Thomas Clement on 27 January 1915 at St John’s, Worlds End, Chelsea, soldier Thomas Thorne was recorded as the father. Well into 1915 Thomas’ father, William made enquiries via the British Red Cross, leaving his address as 116 Dalywell Road, Stockwell, London SW. Their hopes were crushed in mid 1915 when Thomas was officially presumed to have died on 31 October 1914. 

Ten years later, Gertrude Nellie Thorne, then living in Larkhall Lane, married again. Her wedding to police constable Alfred James Butter took place on Christmas Day 1924 at Christchurch, Clapham. Her son Thomas Clement Thorne later became a serving police officer.

Joseph Charles Terrett

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J. C. Terrett
Service no. 2746
Private, London Regiment, “C” Coy. 1st/23rd Battalion
Killed in action on 26 May 1915, aged 40
Enlisted at Clapham Junction; lived in Brixton
CWGC: “Son of Mrs C. Terrett, of 58 Dalyell Road, Stockwell, London; husband of Mary Anne Terrett, of 187 Arthur Street, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.”
Remembered at Le Touret Memorial, France and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA (which gives the name as Joseph Terratt)

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

When Joseph Charles Terrett joined enlisted on 8 September 1914 at St John’s Hill, Clapham Junction he left behind a wife, Mary Ann, and three boys: 14-year-old Joseph, 10-year-old Reginald, and Geoffrey, who was 2.

The Service Record file for Joseph Terrett does not contain much information about him. We know that he was 39 and that had previously served in the 4th Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment, but the file includes no physical description of him or his medical state, his behaviour or his movements other than that he joined his “service battalion” on 12 November 1914.

There is a torn scrap of paper listing some of his effects: photo, knife, torch, mineral (a lump of unusual rock, I am supposing).

Most of the file is taken up with letters concerning the whereabouts of Joseph’s widow Mary Ann Terrett in order that the authorities could forward her husband’s medals. Efforts to find her via her solicitors, the rather wonderfully named Balderston, Warren and Pothecary of Bedford Row, W.C.1, drew a blank, as they were not even sure who Terrett was. On 3 April 1922 they wrote to the Infantry Record Office: “Shall be glad if you will give us any further information re the identify of Private Terrett. We do not appear to know him but our address may have been give on..” and here the letter ends – the bottom has been torn off. Another small mystery.

It appears that back in 1920 Mrs. Terrett’s neighbour at Knowle Road (that letter is torn too, so we cannot be sure of her name but it looks like she may have been a Mrs Lawrence) put the authorities right: “Mrs. Terrett has sailed with the children for Canada June 18th 1920,” she told them. She had given Mrs Lawrence permission to open her letters. “I know that she will be glad to receive any decoration that may be awarded to her late husband. … I have also written to her.”

These small scraps (literally) of documents do not together tell much of a narrative. Perhaps, however, they illustrate in a personal way how the war caused, not just loss of life on an unprecedented scale, but disruption and and dispersal. Would Mary Ann Terrett have taken her three sons to Canada at her time of life (she was nearly 50) if Joseph had not died and options for her in London been limited? We may never find out.

Mary Ann died in Canada in 1948.

Joseph Charles Terrett was one of seven  of Joseph Benjamin Dobell Terrett , a cabinet-maker, and Louisa (née Butler), both from Newington, southeast London. 

Information from the censuses

Joseph Charles Terrett, who was 36 in 1911, was a school attendance officer working for London County Council. He lived with his wife, Mary Ann Terrett, 38, at 65 Knowle Road (now gone but Knowle Close, at the back of Wynne Road, remains), Brixton, where they had four rooms. There were two sons: Joseph St. John Terrett, 10, born in Wandsworth and Reginald St. John Terrett, 6, born in Clapham. Another child born to the couple had died, and a son was born shortly after the 1911 census. Ten years previously, Joseph Charles Terrett was described as a “gas meter index taker”. He was born in Bermondsey. At that time he, Mary Ann and son Joseph lived at 122 New Kent Road, Newington. In 1891 he worked as a printer’s assistant. His father, also called Joseph, was an envelope cutter, from Newington (married to Caroline Terrett, from Southwark, the Mrs. C. Terrett on the War Graves database).

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.