Stockwell War Memorial

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Stockwell War Memorial

Harold Frederick Simpson

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H. F. Simpson
Service no. 5190
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion
Born in Battersea; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Stockwell
Died of wounds on 3 June 1918, aged 22
CWGC: “Son of Frederick and Clara Jane Simpson, of 52 Bellefields Rd., Brixton London. Solicitor’s Clerk.”
Remembered at Ebblinghem Military Cemetery, France

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Harold Frederick Simpson, 15, lived at 52 Bellefields Road (where the family occupied 5 rooms), the eldest son of Frederick Simpson, 44, a solicitor’s clerk born in the City of London, and Clara Jane Simpson, 44, born in St. Marylebone, central London. Harold was born in Battersea, as was his sister Lily Florence Simpson, 13. His brother Victor Albert Simpson, 7, was born in Brixton. Frederick and Clara Simpson had four live babies, three of whom survived.

Albert Henry Shopland

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Albert Henry Shopland with his sister Edith Mary © Robin Shopland
Albert Henry Shopland with his sister Edith Mary © Robin Shopland

A. H. Shopland
Service no. 701250
Lance Sergeant, Canadian Infantry (Quebec Regiment), 24th Battalion
Died of wounds on 16 August 1917, aged 24
Canadian; born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, enlisted in Ealing
CWGC: “Son of William Robert and of Jane Shopland (formerly Scott), of 10 Rozel Road, Clapham, London, England.”
Remembered at Vimy Memorial, France

Canadian Soldiers of World War 1914-1918

Albert Henry Shopland, 23, joined the war effort on 17 March 1916, when he attested at Winnipeg, Canada. He was at that time working as a farmer in Yarbo, Saschatchewan. Shopland was born on 19 August 1892 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and had lived as a child at 41a Goldsboro Road, near Wandsworth Road.

He stood 5 feet 11 inches tall, and had a fair complexion with blue eyes and dark brown hair. He stated that he had previously served with the Royal West Surrey Territorials. He was unmarried.

Information from Robin Shopland: There were two brothers William Robert Shopland (Bert’s father) and Albert Shopland (Bert’s uncle) who married two sisters Jane and Kate Scott, who came from an army family. Brother Albert and his wife Kate emigrated to work in Canada. Bert was named after his uncle and presumably later followed his uncle over there. His siblings were brother William who I believe was in India with the army, sisters Kathleen and Edith Mary, and his brother Frederick who was 12 at the outbreak of war. There may have also been another baby who died in infancy.

Information from the censuses

It is likely that Albert Shopland left England before 1911. He does not appear on the 1911 census return for the Shopland family at 41a Goldsboro Road (where the family had lived since at least 1901). Shopland’s father, William Robert Shopland, 49, was a coach body maker born at Bridgwater, Somerset; his mother, Jane Shopland, 45, was from Windsor, Berkshire. Kathleen Shopland, two years Albert’s junior, was 16 and, like him, born in Cheltenham. His younger siblings, Edith Mary Shopland, 14, and Frederick Thomas, 9, were born in London. William and Jane had eight babies born alive, three of whom died.

George Shea

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G. Shea
Service no. 304330
Rifleman, London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade), 1st/5th Battalion
Formerly 3478, 7th Middlesex Regiment
Born in Walthamstow; enlisted in Hornsey; lived in Walthamstow
Killed in action on 6 September 1916
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

A tentative identification. Possibly the brother of Frederick David Shea

Frederick David Shea

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F. D. Shea
Service no. G/11619
Lance Corporal, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 11th Battalion
Died of wounds on 18 or 19 January 1918, aged 28
Born in Peckham, enlisted at Lambeth, lived at Stockwell
CWGC: “Son of Frances and the late James Shea, of Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Giavera British Cemetery, Arcade, Italy

Brother of George Shea

Information from the censuses

Frederick David Shea, 22 in 1911, was a clerk in a grocery warehouse. He lived at 425 Forest Road, Walthamstow, east London in four rooms, which he shared with his mother, Frances Shea, 49, a widow from Clapham living on private income; sister Amelia Shea, 23, a booking clerk, born in Clapham; and brother George Shea, 14, born in Manor Park, east London. Ten years previously when Frederick Shea was a 12-year-old schoolboy, he lived with his grandmother, Amelia Couturier, 67, a Clapham-born bookseller, at 209 Clapham Road, his uncle, Francis L. Couturier, her 37-year-old married son described as a “bookseller’s assistant” and born in Newington, and his younger brother, George Shea, 14, born in Manor Park, Essex.

VLUU L210 / Samsung L210
209 Clapham Road

Information from British History Online (Survey of London, 1956)

No. 209 Clapham Road, formerly The Bays or No. 2 Stockwell Common
“This is probably the oldest surviving house in Clapham Road, but unfortunately nothing has been discovered about its origin. It is a double-fronted house of three storeys, its painted stucco face clothing a front of mid or late 18th century date. The central doorway is surmounted by two windows and flanked on each side by a splay sided bay rising through the three storeys. The wood doorcase is of charming design, the arched opening being framed by panelled pilasters with consoles supporting an open triangular pediment. The front finishes with a cornice and blocking course.”

William James Sharp

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W. J. Sharp
Service no. 656082
Rifleman, London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles), 21st Battalion
Killed in action on 22 August 1918, aged 31
Born in Lambeth; enlisted at Camberwell; lived in Clapham
CWGC: “Husband of Grace Elizabeth Sharp, of 16 Paradise Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Norfolk Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt, France

Information from the 1911 census

Clapham-born William Sharp was a tram car driver, aged 24 in 1911. He lived with his widowed father, Joseph Sharp, 65, an unemployed coachman from Pimlico, in two rooms at 1 Northall Street, Stockwell.