Stockwell War Memorial

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Stockwell War Memorial

Arthur Webb

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A. Webb
Service no. 651657
Serjeant, London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles), 21st Battalion
Died of wounds on 31 August 1918, aged 35
CWGC: “Son of James and Mary Jane Webb, of 22, Kendoa Rd., Clapham, London. Native of Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

The Army was evidently impressed by draper Arthur Webb. Shortly after he presented himself at the London Regiment’s Camberwell recruiting office in June 1915 he started on a trajectory through the ranks. Exactly a month later, he was appointed paid Lance Corporal. By the end of July he was Corporal, by October Lance Serjeant, and before he was posted to France he was Acting Serjeant. By January 1917 he was Serjeant.

Webb’s conduct was excellent – but not perfect. There was one black mark against his name: for being late for company parade some time in May 1917, for which he was reprimanded.

It was all over on 31 August 1918, when Webb died of a gunshot wound to the neck, “penetrating the spine” as noted in his file.

What else do we know about Webb? Physically, he was short (or rather, not tall) and not well built. He stood 5 feet 4½inches, with a 36½ inch chest (plus 2½ inches). He weighed 8 stone 10 pounds. He left a collection of effects, all forwarded to his mother, including the usual photos, letters, discs, pipe and notebook, but also two pairs of glasses, a watch and chain and, a small surprise,  a rosary in a tin box. We have plenty of evidence that Webb was an Anglican: his documents state it clearly, he is remembered on the memorial plaque at St Andrew’s, Landor Road and he lived in a Church institute with his mother, he may nevertheless have been “High Church” enough to find comfort in the use of a rosary. Or it may have merely been his good luck charm in a world in which every iota of luck was worth keeping beside you.

Information from the 1911 census

Arthur Webb, 27 in 1911, worked as a commercial clerk. One of six children, he lived with three siblings, two boarders and his widowed mother, Mary Jane Webb, 51, the caretaker at 57 Stockwell Road, a “preventive home” for girls, dedicated to training girls for domestic service. The property had 14 rooms, most probably not for habitation. The siblings were Henry James Webb, 30, an insurance clerk; Florence Webb, 23, no occupation; Alfred Webb, 21, an insurance clerk. The two boarders were Church of England ministers: John Smith, 24, single, from Hackney, and Harry Thomas James, 25, from Penarth in Glamorgan.

Henry Thomas Weatherley

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H. T. Weatherley
Service no. 4712
Private, London Regiment, 24th Battalion
Died on 24 January 1916, aged about 21
CWGC: “Son of Mr A. Weatherley, of 25 Aylesford Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Noeux-les-Mines Communal Cemetery, France

This is a tentative identification. I have not seen any data that relates “H.T. Weatherley” on the memorial with Henry Thomas Weatherley living at 158 Larkhall Lane in 1911. However, they both have Mr. A. Weatherley as a father – and I have not found any other H.T. Weatherleys in the area at that time.

Information from the 1911 census

Henry Thomas Weatherley was 14 and out of work in 1911. He lived with his parents, Alfred Weatherley, 45, a painter from Uxbridge, and Elizabeth Jane Weatherley (née Taylor), 45, from Maldon, Essex, at 158 Larkhall Lane, where the family had five rooms. Three siblings lived at home (one was elsewhere; one had died): Alfred Henry Weatherley, 21, a gas fitter born in Brixton, William Edward Weatherley, 18, a boot repairer; Eva May Weatherley, 11. Jack John Weatherley, a married baker, father of nine, and brother to Alfred, lived with the family, as did Malcolm John Morgan, a 30-year-old married boot repairer from Clapham.

Albert Edward Waymark

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A. E. Waymark
Service no. 40762
Private, Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment), 15th Battalion
Enlisted at Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire
Killed in action on 26 November 1916, aged 37
CWGC: “Son of Mrs S. A. Waymark, of 38 Heyford Avenue, South Lambeth Road, London.”
Remembered at Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, France

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

Details on Albert Edward Waymark are scant but bring to mind a vivid picture. We know that he was 5 feet 2¾ inches tall and weighed 9½ stone. He measured 38 inches around the chest, which he could expand by a further 2 inches. He stated that he was a concrete worker, and was 36 years and 113 days.

He was assigned to the 15th (Service) Battalion (Nottingham), a bantam battalion for troops under the normal regulation minimum of 5ft 3in.

Waymark joined the British Expeditionary Force on 18 July 1916. During that month, the battalion took part in the fighting for Arrow Head Copse and Maltz Horn Farm and for Falfemont Farm, on the Somme. 

After he was killed in action on 26 November 1916, his mother, Sarah Ann Waymark, living at 38 Heyford Avenue, South Lambeth, received his medals but no effects.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Albert Edward Waymark, 32, was boarding with the Shephard family at Donington-on-Bain, a small village near Louth in Lincolnshire. Waymark was born in Clapham. The host family, Frederick (also a bricklayer’s labourer) and Louisa Shephard, had lost six babies in their marriage. Only one, Ivy Shephard, 11, survived. Waymark had been in Lincolnshire since at least 1901, when, aged 21, he lived with in Wigtoft, Lincolnshire, again boarding. The 1891 census shows Waymark living with his parents, William H. Waymark, a valet, and Sarah A. Waymark, at 9 Stamford Buildings, South Lambeth Road.

George Joseph Watts

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G. J. Watts
Service no. S/1117
Private, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), 1st Battalion
Born in Westminster; enlisted in London
Killed in action on 23 April 1915, aged 34
CWGC: “Husband of Elizabeth J. Watts, of 75 Thorparch Road [this is an error, it is 95 Thorparch Road], Wandsworth Road, Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

When Watts, who was born in Westminster in 1881, attested on 12 October 1914, aged 34, he was working as an outside porter. He declared that he had  previously served in the 2nd battalion of the Royal West Kents, and was discharged in 1905 at the end of his term. He was 5ft 5in, just under 8½st with a 36½in chest. He had blue eyes, dark brown hair and a fresh complexion, with ‘profuse’ tattooing on both forearms and calves. His physical development was judged to be ‘Good’. He joined his battalion on 4 January 1915, was appointed  unpaid lance coproral on 12 February and and was posted missing  on 23 April. He had served a total of 194 days. His widow Elizabeth was left to bring up three children, Rose Elizabeth (born 1906), Lilian Maud (1909) and Violet May (1911). 

Alfred Herbert Watts

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A. H. Watts
Service no. 44390
Rifleman, Royal Irish Rifles, 15th Battalion; formerly London Regiment
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Lambeth
Killed in action on 14 October 1918, aged 20
CWGC: “Son of Mrs S. J. Watts, of 28 Rosetta Street, South Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Watts’s name is included in Ireland’s Memorial Records 1914–1918. 

Information from the censuses

Alfred Herbert Watts, a 13-year-old schoolboy in 1911, also found work as a milkboy. He lived at 28 Rosetta Street,  South Lambeth, where his family had five rooms. Alfred’s father, George Henry Watts, 49, from Trowbridge, Wiltshire was a carman, working for the London & South West Railway. His mother, Sarah Jane Watts (née Doel), 46, was from Yarnbrook, Wiltshire. They had two other children: Water Henry Watts, 22, a packer in a tea warehouse, and Elsie May Watts, 17, a dressmaker.  Daisy Laura Neale, 9, a niece from Heywood, Wiltshire, lived with the family, as did Albert Taylor, a 35-year-old single boarder, whose occupation is unrecorded.

Arthur Spurgeon Waterman

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A. S. Waterman
Service no. 3295
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 12th Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Brixton
Killed in action on 18 July 1916, aged about 23
Remembered at Dranoutre Military Cemetery, Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Information from the censuses

Arthur Spurgeon Waterman, named after the famous preacher and founder of Stockwell Orphanage, was a house painter. Aged 19 in 1911, he lived with his parents and four of his five siblings at 100 Paradise Road, where the family had eight rooms. They had lived at that address since at least 1901. George Phillip Waterman, 56, was a house decorator, born in Clapham; Jane Waterman, 58, was born in Islington. Lillian Gertrude Waterman, 23, was a “lady clerk” for a manufacturer of toilet preparations; Jennie Rebecca Waterman, 21, was “at home”; George Gordon Waterman, 20, was a painter; Rose Ann Waterman, 17, was an invoice clerk for a printing firm. All were born in Clapham. Four other children did not survive.