Stockwell War Memorial

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Stockwell War Memorial

George Harry Allen

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George Harry Allen
George Harry Allen is shown with his mother Marcelina Rachel Allen and (probably) brother Sidney. Photo © Jennifer Blaber and Heather Drislane

G. H. Allen
Service no. G/52892
Private, Middlesex Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Born in Wandsworth, enlisted in Camberwell, lived in Lambeth
Killed in action on 25 March 1918, aged 20
“Son of George and Lena [Marcelina] Allen, of 2A, Wheatsheaf Lane, Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Pozières Memorial, Somme, France

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the Allen family lived at 18 Riverhall Street, Lambeth. George Henry Allen (senior), 37, was a engineer working in cold stores. He was born at Marchington, Staffordshire. His wife, Marcelina, 35, was from Kirtling, Cambridge. Five sons are registered (one child had died):
George Henry Allen, then 12, born in Clapham
Sidney Alwen Allen, 10, born in Battersea
Edward Albert Allen, 7, born in Battersea
Earnest Cyril Allen, 4, born in Kennington
Frederick James Allen, 5 months, born in Kennington
The family lived in 2 rooms.

Frederick John Allen

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F. J. Allen
Second Lieutenant, Devonshire Regiment, “C” Coy. 9th Battalion
Died age 22 on 27 September 1915
CWGC: “Son of Frederick Herbert and Alice Allen, of 79 Union Road, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Lapugnoy Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, at St John’s Church, Clapham Road, London SW9

Frederick John Allen

Information from the Royal Bank of Scotland archives:

Frederick John Allen joined the London County and Westminster Bank on 6 October 1910 at the Victoria Street branch in London SW1. He remained there until he joined the Army. The bank was later incorporated into Royal Bank of Scotland. The following is an extract from the County & Westminster staff magazine of November 1915:
A photograph also appears of Second Lieut. J. F. Allen, of the Victoria Street Branch. He was educated at the Westminster City School, and received his earliest military training in their cadet corps. He joined the Artists and was a first rate shot, being in the eight that won the Daily Telegraph Cup for H Company, and later in the sixteen which ran second in the Inter-Battalion Cup. He was the first volunteer to mount guard at the outer gate of the Tower of London. After receiving his commission in the 9th Devons he became Signalling Officer and was selected for a special job by the Brigadier.

Information from the 1911 census
Frederick John Allen, then 17, is registered on the 1911 census as the only surviving child of 43-year-old schoolmaster Frederick Herbert Allen, an assistant elementary schoolmaster for London County Council born in Newington, and his wife Alice Minta Varney Allen, also 43 and born in Norwood. Frederick was working as a bank clerk for London County and Westminster Bank. They lived in 6 rooms at 47 Mayflower Road, SW9.
The family is also on the 1901 living at the same address.

Walter Alexander

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W. Alexander
Royal Navy, Stoker 1st Class, HMS ‘Fandango’
Service no. 311118
Died on 3 July 1919, aged 28
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent

Chris Burge writes:

Walter Alexander was born on 5 December 1888 in Camberwellin southeast London. In the 1891 census he is recorded as one of four siblings living at Faraday Street, Walworth:  Maud, aged 8; Phoebe, 3; Walter, 2; and James, 5 months.  His parents William and Ellen were 63 and 52 respectively. Although it was not unknown for women to have children late in life, especially if they had many births, there is a question mark over the accuracy of the children’s recorded ages and their true relationship with the parents. 

The family home was a three-storey property housing two other families totalling 16 people, close to the Michael Faraday Board School, St Stephen’s Church, the Newington Workhouse and the ‘Mineral Water Works’ in nearby Albany Street. William Alexander worked as a ‘traveller in mineral waters’. Walter’s infant brother James died in 1892 and his father William died in 1898. The family group is not found in the 1901 census. 

On 31 January 1907 Walter, previously a grocer’s assistant, joined the Navy as a stoker, signing for 12 years’ service. He was described as 5ft 3in tall, with light brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.  Advancement was slow, not least as Walter found himself in the cells more than once and in 1912 was given 30 days’ detention for insubordination. A more serious incident occurred on the very day Britain declared war on 5 August 1914. Walter was accused of inciting insubordination and attempting to strike. The nature of any grievance was not recorded.  Walter was threatened with 90 days’ imprisonment and dismissal from the service, an order that was cancelled on 4 November. After this date, Walter’s conduct was good to very good and he served on HMS Virago in the China seas until July 1915 when he was shore-based for a few months.  

Walter was a witness at the wedding of his sister Maud to George Thomas Dalton in Tooting on 17 October 1915.  The couple lived in Leigh on Sea briefly before George Dalton volunteered under Lord Derby’s Group Scheme on 1 December 1915, and joined the Army. George was called up on 1 June 1916 and Maud moved to 244 South Lambeth Road, Stockwell.  

The battle of Jutland took place on 1 June 1916 when Walter Alexander was on board the destroyer HMS Menace, part of the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla which screened the Grand Fleet in the battle.  Walter was transferred to another destroyer, HMS Prince, in October 1916.  

In 1917,  Walter was given leave to marry Beatrice Alice Selina Dalton, a younger sister of his brother-in-law George.  The wedding took place on 3 June at St Andrew’s, Stockwell, and was witnessed by Walter’s mother Ellen and Beatrice’s father.The couple’s address was recorded as 40 Sidney Street, Stockwell.  Walter returned to HMS Prince but his service extended beyond the war’s end when he served on the armed minesweeper HMS Fandango from April 1919. Walter was killed on 3 July 1919 when his ship struck an enemy mine and was wrecked during operations in the Dvina River in north Russia. 

On 3 September 1919 Walter’s widow Beatrice gave birth to Winifred Elizabeth Alexander, who was baptised on 28 September. Walter was recorded as ‘killed in action’ in the Parish register. Beatrice was married for a second time in 1920 to Edmund Arthur Hartshorn and died in 1987 in Devon, aged 92. Walter’s married daughter Winifred passed way in London in 2002, aged 83. 

Walter Alexander, the son of Ellen and William Alexander, was born on 5 December 1888 in Camberwell, southeast London. He joined the Navy in 1907 and married Beatrice Alice Selina Dalton at St Andrew’s Church, Stockwell Green, ten years later. Their daughter Winifred Elizabeth was born on 3 September 1919 and baptised at the same church. 

Walter was killed when his ship, the HMS Fandango, struck a mine during operations in the Dvina River North Russia.

In 1920 Beatrice married Edmund Hartshorn, and lived at 40 Sidney Road, Stockwell.

Henry Eustace Adams

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H.E. Adams
Rifleman, Rifle Brigade, 13th Bn.
Service No. S/2950
Died 25 October 1916, aged 38
Remembered at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, at St Mark’s Church, Kennington and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

Henry Eustace Adams, from De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, 1914-1924

Chris Burge writes:

Henry Eustace Adams, born in Southwark in 1878, was the youngest son of Robert Adams and Ann (née Lee), who were married at St Martin in the Fields Church in Trafalgar Square in 1863. At the time of Henry’s birth his father was already established as a successful mechanical engineer.  By the time of the 1891 census his widowed father Robert lived at 162 Brixton Road (still standing and Grade II listed), with Sidney James, 21; Emily Martha, 17; Fanny, 14; Henry Eustace, 12; and Annie, 10. The family employed a single domestic servant. The house, which is still standing, is a double-fronted Regency villa dating from around 1823, with, at that time, 13 rooms, a basement, attic and coach house.

At the age of 50, Robert Adams was married for a second time, to Louisa Mary Pearce, who was ten years younger. A decade later, the family were still living at 162 Brixton Road, which they had named Victor Lodge.  

Henry went to  West Cliff School, Ramsgate and City of London School, and matriculated at the University of London in 1900. After qualifying as an architect in 1904 he joined his father’s engineering business and later became a partner.

Henry was educated at West Cliff School, Ramsgate and City of London School, matriculated at the University of London in 1900 and qualified as an architect four years later. He worked in his father’s 30-year-old business at 3 and 5 Emerald Street, near Holborn along with his older brother Sidney James; the brothers later became partners. When Henry’s 70-year-old father completed the 1911 census the household consisted of himself, his wife Louisa Mary, and his children, now all in their 30s: Sidney, Emily, Henry and a domestic servant Annie Dickenson. 

On the outbreak of war Henry felt compelled to volunteer. On 9 September 1914, after failing to get into the Royal Engineers, Henry had gone to 32 St Paul’s Churchyard, where he joined the Rifle Brigade. He was 35 years old, 5ft 9½in in height and weighed almost 10½st with a 36in chest. His hair and eyes were brown and he had a fresh complexion and no distinguishing marks other than two moles on his back.  

Henry’s father died on 11 September 1914, aged 74.  With Henry in the Army, Sidney was left to run the family business.

The part he played in the War and his own fate is described in detail in an entry in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, based on information provided most likely by his older brother Sidney James Adams.

Henry served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 29 July, 1915. He took part in operations along the British front from Armentieres to Albert and was selected for special duties with the Royal Engineers. in the winter of 1915–16, and was attached to the 147th Army Troop Company, when he was entrusted with the survey of important works connected with the 7th Corps line, which included those in front of the villages of Souastre and St Armand, and prepared the plans which were submitted to Headquarters, and for these services he was highly commended.

He took part in the Battle of the Somme, and died in No. 14 Stationary Hospital, Wimereux, 25 October from complications arising from exposure in the field, after being wounded in action between Contalmaison and Pozières on 10 July. 

A comrade wrote:

We had been carrying bombs, etc., up to the front line, a small party of about eight, and we succeeded in getting through a terrible barrage to our destination safely. We were told to take shelter in the front line for a time. It was then he [Adams] got hit by a piece of shrapnel. As things did not get better, we were told to make our way back, and, of course, take Mr. Adams with us; but he absolutely refused to let us do so, saying he did not want to jeapardize [sic] our young lives in attempting to save his. We were all so sorry to leave him, for he was highly respected by us all, and he was always looked upon as our adviser owing to his superior knowledge on almost everything possible to think of. 

Henry had left a will in favour of Sidney and probate was granted on 23 October 1917, amounting to £3171 12s 6d.  At the end of the war Henry’s brother had preferred to deal with the Army’s officialdom via his family solicitor.  In 1920, there was confusion over a communication printed with the words ‘army service effects’, containing the sum of £9. This was a war gratuity payment and not the personal effects that Sidney still longed to have, as his solicitor pointed out: ‘Our client is very anxious to have his brother’s effects, and we would be obliged if you will have a special enquiry made about them…’ There is no record that any of Henry’s personal belongings were ever returned to his brother. 

Mr S.J. Adams was listed among those who made an additional subscription to the Stockwell Memorial fund when it was officially unveiled in 1922, as reported in The Brixton Free Press on 5 May 1922. In 1927, aged 57, Sidney married Dorothy Winifred Passmore. The couple, along with Sidney’s sister Emily, lived at 162 Brixton Road until 1937 when Sidney passed away at the age of 67.

The full entry for Henry Eustace Adams in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, probably based on information provided by Adams’ older brother Sidney James Adams.