Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

1914

Thomas Vincent

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T. Vincent
Service no. 10262
Lance Corporal, Bedfordshire Regiment, 1st Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Hertford; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 22 October 1914, aged 19
CWGC: “Son of Maria Vincent, of 106 Railton Road, Herne Hill, London, and the late Thomas Vincent.”
Remembered at Le Touret Memorial, France

Information from the 1911 census

Thomas Vincent, 15 in 1911, was a messenger for the telegraph office. He lived with his parents and two brothers at 15 Springfield Place, Stockwell (Springfield Place has now disappeared – it was in the area near Lansdowne Way and Wandsworth Road). Thomas Vincent (senior), was 70 and worked as a messenger for the borough council. He was born in Islington. His wife Maria Vincent, 48, was from Hanwell, west London. They had three surviving children (of four): Thomas and two younger brothers, Harry Vincent, 13, and Fred Vincent, 7.

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.

Hubert Tindal Sutton

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H. T. Sutton
Service no. 9005
Private, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion
Born in Battersea; enlisted in London
Died on 21 November 1914, aged 30
CWGC: “Son of Stanley and Mary Sutton, of 5 Gauden Road, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium

Information from the censuses

I have not managed to track down Hubert Tindal Sutton in the 1911 census, but his parents, Stanley Sutton, 49, a clerk from Tenterden, Kent, and Mary Sutton, 47, from London, are found at Tendring, Essex. The census shows that Stanley and Mary claimed they had had five children, two of whom had died. As they named three daughters on the census (Mary G. Sutton, 20, Ethel D. M. Sutton, 16, and Anita P. Sutton, 9, one wonders whether there was some kind of rift with Hubert. The family had a live-in servant, Alice Woods, 17, from Gillingham, Kent.

In 1901 Stanley Sutton was a 39-year-old pawn broker from Tenderden, Kent, living at “41 & 43 Battersea Park Road” according to the 1901 census. His wife, Mary Sutton, was born in Kennington. Hubert’s occupation is not given (he was then 17). He was born in New Brompton, Kent. His sisters, Mary Sutton (10) and Esther Sutton (6), were born in Battersea. Mary Hallard, 20, from Sheerness, Kent, was the family’s live-in domestic servant, and Samuel Perry, 29, described as an “assistant pawn broker” and who was born in Kilburn, London, resided with the family. It is likely that the Suttons lived over the shop.

Alfred Frank Spice

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A.F. Spice
Service no. M/1766
Cook’s Mate, Royal Navy, HMS Good Hope
Killed in action on 1 November 1914 at the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile, aged 23
Remembered at Portsmouth Naval Memorial
See LondonWarMemorial.co.uk

This identification was made by Chris Burge, who writes:

Albert Frank Spice was born on 9 March 1891 in Clapham, the third child of James Spring and Julia Spice. The family were living in Larkhall Lane at the time. Albert’s father worked as a house painter and decorator and by 1901 there had been two further additions to the family at Larkhall Lane. But fortunes changed with the death of Albert’s father in 1905.

The 1911 Census shows Albert’s widowed mother Julia was employed at home as a sewing machinist doing piecework, and Albert’s sisters Florence and Elsie worked as cardboard box makers. A cousin of Albert’s mother was staying with them, together with a paying boarder. Five people where sharing five rooms at 133 Larkhall Lane, Clapham.

Albert was not to be found at the family home in 1911, he was in the Navy. Albert joined on 11 April 1910, as a 2nd Class Cook’s Mate and had progressed to Cook’s Mate in the intervening year. He served on HMS Dreadnought for two years and moved to HMS Ariadne in 1913 when he had passed for Leading Cook’s Mate. At the outbreak on the war, Albert had been on the armoured cruiser HMS Good Hope since 31 July 1914. Later that year, HMS Good Hope was part of the 4th Cruiser Squadron, which engaged the enemy off the coast of Chile on 1 November. Outnumbered and outgunned, the HMS Good Hope was lost with all hands, a total of 926 officers and ratings.

Albert’s mother and sisters were left to mourn his loss as the war dragged on with no end in sight. The creation of the Stockwell War Memorial offered them a lasting act of remembrance. It had been a long wait.