Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

1915

Frederick Henry Merredew

by

F. H. Merredew
Service no. 377
Serjeant, London Regiment, “C” Coy. 1st/24th Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted at Kennington; lived at Brixton
Killed in action at age 25 on 26 May 1915
CWGC: “Son of Arthur James and Sarah Mary Merredew, of 1 Sternhold Avenue, Streatham Hill, London.”
Remembered at Le Touret Memorial, France

Information from the 1911 census

Frederick Henry Merredew, 21, was a piano player maker. In 1911 he was living with his family at 36 Glenferrie Road, St Albans, where they occupied 6 rooms. Arthur James Merredew, 47, born in Clerkenwell, was also involved in the player piano trade, working as a wood machinist. His wife, Sarah Mary Merredew, 46, was from Kensington, west London. They had had 11 children, nine surviving, with eight appearing on this census return:
Frederick Henry Merredew, 21, born in South Lambeth;
Florence Emma Merredew, 19, a “raincoat baster” in a clothing factory, born in South Lambeth
Catherine Helena Merredew, 16, born in North Lambeth
Elsie Ada Merredew, 12, born in Brixton
Walter Merredew, 11, born in Brixton
Cecil Edward Merredew, 9, born in Brixton
William Norris Merredew, 6, born in Brixton
Minnie Mary Merredew, 5, born in Brixton
I believe “piano player” to mean “player piano” – these were self-playing pianos, containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism that operates the piano action via, usually, pre-programmed music perforated paper.

George Henry Mayes

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G. H. Mayes
Service no. Deal/1834(S)
Private, Royal Marines, R.M. Div. Train, R.N. Div.
Died on 12 June 1915 at age 35
Died of wounds in 2nd (RN) Field Ambulance (shrapnel wound right side, same date)
CWGC: “Husband of Elizabeth M. Mayes, of 10 Stafford Road, Brixton, London.”
Remembered at Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Turkey

Joseph Temple Mandale

by

J. Mandale
Service no. 1728
Lance Corporal, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 8th Battalion
Died on 20 November 1915 age 34
Born in Lambeth; enlisted at Camberwell; lived in Vauxhall.
CWGC: “Husband of G. E. Mandale, of 49 Cambridge Street, Pimlico, London.”
Remembered at Douai Communal Cemetery, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911, Joseph Temple Mandale, 30, born in Brixton, was living at 61 Bessborough Place, Pimlico. He worked in the wine trade, was married to Gertrude Eleanor Mandale, 20, from Westminster, and had a baby, born in Pimlico, so new he had not yet been named.
In the 1901 census, Mandale lived at 3 Regent Place, in the parish of St Margaret And St John. He was 20 and worked as a porter in a wine cellar. His mother, Marie E. Mandale, 46, was a dress-maker, born in Paris. The previous census, 1891, shows that a 10-year-old Joseph was living with his mother, then 32, and father, another Joseph Mandale, a solicitor’s clerk born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, at 17 Vicarage Terrace, Fulham. There was a younger son, John D. Mandale, then 5.

Note: Some of the ages and names do not add up correctly and Joseph T. Mandale is listed as Joseph J. in the 1891 census.

Frederick Marlow

by

F. Marlow
Service no. 2999
Private, London Regiment, 1st/13th Kensington Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Kensington; lived in Brixton
Killed in action on 9 May 1915, aged about 20
CWGC: “Son of Mrs C. Marlow, of 15, Stansfield Road, Stockwell Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium, at Caxton House, Tothill Street, London SW1 and at St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Memorial showing Frederick Marlow's name (middle of middle column
The original memorial showing Frederick Marlow’s name (middle of third column

Information from BERR.gov.uk
(Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform)

Before Frederick Marlow enlisted in the army, he was an abstractor in the Board of Trade – Labour Department (Central Office). He appears on a Board of Trade staff listed dated April 1913 as one of 47 Abstractors (New Class) in the Labour Exchanges and Unemployment Insurance Branch. The date of his appointment was 29 May 1912 (from when his pension accrued) and his salary was £45. He is remembered on the new war memorial plaque, unveiled in BERR’s headquarters at 1 Victoria Street, London SW1, on 11 November 2002, a replacement for a Roll of Honour to staff of the Board of Trade who fell in the First World War. (The original has been missing for many years.) Marlow is also commemorated on the Memorial to the Staff of the Ministry of Labour, now hanging in Caxton House, Tothill Street, London SW1.

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920
Frederick Marlow’s brother George also served in the Army (London Regiment, 15th Battalion). He described himself as a clerk at the Admiralty. The records show that he stood over 6 feet tall. He was discharged in late September 1918 as no longer physically fit for War Service (he suffered a gunshot wound to the left wrist).

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Frederick Marlow was a 16-year-old “boy clerk” working for the civil service. He lived at 15 Stansfield Road, Stockwell, with his parents, John Marlow, 53, a joiner from Twickenham, and mother Catherine Marlow, 51, from Gypsy Hill. The occupied 6 rooms. The couple had had 6 children, with 5 surviving:
Catherine Marlow, 21, a dressmaker, born in Kennington
William Marlow, 20, an accountant clerk for the civil service, born in Battersea
Henry Marlow, 18, like his brother Frederick a boy clerk for the civil service, born in Battersea
Frederick Marlow, 16, born in Brixton
George Marlow, 14, a boy messenger for the civil service, born in Brixton
The family is found at the same address 10 years previously.
George Marlow, 4, born in Brixton

Arthur Stanley Manning

by

A. S. Manning
Service no. 60740
Wheeler, Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery
Born in Lambeth
Killed in action in Egypt on 23 December 1915, aged about 25
Remembered at Kut War Cemetery, to the north of Baghdad, Iraq
CWGC: The entry for A. S. Manning gives 25 December 1915 as date of death and states that he was of Indian nationality, a Gunner with the Madras Artillery Volunteers, 2nd (Madras) Group Garrison Artillery (The Duke’s Own).

Arthur Stanley Manning was a career soldier. He enlisted in the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery on 9 December 1909 at 88 New Kent Road, having previously worked as a printer’s engineer and served an apprenticeship. At the time of enlistment Manning was 19, 5 feet 7½ inches tall and weighed just over 9¾ stone. His chest measurement was 36 inches. His eyes were blue and his hair was brown.

Manning’s war career was short: he was killed in action on 25 December 1915 at Kut-al-Amarah in the Persian Gulf. He had served a total of 6 years and 15 days.

However, his work as a battery wheeler was solid. At the time he renewed his commitment to the army on 11 December 1914, he had gained two good conduct badges and his character was described as “very good.” After Manning died his sister, Mrs. May Adelaide Parsons, who lived  at 9 Meadow Road, received a registered letter from the Records office at Dover enclosing a letter from the Viceroy of India: “I am […] to forward the enclosed letter from his Excellency the Viceroy […] of transmission to the next-of-kin of the late No. 60740 Bombardier Manning RGA with the Volunteer Battery in Mesopotamia, who was killed in action on 25 December 1915.” Unfortunately, a copy of the Viceroy’s letter is not in the file.

On 1 March 1916 the War Office requested a copy of Manning’s Record of Service “showing the Indian period” and later Lieutenant E. F. Durand, on behalf of the adjutant General of India, sent a letter of condolence to May.

Manning was one of at least six children of James L. B. Manning, a machine operator born in Holborn, and Mary Manning, born in Lambeth.

Information from the 1901 census

Arthur Manning was 10 and living with his family at 9 Meadow Road. His father, James L. B. Manning, 46, was a “machine ruler” (machine operator) born in Holborn. His mother, Mary A. Manning, 45, was born in Lambeth. Their children at the time were:
Sidney J. Manning, 22, was a printer
Louise Elizabeth Manning, 20, a seamstress
Annie R. Manning, 18, was a pager for a bookbinder
George B. Manning, 13
Arthur S. Manning, 10,
May A. Manning, 4
All the children apart from the youngest two were born in Bermondsey.