Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

1916

Jesse William Goff

by

photo of soldier Jesse William Goff
Jesse William Goff. Photos © Sue and Ron Falder

P. W. Goff (erroneously given for J.W. Goff)
Service no. 300319
Rifleman, London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade), 1st/5th Battalion
Born in Clapham; enlisted in London; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 1 July 1916 (the first day of the battle of the Somme), aged 19
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

Jesse William Goff is consistently misnamed as P.W. (Percy William Goff) – in his Army records, on his medals cards, in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database, on the Thiepval Memorial and at Stockwell War Memorial. Why this should be is still a mystery to his descendants. The family have his medals and death plaque – they give his Army number so there is no question that this is the correct man.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the Goff family lived at 63 Chelsham Road, Clapham, where they had seven rooms. Jesse William Goff, then 13 and an only child, lived with his father, William Percy Goff, 43, a prudential assurance agent from Poole, Dorset, and Grace Mary Goff, 38, an assistant mistress at a London County Council school. There was a boarder, Frank Cutten, 28, a compositor from Chichester, Sussex.

Sue and Ron Falder have sent the photo of Jess, above, and the text of two letters he wrote to his Aunt “Op” (Annie Margaret Carroll (nee Williams) Jesse’s mother’s sister, who is Sue Falder’s grandmother, at 42 Risingholme Road, Weald Village, Harrow, Middlesex.

They provide a vivid portrait of the hard work required at the front, and of the dry good humour life there brought to the surface. He sounds both hard-working (“hard work and fresh air”) and sweet-natured in his expressions of affection for his young cousin Molly and the newborn baby.

The first letter is dated 28 May (1916). He mentions the fact that Jim (Op’s husband) may be called up. By January 1916 compulsory conscription was in place. It applied to unmarried or widowed men between 18 and 41, but on 25 May 1916 married men were included. Those in trades that were considered vital to the war economy – the so-called “starred occupations” – were exempt. I am not sure who “our boss” mentioned in the letter is, but it could be Jess’s sardonic description of his own mother.

Sue and Ron Falder have sent the photo of Jess, above, and the text of two letters he wrote to his Aunt “Op” (Annie Margaret Carroll (nee Williams) Jesse’s mother’s sister, who is Sue Falder’s grandmother, at 42 Risingholme Road, Weald Village, Harrow, Middlesex.

They provide a vivid portrait of the hard work required at the front, and of the dry good humour life there brought to the surface. He sounds both hard-working (“hard work and fresh air”) and sweet-natured in his expressions of affection for his young cousin Molly and the newborn baby.

Jesse William Goff's letter home on 19 June 1916
Jesse William Goff’s letter home on 19 June 1916

The first letter is dated 28 May (1916). He mentions the fact that Jim (Op’s husband) may be called up. By January 1916 compulsory conscription was in place. It applied to unmarried or widowed men between 18 and 41, but on 25 May 1916 married men were included. Those in trades that were considered vital to the war economy – the so-called “starred occupations” – were exempt. I am not sure who “our boss” mentioned in the letter is, but it could be Jess’s sardonic description of his own mother.

My Dear Op,

I have just got your address from Ma.

I was going to write before but I could not remember the name of your street. I remembered the number of the house that was all.

Well I am out here again & very near where I was before in fact we pass some of our old billets daily.

It is rather warmer than before in more ways than one. Nevertheless by dint of hard work & fresh air we manage to keep ourselves alive & fit. Mind you it’s not all cakes & ale but our various little “grouses” would fill a book.
We go out & work every day with picks & shovels just like navvies (the only difference is that the latter get about three times the pay). Sometimes we get a little shelling or “strafing” sometimes not, usually the former but we have managed without any casualties so far. Our week usually consists of seven days (working) & after a lengthy discussion today we have come to the conclusion that the man who could put forward an invention that would get another 24 hrs out of a week, would make his fortune.

I have heard from Ma about Uncle “Jim” & the “garrison duty abroad” business. Really I should not think that he would be called up at all. I’m sure I don’t know how our “boss” will get on if the age limit extends much more. But I must not express my own views on the subject as this epistle has to pass through other hands.

“Let’s” hope it will be all over soon.

Shall be pleased to hear from you when you can spare the time. Hope you are all well: I am quite fit. Love to both of you. Lot’s of kisses for Molly and I can only say “the other”. I do not know the name or sex.

Anyhow just mention that “he or she” has got a cousin.

Yr Loving Nephew, Jess.

The second letter was written on Friday 23 June, just a few days before he was killed, on 1 July 1916. He mentions the “official P.C. [postcard]”, shown left.

My dear Op & Jim

Thanks very much for your letter and parcel. Many of us enjoyed the contents. As a matter of fact it arrived at a most opportune moment – we were in the trenches.

That is the reason I was unable to write there and then, but I hope you received the official p.c.

We had a rather rough time up there but are very now resting (& very glad too).

Really there is next door to no news. One cannot say everything & – well all that remains is I am quite well and the weather has not been at all good.

We see rather more life & more grub now since we have left the “navvies”. I don’t think anyone was very sorry to leave.

By the way I’m afraid I’m putting the cart before the horse. I don’t think I told you that we moved and are now with our regiment.

My address for the future will be No. 255 A Coy. London Rifle Brigade B.E.F. France.

Now I’m afraid that is all.

Best of love to Molly & the new arrival.

Y. Loving Nephew Jess

Ernest Girdlestone

by

E. Girdlestone
Service no. 16374
Private, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, 6th Battalion
Killed in action age 38 on 17 September 1916
Enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Brixton
CWGC: “Son of the late Owen William and Clara Morten Girdlestone, brother of Mrs. L. Boughey, of 283 Rosendale Road, Herne Hill, London.”
Remembered at London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Ernest Arthur Girdlestone, 30, was working as a painter’s labourer and living with his brother Percy James Girdlestone, 28, a widowed upholsterer, and his son, William Girdlestone, 6, at 188 Icknield Port Road, Birmingham, where they occupied 2 rooms. All were born in Brixton, south-west London.
Twenty years earlier Ernest was living with his parents and siblings at 99 Stockwell Road, where the household included:
Owen Girdlestone, 63, an upholsterer from Halesworth, Suffolk
Clara Girdlestone, 44, from Colchester, Essex
Owen Girdlestone, 16, a tailor’s porter, born in Holborn, London
Ernest Girdlestone, 13, born in Holborn, London
Percy Girdlestone, 12, born in Holborn, London, “speech and hearing imperfect”
Clara Girdlestone, 2, born in Lambeth

There is a discrepancy between the 1891 and 1911 censuses in place of birth for Ernest and his siblings. It is possible that, since the death of Owen and Clara Girdlestone, this knowledge was lost.

Benjamin James George

by

B. J. George
Service no PS/2124
Private, Middlesex Regiment, 16th Battalion
Died of wounds age 25 on 15 July 1916
Born in Thornton Heath, Surrey; lived in Stockwell; enlisted in Lambeth
CWGC: “Born at Coulsdon, Surrey. Son of David John Gingell George and Emily George, of 76, Southview Rd., Southwick, Sussex.
Remembered at Hamburg Cemetery, Germany

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

Benjamin James George went missing on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. His status changed to “Killed in action” on two weeks later. However, this was wrong. He was, in fact, a prisoner of war in Germany and he was suffering from gunshot wounds to the left side of the chest and pneumonia. He died in the hospital of a German prisoner of war camp (Gefangener Lager Lazarett) at Minden, a city west of Hannover and over 600 kilometres from the Front.
A document translated from the German in George’s file (transmitted to the War Office through the Red Cross) states that he was visited by a clergyman adn buried in the French Cemetery at Minderheide, Grave 145, and gives his precise time of death – 12.30am.

His effects were sent to his family: French dictionary, torch, holdall, notebook, steel mirror. These items were presumably in his dugout. It is unlikely he would have had them with him when captured.

The other details we have on George are that he was 5 feet 6 inches, with a 34½ inch chest (which he could expand by 2½ inches). He weighed just over 9½ stone. There were small moles on the left side of his neck. He had fair hair. He gave his address as 46 Hemberton Street, and his occupation as salesman. He was 25 years and 9 months old and was born in Thornton Heath. He enlisted at Lambeth. He was hospitalised at Tidworth, Hampshire for 3½ weeks in October 1915 with impetigo on the chin. Impetigo, a highly contagious skin disease, was common in soldiers, although rarely reported in the field, as soldiers would wait until it became infected before seeking health. An article in the British Medical Journal of 2 February 1918 claimed that of 1800 military patients in one of the London General Hospitals over 1400 had the condition. Treatment was long and tedious.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Benjamin James George, then 21, was living with his brothers and sisters at 71 Stanley Street, South Lambeth:
Claude William George, 30, was designated head of the household. He worked as a sorter for the G.P.O. (General Post Office). Born in High Wycombe. Buckinghamshire.

Mabel Adelaide George, 29, was a military tailoress working for the Royal Army Clothing Department. She was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire
Elsie Annie George, 25, had no employment. She was born in Hammersmith, west London.
John George, 23, was a railway porter. He was born in Hammersmith.
Benjamin James George, 21, was a shop assistant in the book trade. He was born in Thornton Heath, Surrey.
Emily White, 25, was a cashier in a restaurant. She was born in the City of London.
Their father was a police sergeant (1901 census).

Arthur Henry George

by

A. H. George
Service no. 230638
Private,  London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), (2450). 1st/2nd Battalion
Enlisted at Tufton Street, London
Killed in action age 23 on 1 July 1916
CWGC: “Son of John Daniel and Elizabeth George, of 82, Wandsworth Rd., London.”
Remembered at Gommecourt British Cemetery No. 2, Hebuterne, Pas de Calais, France

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Arthur Henry George, 17 and born in “Surrey, near London”, was a messenger in a newspaper office. He lived with his parents and brother at 11 Riverhall Street, South Lambeth. John Daniel George, 57, was an unemployed general labourer, born in “Middlesex, London”, Elizabeth George, 57, was from Billericay, Essex. The couple had had 6 children of whom 5 survived, with only Arthur and his brother Charles Ernest George, 29, a general labourer born in Billericay living with them.

Henry Frost

by

H. Frost
Service no. 2/9508
Private, East Surrey Regiment, 7th Battalion
Died on 24 March 1916, aged 29
Remembered at Calais Southern Cemetery, France

This identification was made by Chris Burge, who writes:

Henry Frost was born at the end of 1886 in Lambeth, the second youngest of what would be eight known children of parents Thomas and Letitia (née Knight) Frost. Henry’s mother died in 1897 and the family home had broken up by 1901. Henry (Harry), then 14, worked as a ‘carman’ and lived with his older brother Joseph’s family in Stockwell.

The idea of six months initial training, followed by annual camp with bounty, was attractive enough for Henry Frost to join the newly formed ‘Special Reserve’ of the East Surrey Regiment on 16 January 1908. He was described as being 5ft 2ins (1.6m) tall, weighing 114lbs (51.5kg) and with brown eyes and dark brown hair. Part way through his initial training, Henry Frost decided his future lay in the Army and he transferred to a regular battalion of the East Surrey Regiment, becoming private 9508, Frost, on 25 April 1908. After two years in the UK, his battalion was posted overseas in 1910 and Henry Frost would not return to England until late in 1914 after the outbreak of the Great War.

After a short period of acclimatisation and re-fit the the 2/East Surreys, arrived in France on 19 January 1915. Henry Frost suffered a bad case of frostbite to both feet due to the squalid conditions in front line trenches. He was invalided back to England on 17 February 1915. He returned to duty on 8 April 1915, posted to the 3/East Surreys at Dover to regain fitness before returning to France on 14 December 1915, in time for another winter. Henry Frost did not rejoin his old battalion but was posted to the 7/East Surreys, part of Kitchener’s New Armies.

In March 1916, Henry Frost’s battalion manned trenches opposite the infamous Hohenzollern Redout, which had been the scene of bitter fighting in 1915. Between 7 and 18 March, the 7/East Surreys were subjected to intense enemy shelling, suffering 34 killed, 22 missing and 243 wounded. Another 39 were hospitalised with shell shock. Henry Frost was likely to have been wounded around this time and evacuated to one of the hospitals at Calais before he succumbed to his wounds on 24 March 1916.

At some stage Henry Frost had nominated as next of kin both his bother Joseph Frost living at 11 Moat Place, Stockwell, and his brother George who lived in Norwood. It was Joseph Frost who received Henry’s medals in 1920. In the absence of a sole legatee, the war gratuity was paid in equal shares to his six brothers and two married sisters.

The creation of the Stockwell War Memorial was their chance to the honour the name of a lost brother.

John Morgan French

by

J. M. French
Service no. 668
Gunner, Royal Garrison Artillery, 1st/5th Glamorgan Bde.
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Cardiff
Died of wounds aged 25 on 31 August 1916
CWGC: “Son of John W. French, of 282, South Lambeth Rd., London.”
Remembered at Richmond Cemetery, Surrey

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901 the French family lived at 59 Mawbey Street, South Lambeth. John French, 41, was a brakesman. He was born in Little Baddow, Essex. Sarah French, 41, was born in Glamorganshire, Wales. Rose A. French, 12, John M. French, 10, Frederick French, 7, were all at school and all were born in Lambeth. Lawrence Swan, 25, a 25-year-old single steam engine maker from Burntisland, Fifeshire, Scotland, and William Freeborn, 21, a railway porter from Turweston, Northamptonshire boarded with the family.

John Morgan French, who at some point moved to Cardiff and worked for the Western Mail as a compositor, is also remembered on the Roath Local History website Western Mail Roll of Honour, where you can find further details.