Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

1917

George Frederick Warwick

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George Frederick Warwick

George Frederick Warwick
Corporal, Service No. 30468, formerly 77895 (Royal Engineers)
Killed in action on 5 October 1917, aged 23
1st Bn., Royal Warwickshire Regiment
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Belgium

A substantial number of men from the Stockwell area were not listed on the Memorial. The Stockwell War Memorial committee invited families to submit names. Some may not have wanted their sons’ names to appear on it; others may have moved away and not been aware that the opportunity existed; others still had resided outside the official boundary of a half-mile radius from the building. It is clear that some families came forward after the unveiling of the monument: a few names were added, out of alphabetical order, on the final panel.

George Frederick Warwick is not listed on Stockwell War Memorial, despite the fact that his family home at 180 Stockwell Road was within half a mile of the memorial site. We do not know the reason for his omission. His name has not been discovered on any of the other local surviving memorials.

After he enlisted in the Royal Engineers in Lambeth in 1915, George served as a Dispatch Rider in various locations around Arras, in the region of Artois, northern France. In March 1917 he was transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and took part in the Battle of Arras (First and Third Battle of Scarpe), after which his regiment was kept on the front line to consolidate the system of trenches dug on the ground retaken during the battle.

On 30 September George left for Ypres and was killed in action just over two weeks later at the Battle of Broodseinde, at 19 Meter Hill.

While he was serving he fell in love with a young French woman, Georgette Béthencourt, who gave birth to his daughter, Marie, on 26 August 1917. He was able to hold his child in his arms only twice before leaving for Ypres.

George, who was born in the parish of St Martin in the Fields, Westminster in 1896, was the eldest of seven children of George Edward Warwick, a Covent Garden master porter, and Julia Catherine Williams. In the 1911 census the Warwick family was recorded as living at 180 Stockwell Road, with a female servant and a male boarder. When George’s daughter was 11, her George Edward, her grandfather, sent her George’s medals (see letter below).

Information and all photos by kind permission of George’s grandson-in-law Pierre Rouvillois, and Elisabeth Rouvillois.

John Thomas Wotton

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J. T. Wotton
Service no. 13413
Corporal, East Surrey Regiment, 13th Battalion
Died on 6 March 1917, aged 29
CWGC: “Husband of A. L. Wotton, of 65, Cottage Grove, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Abbeville Community Cemetery Extension, France

Wotton was born in Herne Bay, Kent, the son of Thomas Wotton, a carriage painter from Birchington, Kent, and Mary Ann (née Mount), from Herne Bay. By 1901 the family had moved to 187 Wirtemberg Street, Clapham and John’s father was working as a railway guard. Two siblings had joined John and the household included two boarders.

In 1911 John Thomas Wotton, then 22, was working as a potman and barman at the Wirtemberg Arms at 165 Wirtemberg Street, Clapham. He lived above the premises with the licensee and three other staff. The street was renamed Stonhouse Street in 1919 — and the pub has likewise been renamed The Stonhouse. His parents had moved to Tennyson Street, Battersea.

 In 1913, aged 24, when Wotton married Annie Lillian Ellis, 26, at St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, he gave his address as 65 Cottage Grove, Stockwell. The couple had two children: Howard John Wotton (born 1914) and Iris Constance Wotton (born 1915). Annie died in 1975, aged 88.

Thomas Isaac Worley

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T.I. Worley
Service no. 613802
Private, London Regiment, 1st/19th Battalion
Born in Camberwell; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Stockwell
Died of wounds on 8 December 1917, aged 34
CWGC: “Son of Isaac Brames Worley and Margaret Worley, of 47, Lansdowne Gardens. Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Etaples Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France

Information from the 1911 census

Thomas Isaac Worley, 27 in 1911, was an auctioneer’s clerk. Born in Camberwell, he lived at 47 Lansdowne Gardens, Stockwell with his parents, Isaac Brames, 56, a cook from Pimlico, Margaret Worley, 53, from Coventry, and brother James J. R. Worley, 29, a pastry cook born in Newington. The family shared nine rooms. One sibling lived elsewhere and another had died.

Sidney Charles Withey

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S. C. Withey
Service no. 490673
Serjeant, London Regiment, 2nd/13th Kensington Battalion
Enlisted in Kensington; lived in Brixton
Killed in action on 8 December 1917, aged about 22
Remembered at Jerusalem War Cemetery, Israel and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Information from the censuses

Insurance clerk Sidney Charles Withey lived at 14 Dalyell Road, Brixton with his parents and six siblings. His father, William Henry Withey, 46, was a travelling salesman for grocery products, born in Yeovil, Somerset. His mother, Louisa Emily (née Hutchings), 45, was from Camden Town, north London. Seven of their 10 children survived. Ethel Louisa Withey, 24, a dressmaker, and William James Withey, 24, a commercial clerk, were born in Kennington. Leonard Robert, 14, an accountant’s clerk, Ernest George Withey, 12, Mary Victoria, 10, Maud Alexandra, 9, and Sidney Charles were born in Stockwell. The family lived in six rooms and had lived at this address since at least 1901.

Bertram Horace Winter

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B. H. Winter
Service no. S/15614
Rifleman, Rifle Brigade, 13th Battalion
Enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 11 April 1917, aged 27
CWGC: “Son of Mrs A. Winter, of 19 Prideaux Road, Landor Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

British Army Service Records 1914-1920

Milkman (and former butcher) Bertram Horace Winter signed up at the Whitehall recruiting office on 15 February 1916. He lasted 273 days before he died at Arras on 11 April 1917. The details of his service are scant – we know that he embarked for the 3rd Battalion on 3 July 1916 and was posted to the 13th Battalion on 20 July. He stood 5 feet 4½ inches tall, with a 34½-inch chest (he could expand it by 2½ inches), and weighed a little over 8½ stone. His physical development was judged “good”. Bertram’s widowed mother Augusta was named as next of kin. She lived at 25 Viceroy Road, South Lambeth.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Bertram Horace Winter was working as a butcher’s assistant. He lived at 147 Larkhall Lane, over the shop, with butcher Albert Henry and his wife Lydia Eliza Henry, both 41, a childless couple. Meanwhile, Bertram’s parents, William Charles Winter, 59, a paper hanger and house decorator and his wife Augusta Winter (née Sexton), 58, both Lambeth-born, lived at 31 Courland Grove, Stockwell. Of their 12 children, 7 survived, with four living at home: Frederick W. Winter, 28, a paper hanger and painter; Emily Elizabeth Winter, 26, a dress and mantle maker; Arthur Thomas Winter, 26, a paper hanger and painter; Walter Winter, 25, a porter for a tailor shop. All were born in Clapham. The Winter family had lived at this address since at least 1901.

Stanley Frank Willis

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S. F. Willis
Service no. 415208
Rifleman, London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s Rifles), 1st/9th Battalion; formerly 7927, 7th London Regiment
Born in Clapham; enlisted in Camberwell; lived in Stockwell
Died on 13 August 1917
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium