Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

1917

Cecil Ernest Philcox

by

Cecil Ernest Philcox
Cecil Ernest Philcox

C. E. Philcox
Lieutenant (temp), South Staffordshire Regiment, 1st Battalion
Died on 24 May 1917, aged 21
Awards Military Cross; mentioned in despatches
CWGC: “Son of Alice E. and the late Alfred James Philcox.”
Remembered at Achiet-le-Grand Communal Cemetery Extension, France, on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA and at family memorial at West Norwood Cemetery

Brother of Percy William Arthur Philcox

Cecil Ernest Philcox was born in 1895. After attending Dulwich College he worked in a timber broker’s office in the City (his father was a timber merchant). He enlisted in the ranks of 12th Battalion of the London Regiment (The Rangers). One of his two brothers, Percy William Arthur Philcox, was killed in action with the Rangers on 8 May 1915.

Cecil was transferred to the Inns of Court Officers Training Corps at Berkhamsted on 20 April 1915 and in July was given a temporary commission in the 10th (Reserve) Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment at Harrogate. He took part in action at High Wood, Mametz, Beaumont-Hamel, Arras, Serre, Martinpuich, Bullecourt.

In November 1916 Cecil was appointed Battalion Bombing Officer. He died on 24 May 1917 at No. 45 Casualty Clearing Station near Bullecourt of wounds received three days earlier when a defective No. 5 Mills grenade thrown by Private T. Hindley exploded during training, fracturing Cecil’s skull and injuring Hindley himself and Lance Corporal Carrington. A court of enquiry held in the field, at which three witnesses gave evidence, and Hindley made a statement, concluded that no one was to blame for Cecil’s death. All described how Cecil had given the order to throw, how Hindley’s throw was a good one and made in the “regulation manner” and how the grenade exploded only six feet away from the bombing party.

Cecil was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.

Cecil’s family lived at 255 South Lambeth Road. His father, Alfred James Philcox, who died in 1913, was a timber merchant, originally from Kentish Town, north London. His mother, Alice Eliza Philcox was born in Lambeth. After Cecil and his brother Percy died in the war, two children survived: Alfred Reginald, who in 1911 was working as a clerks in a timber merchant’s office (presumably his father’s) and Ethel Beatrice Philcox.

Information from the censuses
On the night of the 1911 census Cecil Ernest Philcox, aged 15 and still at school (Dulwich College), was at his cousin’s house at 29 Kingsmead Road, Streatham. Leonard Wilfred Philcox, 13, was the son of Mervyn Philcox, 50, a watch and jewellery dealer born in Wandsworth, and Martha Jane Philcox, 51, from Lambeth. Meanwhile, his family were at 255 South Lambeth Road.

Alfred James Philcox, 59, was a timber merchant, born in Kentish Town, north London. His wife, Alice Eliza Philcox, 55, was born in Lambeth. They had five children: Cecil; Alfred Reginald Philcox, 22, and Percy William Arthur Philcox, 19, both clerks in a timber merchant’s office (presumably working with their father); Ethel Beatrice Philcox, 18; and one other. All the children were born in Lambeth. Florence Maud Philcox, 19, a niece born in Lambeth, lived with the family, as did Kate Elizabeth Percival, a 20-year-old single domestic servant from Rotherhithe, south-east London.

Benjamin Charles Peploe

by

B. C. Peploe
Service no. 453135
Rifleman, London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles), 1st/11th Battalion, formerly 6329, 9th London Regiment
Born in Stockwell; enlisted in London; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 2 November 1917, aged 25
CWGC: “Husband of Josephine Elsie Peploe, of 30 Lingham Street, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Gaza War Memorial, Israel and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

At the end of March 1917, Gaza was attacked and surrounded by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the First Battle of Gaza, but the attack was broken off when Turkish reinforcements appeared. The Second Battle of Gaza, 17-19 April, left the Turks in possession and the Third Battle of Gaza, begun on 27 October, ended with the capture of the ruined and deserted city on 7 November.

Information from censuses

Stockwell-born Benjamin Charles Peploe, 19 in 1911, lived at 70 Lingham Street, Stockwell, where his family had four rooms. His widowed mother, Mildred Elizabeth Peploe, 54, was a greengrocer from Euston, north London. He had four siblings, two of whom lived at home: Violet Daisy Peploe, 16, who is described as “assisting in the business”; Milly Rebecca Savill, 30, a restaurant manageress born in Clapham. The household included Milly’s husband, George Alfred Savill, 31, a meat carver born in Stockwell.

The family at lived at 70 Lingham Street for at least 20 years (they are there on the 1901 and 1891 censuses).  In 1881 the family were at 14 The Polygon, Clapham. The census gives Benjamin’s father Charles Peploe’s occupation as fishmonger and states that he was born in Bermondsey.

Henry William Penn

by

H. W. Penn
Service no. 22577
Private, King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), 8th Battalion
Killed in action on 16 June 1917, aged 34
Born in Clapham; enlisted at Lambeth
CWGC: “Son of William and Lucy Penn, of 74 Hargwyne Street, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France, and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

Henry Penn enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment on 11 November 1915, and was later transferred to the Lancasters. Not much survives in his service file, but gives us an indication of how he looked (he was 5 feet tall and had a 34-inch chest, which he could expand by 2½ inches, and had a squint in his left eye).

In June 1916 he was wounded in the face and right arm. About a year later, he was killed in action. His effects were sent to his mother, Lucy Penn: photograph, a small bag, four identity discs, a notebook, a letter case, letters, safety razor and blades, a pipe and tobacco pouch, a silver cigarette case, a metal mirror, a regimental book cover, buttons, a farthing, a card and two cap badges.

Information from the censuses

Henry (or Harry) William Penn lived at 74 Hargwyne Street with his parents, William Kenward Penn, 62, a boiler stoker born in Clapham, and Lucy Mary Penn (née Harris), 57, from Marlow, Buckinghamshire. The family had three rooms. There were two other siblings. In 1901 the family lived at 121 Hargwyne Street.

Arthur Penn

by

Arthur Penn
Arthur Penn

A. Penn
Service no 44243
Serjeant, Royal Engineers, 74th Field Coy.
Born in Clapham; enlisted in London; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 19 March 1917, aged 23
CWGC: “Son of John T. D. and Victoria Penn, of 73 Union Rd., Clapham, London.”
Remembered Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery, France

De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918

PENN, ARTHUR, Sergt., No 44243, 74th Coy., R.E., 2nd s. of John T. D. Penn, of 73 Union Road, Clapham, London, S.W., Employee at the G.P.O., London, by his wife, Victoria, dau. of Samson Goodland, of Ilton, a Somerset Farmer; b. Clapham, 14 Aug. 1893; educ. Gaskell Street L.C.C. School there, and afterwards entered the employ of Messrs. Shuttleworth & Co., Bermondsey; joined the R.E. in Aug, 1914, after the outbreak of war; served with the Expeditionary Force in France from 10 July 1915, and was killed in action at Arras, 19 March 1917. Buried in Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery there. His Commanding Officer wrote: “I had known your boy ever since he joined the company when it was formed in England, and for the last six months I had seen a great deal of him as he was my office Sergeant. I had grown to like him very much, and respected him for his manly and sterling good qualities. He was, I know, a general favourite with the other sergeants and greatly liked by the men under him. We buried him here in the Military Cemetery, and all the officers off duty and a large number of N.C.Os and men attended his funeral. Your boy has given his life in the great cause for which we are fighting, and you can be proud of him. He died a man’s death, doing his bit for his country.” By his coolness and presence of mind while as Corporal in the bombing-class at Noeux, France, he prevented a very serious accident to 130 men who were present, by throwing a bomb which was burning in his hand clear, and the General Officer Commanding the 44th Infantry Brigade directed that his appreciation of the action of Corpl. A. Penn, R.E., should be conveyed to him, which order was read to him on Parade 12 Sept. 1915; unm.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Arthur Penn, one of five children of John Thomas Doody Penn, a Post Office sorter, 53 from Chatham, Kent and Victoria Penn, 55, of Ilton, Somerset, was working as a chauffeur. Three children, all born in Clapham, lived at home in 5 rooms at 73 Union Road: Arthur; Daisy Penn, 26; Dora Victoria Penn, 20. A boarder, William Drowley, a single 21-year-old auctioneer’s clerk from Ringwould, Kent, boarded with the family. The family is found at the same address in 1901. In 1891 they lived at No 100 Union Road, and in 1881 they were at 6 Richard Street, Lambeth.

Fred Cecil Payne

by

F. C. Payne
Service no. 42266
Private, Manchester Regiment, 18th Battalion
Born in Westminster; enlisted in London; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 13 June 1917, aged about 39
Remembered at Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Belgium

Information from the 1911 census

Fred Cecil Payne, 33 in 1911, was a restaurant waiter. He lived with his widowed mother, Emily Payne, 66, from Iffley, Oxfordshire, and sister, Winifred Payne, 27, a dressmaker, in two rooms in 2 Thorne Road, South Lambeth. Fred and Winifred were born in Lambeth.

Albert Edward Parsons

by

A. E. Parsons
Service no. 653411
Rifleman, London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles), 1st/21st Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Camberwell; lived in Brixton
Killed in action 7 June 1917, aged about 36
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Lambeth-born Albert Edward Parsons, 30, was working as a drapery warehouseman and living with his wife and family in five rooms at 40 Bellefields Road, Stockwell. Jessie Emily Parsons, 29, was from Southwark. Their two sons were Albert Edward Parsons, 6, born in Newington, and Horace William Parsons, 2. The household included a boarder: John Frederick Knight, a 22-year-old single jeweller’s packer, from Newington.