Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

1918

Alfred Edward Nunn

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A. E. Nunn
Service no. 63634
Private, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), “A” Coy. 7th Battalion
Died on 10 May 1918, aged 19
CWGC: “Son of Alfred and Emily C. Nunn, of 108 Manor Street, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France

Chris Burge writes:

Alfred Edward Nunn was born in 1899 and baptised at St Andrew’s, Stockwell Green on 21 May 1899, the first child of Alfred and Emily Clara Nunn who lived at 7 Landor Road. Alfred’s father worked as a laundry manager and his mother as a laundress. 

The 1901 census shows that they shared their home with a daughter from Alfred’s first marriage (he was widowed). Alfred Snr was now working on the trams. A second son, George William Nunn, was born on 4 February 1903 and baptised at St Andrew’s on 22 February 1903. 

In the 1911 census, the Nunn family now lived in five rooms at 38 Landor Street, close to the Avondale music and dance hall, and the Landor Hotel Public House. Alfred Snr, aged 49, worked for the London County Council tramways as a motorman. Alfred Jnr and George were at school. The property was shared by an elderly widow and her daughter living in two other rooms and a family of three in another two rooms.

Alfred was 15 at the outbreak of war, but  conscription was introduced in 1916 and Alfred was called up early in 1917. The Surrey Recruitment Registers, a rare survival of its type, record Alfred’s details. After reporting at Wandsworth, Alfred was directed to be at Kingston by 30 March where he was assigned the service number 45901 and instructed to join the 23rd Training Reserve Battalion for basic training. Alfred was 18 years and 2 months, 5ft 7in tall, 108 lbs and had a chest size of 34in. His address was 108 Manor Street, Clapham. 

Training complete, Alfred was posted to the 7th Battalion of the Royal West Surrey Regiment. No records exist to say exactly when Alfred was sent to France. Spring 1918 was a time of crisis on the Western Front when the enemy threatened to break through, the 7th RWS were in the forward zone to the east of Amiens. March and April were a time of retreat and counter-attack. An assault on Hangard Wood on 26 April resulted in further casualties, a total of five officers and 141 other ranks. The first week of May was quiet as the 7th RWS worked hard to improve trenches, build shelters and erect barbed wire. The records note on the 4th May 1918, ‘2 O.R. wounded by shell whilst on way to join Battn, in the line’. 

Alfred Edwin Nunn was among the wounded and later died of his wounds on 10 May 1918 in one of Rouen’s many hospitals. 

Alfred Snr and Emily lived in Manor Street, Clapham until Alfred’s death in 1929 at the age of 67. Emily was living in Epping, Essex when she passed away in 1943, aged 75. Alfred’s brother George William died in 1979, aged 76.

Reginald Nicholson

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R. Nicholson
Signalman, Royal Navy, HMS ‘Vehement’.
Service no. J/32529. Died 2 August 1918, aged 18
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent

Reginald Nicholson was born on 6 May 1899. After he was deserted as a baby he was admitted into the care of the Hammersmith Board of Guardians where he remained until 1917. Baby Reginald was initially fostered by  a ‘Mrs Neal of Southbrook Street’ before he was moved to the Milman Street Receiving Home For Children in Chelsea, west London. On 1 August 1903, four-year-old Reginald was sent to the ‘District Schools, Ashford’ whose records show that he was fostered on 20 July 1904.

In the 1911 census, Reginald, aged 11, is a boarder in the six-room home of George and Elizabeth Noyes and their son Earnest, aged nine, at Stockwell Furlong, Haddenham, Buckinghamshire. George Noyes was a ‘coach smith’  (blacksmith) and was originally from Lincoln. Elizabeth Noyes (nee ?????) was born in Brixton and Earnest was born in Streatham. The Noyes’ stay in Haddenham may have been a brief interlude. George and Elizabeth had previously lived in Streatham for the decade after they were married at St Leonard’s Church in 1900.

On 13 September 1911, Reginald was sent to the HMS training ship Exmouth, moored in the Thames off Grays. He was 4ft 8in tall and weighed not quite 5 stone. Over the next three years, Reginald led an active life, excelling at swimming and gymnastics. His conduct was always rated as ‘VG’. Reginald’s expectation was to join the Navy as a boy sailor when he left the Exmouth on 7 September 1914 and he went straight to the shore-based HMS Ganges at Shotley, near Ipswich. Reginald was trained in the signalling methods of the time, a mixture of flag, semaphore, and Morse code, sent both by wireless telegraphy and searchlight. 

On 6 May 1917, the day that the Hammersmith Board of Guardians ceased control of his life, Reginald Nicholson signed for 12 years service in the Navy. He was still small in stature, a little over 5ft, and described as having fair hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. The records show that he had been onboard the battle cruiser HMS Inflexible for two years when he was transferred to the destroyer HMS Vehement in November 1917. Close to midnight on 1 August 1918, during mine-laying duties in the North Sea, HMS Vehement struck a mine. One officer and 47 ratings were killed in the resulting explosion which partly destroyed the ship. The remaining crew abandoned ship at 4am on 2 August when all hope of saving HMS Vehement was lost and she began to sink. 

The Noyes family had moved to Stockwell by 1918. Naval records show Reginald’s next of kin as ‘Mother: – Elizabeth. Goldsboro’ Rd, Lambeth, S.W. 8’. George and Elizabeth Noyes were still at the same address in 1934. 

Frank Naish

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F. Naish
Service no. 37514
Private, Wiltshire Regiment, 1st Battalion, formerly 7371, Royal Berkshire Yeomanry
Born in Lambeth; lived in Clapham
Killed in action 18 September 1918, aged about 24
Remembered at Targelle Ravine British Cemetery, Villers-Guislain, France

Information from the 1911 census

A tentative identification. This Frank Naish is the only one listed for Lambeth. In 1911 17-year-old Frank Naish lived at 3 Belgrave Terrace, Brixton. He was one of five children of Francis Naish, 46, who worked in a carriers department and was born in Castle Cary, Somerset, and Clara Naish, 45, from Jersey. The children were John Naish, 21, a leather cutter; Frank Naish; Dorothy Naish, 18, a milliner; Robert Naish, 15, a messenger; Evelyn Naish, 11. All were born in Brixton. There were two lodgers: Emily Payne, 44, a single cook, and Beatrice Payne, 43, a single nurse, both from Rotherhithe, south-east London.

Henry Louis Frederick Bonnetaut Nadaud

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H. L. F. B. Nadaud
Major, London Regiment, 24th (County of London) Battalion (The Queen’s)
Killed in action at age 39 on 21 March 1918
Son of the late Mr L. B. Nadaud and of Mrs L. B. Nadaud, of 100 Lansdowne Road, London, SW8.
Remembered at Fins New British Cemetery, Sorel-Le-Grand, France; at Westminster Cathedral; at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Clapham

Henry Nadaud is remembered on the memorial at the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral, London

Information from 47 Division, 142 Infantry Brigade war diaries: 24th Battalion London Regiment (The Queens), 1915 Mar. – 1919 May (available from National Archives)
Thursday 21st [March, 1918]
Heavy enemy bombardment and many gas shells – opens about 3a.m.  6a.m. Battalion to [?].  7a.m. move up through barrage to 2nd Defence System (about Q. 17. a and c.) “A” and “B” font line – “C” and “D” support. In position about noon.
Casualties in METZ and moving up :- Lt. Col. G. E. Millner, D.S.O., M.C., Wounded – Major Nadaud, Killed – Lieut H. S. Mitchell, Killed. – 2/Lieut G. B. Poland, Killed. R.S.M., H.W. Norris D.C.M., Killed. Major T.O. Bury assumes command.
Remainder of day we work on trenches. Raids reported on our Divisional Front but attacks on flanks to north and south.

nadaud-2
nadaud2

Friday 22nd [March, 1918]
Fairly quiet day. Consolidating our positions. 2/Lieut H. Whitehead to Depot for course.
2/Lieut D/O’Kell to Depot as T.O. 2/Lieut A. C. Bean from Depot reports for duty.
Transport at EQUANCOURT. Bodies of Major. H.L.F.B. Nadaud and 2/Lieut G. B. Poland buried in civilian cemetery.
Midnight. – Front lines retire through us.

Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 Henry Nadaud, then aged 32, lived at 100 Lansdowne Road with his parents, Louis Nadaud, 59, a retired civil servant, born in Soho, and Marie Nadaud, 53, whose birthplace is described as “France Resident”, his brother Charles Nadaud, 28, an electrical engineer, and aunt, Theresa Nadaud, 57, born in Soho. Henry is described as a bank clerk for the London Joint Stock company and he and his brother were born in “London, Surrey”, which may mean Lambeth. Maud Gough, a 22-year-old single domestic servant from Portsmouth, lived in.
Information from the 1901 census
Henry (listed as Henri) Louis Nadaud is listed on the census at Dover as a 22-year-old single passenger on the  Empress Mail Steamer, a banker’s clerk born in London.

Alfred George Murphy

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A. G. Murphy
Service no. 126952
Private, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), 203rd Coy.; formerly 21886, Bedfordshire Regiment*
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Lambeth
Died on 29 March 1918 at age 19
CWGC: “Son of Mrs Alice Mary Murphy, of 2 Victoria Place, Priory Grove, South Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

MURPHY, A. G., Pte., Devonshire Regt.* and M.G.C.
He joined in February 1917, and was later transferred to the Machine Gun Corps, with which unit he proceeded to the Western Front in the following year. After only a short period of active service, he made the supreme sacrifice, being killed in action on March 29th, 1918. He was entitled to the General Service and Victory Medals.
“He passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and self-sacrifice.”
2, Victoria Place, Priory Grove, S.W.8.
*Discrepancy between the National Roll and Soldiers Died in the Great War

Information from the 1911 census

Alfred George Murphy was a 12-year-old schoolboy in 1911. He lived with his parents and siblings in 5 rooms at 6 Priory Grove. He was one of 7 children. Walter Robert John Murphy, 39, was a butcher from Westminster; Alice Mary Murphy, 37, was also from Westminster.
Walter John Robert Murphy, 16, was an errand boy
Charles Thomas Murphy, 15, was a milkboy
Frederick William Murphy, 13
Alfred George, 12
Harold Edward Murphy, 10
Alice Mary Murphy, 8
John Murphy, 6

George Thomas Mullett

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G. T. Mullett
Service no. 8760
Serjeant, Dorsetshire Regiment, 1st Battalion
Born at Pimlico; enlisted at Dorchester, Dorset; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 21 May 1918, aged about 28
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Brother of Arthur Joseph Mullett

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

George Thomas Mullett signed up with the Dorsetshire Regiment in Dorchester on 15 November 1909, ending his civilian role of barman. Perhaps he didn’t completely leave his old life behind. In 1911 he was severely reprimanded for allowing a man to smoke cigarettes on parade.

Evidently, Mullett learned from his mistake – there are no other misdemeanours on his conduct record. Rather, the files detail his steady rise through the ranks. He was promoted to Corporal in October 1913 and to Serjeant in September the following year.

Mullett married Lucy Emma Cane at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell on 16 April 1916. Emma had a six-year-old son – Lewis George Cane, whom Mullett lists as “illegitimate.”

On 1 July 1916, his brother Frederick James was killed. George Thomas survived until five months before the Armistice. A note in the file says that he was wounded on 31 May 1918. Two weeks later this was amended to “wounded and missing” and then again in late August to “to be regarded for official purposes as having died.”

Mullett was 5 feet 7⅞ inches, weighed a little under 10 stone and had a 36-inch chest. He had hazel eyes and brown hair. There was a a scar on his right cheek.