Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

1918

Samuel James

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S. James
Service no. 14197
Private, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 7th Battalion
Born in Stockwell; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Stockwell
Died of wounds on 10 August 1918, aged 18
Remembered at Tincourt New British Cemetery, Somme, France

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

When Samuel James joined the Army he gave his next of kin as his father, also called Samuel. However, the Army form has been amended. The elder Samuel has been deleted and “Miss D. A James – sister” has been added – her 65-year-old father had died of a cerebral haemorrage on 19 October 1918, just a few weeks after his son perished in the war.

Eighteen-year-old Samuel James went missing at the Front on 30 June 1918. Later, it turned out that he had sustained a gunshot wound in his chest and been taken prisoner and that he had died on 10 August 1918 in the field hospital at Peronne.

James, who described himself as a decorator’s assistant, had signed up at Lambeth on 6 January 1917 and joined the Training Reserve of the Royal Sussex Regiment, transferring to the regular battalion on his 18th birthday, and then joining the East Kents. Standing only 5 feet 4 inches and weighing 7½ stone, with a 34-inch chest to which he could add 3 inches, his physical development as judged to be only “fair”. James committed only one recorded misdemeanour: being slack when on sentry duty at Colchester on 22 October 1917.

Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 Samuel James was an 11-year-old schoolboy. He lived at 37 Burgoyne Road with his parents and sister. Samuel James, 56, was a bricklayer, born at Ludchurch, Pembroke. His wife, Catherine James, 35, was born in Lambeth. They had 3 children:
Dorothy James, 13, born in Lambeth
Samuel James, 11, born in Lambeth
Catherine James, 3, born in Lambeth

Service records – died as POW (GSW)

Samuel Charles Howden

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S. C. Howden
Service no. G/23011
Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, 7th Battalion
Died age 19 on 5 April 1918
Son of Samuel Charles and Emily Howden, of 44, Grenville Place, Brighton.
Remembered at Bouzincourt Ridge Cemetery, Albert, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911, 12-year-old Samuel Charles Howden, whose father was also called Samuel Charles, lived at 155 Pullens Buildings, Amelia Street, off Walworth Road. Samuel Charles senior, 36, born in south Hackney, was a motor cab driver. His mother, Emily, 32, was from Walworth. There were 4 children, all born in West Newington, apart from Mabel, who was born in Walworth:
Samuel Charles Howden, 12
Henry Hubert Howden, 9
Mabel Emily Howden, 6
Wilfred William, 4 months
Samuel and Emily had had 5 children, 4 of them surviving in 1911.
In 1901 the Howden family lived at 160 Manor Place, Newington. Alice R. Hughes, 17, Emily’s sister, lived with them and worked as a clothes sorter.

F. W. Hopkins

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F. W. Hopkins
Service no. 55321
Private, Welsh Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Formerly 31166, the King’s Own Shropshire Light Infantry
Died of wounds 22 September 1918, aged about 36
Buried at Brie Cemetery, Somme, France (grave I C 9)

Remembered at Stockwell War Memorial and on a wooden memorial plaque at Westminster Abbey, London, where he worked as a plumber (information from L. Hopkins, great-grandson)

Research contributed by Marietta Crichton Stuart

Hopkins’ Medal Index card names him as Frederick Hopkins and shows that he was eligible for the Victory and British Medals.

Soldiers Died in the Great War records him as Private Frederick William Hopkins, born in Lambeth, residence Walworth, Middx (sic), Enlisted Kensington, Middx (sic), Private, Welsh Regiment, 2nd Battalion, number 55321, died of wounds, theatre of war Western European Theatre, comments formerly 31166, Shropshire LI.

The CWGC entry gives no family details.

Frederick William Hopkins was born between April and June 1882 in Lambeth. He was the son of William and Mary Ann Hopkins nee Rayner. The family was living at 4 China Walk in North Lambeth and William worked as a wine cellarman. They had three daughters: Mabel, Alice and Florence. William died in 1888.

On the 1891 census, Mary Hopkins is a widow, working as a charwoman and living with her son Frederick and three daughters at 15 Union Street in North Lambeth.

Between October and December 1901 when he was 20, Frederick married Nellie Eliza L. Walker.

Nellie Walker was born in December 1881, the daughter of William and Louisa Walker (nee Dixon) who had married at St Philip’s Lambeth. Her father was a Nottingham born iron turner. When Nellie was baptised on 5 March 1882 in the parish of Emmanuel, Surrey, the family’s address was given as 120 Vauxhall Terrace and her father’s occupation was an engineer.

On the 1891 census Nellie was living with her parents at 55 Stockwell Green and her four brothers: William 5, Robert 4, Horace 2 and Alfred 2 months and one sister, Louisa aged 5. Four of the children were Lambeth-born and two were born in Southwark.

On the 1901 census Nellie Walker was living in 33 Villa Road and working as a general servant (domestic). This was the home of Marion Butler, 58, a boarding-house keeper, with three boarders, Henrietta Mark (living on own means), Alfred A C ?Suggate, a widower who was a civil engineer, and John Baddley, a ?drapery warehouseman (employer).

Nellie and Frederick Hopkins were married October-December 1901 and their first child, Dorothy Amelia, was born on 2 November that year. When Dorothy was baptised at St Mary’s the Less, Princes Road on 19 February the following year, the family was living at 63 Fitzalan Street in Kennington and Frederick was working as a plumber.

Their son Frederick William (Junior) was born in 1904 and a second daughter, Nellie Ethel, in 1908. All three Hopkins children were born in Lambeth.

On the 1911 census the family was living at 31 Upper Kennington Lane. Frederick was now 29 and working as a plumber/journeyman in the building trade. Nellie was 28, Dorothy 9, Frederick 7 and Nellie 2.

Frederick’s army records do not appear to have survived for either the Shropshire Light Infantry or the Welsh Regiment. His entry on Soldiers died says he enlisted in Kensington. The 2nd Battalion Welsh regiment was a regular battalion, and  it is possible that Frederick was in one of the territorial battalions of the 2nd.

As he was ineligible for either a 1914 or 1915 star medal, the assumption is that Frederick entered a theatre of war in 1916. In September 1918 the 2nd Welsh were part of the 1st Division who fought in the Battle of Epehy during what was later known as the Advance to Victory. By 19 September the Division had been unable to capture either the fortified village of Fresnoy le Petit or the mass of trenches known as the Quadrilateral and the Corps Commander decided to bombard these two strong positions before renewing the attack on 24 September. It is possible that it was during this fighting that Frederick was wounded. He may have been taken to one of the casualty clearing stations near Brie and subsequently died of his wounds. He was then buried in Brie Cemetery.

Fifty years later, his widow, Nellie E. Hopkins, died in Lambeth during the winter of 1967. She was 85.

Arthur Ernest Homewood

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Arthur Ernest Homewood, who worked as a footman before he joined the army. Photo courtesy of Paul Wood.
Arthur Ernest Homewood in uniform, from an album created by Arthur’s niece. He served as a batman. Photo courtesy of Jo Kercher.
The inscription on Arthur Homewood’s gravestone reads ‘A loving brother, a devoted son. He loved and was loved by everyone.’ Photo courtesy of Paul Wood.

A. E. Homewood
Service no. 59585
Private, Northamptonshire Regiment, “B” Coy. 6th Battalion
Enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Lambeth
Killed in action, age 20, on 4 November 1918
CWGC: “Son of Eliza Ann Homewood, of South Lambeth, London, and the late John Homewood.”

Arthur was killed only seven days before the Armistice.

Remembered at Preux-au-Bois Communal Cemetery, Nord, FranceInformation from the 1911 censusArthur Ernest Homewood, 13, who was at school and also working as a grocer’s errand boy, lived with his widowed mother at 18 Radnor Terrace, South Lambeth (now disappeared). The family occupied 4 rooms. Eliza Ann Homewood, 53, earned her living as a charwoman in private houses. She was born in Bermondsey. Her sons were:
John Edward Homewood, 22, a warehouseman in a government office
Thomas George Homewood, 16, a messenger for the “Army & Navy Auxiliary and Co-operative Stores”
Arthur Ernest Homewood, 13
All were born in South Lambeth.

Paul Wood writes:

Arthur was my great-uncle (his brother William was my grandfather, who survived the war from 1914 through to 1918). When William went to the enlisting office he told them he was a footman and the officer in charge said he was taking him with him to France. He went the following day without basic training and served as a batman to a Captain Bird. William was from South Bermondsey also.