Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

1918

Sidney Williams

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S. Williams

Rifleman, “D” Coy., London Regiment (Queen’s Westminster Rifles)
Service no. 556984
Died on 11 May 1918, aged about 36
Remembered at Cologne Southern Cemetery, Germany

Chris Burge writes:

Sidney Williams was born in 1881, the youngest of Charles Richard Williams and Mary Ann Ford’s 10 children. Sidney spent his formative years in the heart of Southwark, living near London Bridge Station in Borough High Street above his father’s successful clothier and tailor shop. At the time of the 1901 census, Sidney was not quite 20 and working as an auctioneer’s clerk. 

On retirement, Charles Richard and Mary Ann Williams moved to the relative quiet of 86 Gauden Road, North Clapham, where they rented four rooms. In the 1911 census, Sidney, 29, was living there with his parents and two sisters, 45-year-old Emily and 35-year-old Ada Lily, a schoolteacher. Sidney’s parents were now 73 and his father Charles lived on a masonic annuity (he had joined the Royal Jublia masonic lodge in the year before Sidney was born). Sidney was still working as an auctioneer’s clerk. Six other rooms at the same address were home to the family of Sidney’s older brother Mark Albert Williams, his wife Ellen and their three children. 

Sidney Williams married Ethel Mary Edwards, a dressmaker originally from Dorset, in the spring of 1914 in a civil ceremony, which took place near the home of Ethel’s married sister Florence Richards who lived near Acton Green, west London. The couple lived in Jefferys Road, Clapham after their marriage. Ethel died soon after the birth of their son Frederick Charles Sidney Williams on 27 October 1916 and was buried in Wandsworth cemetery. 

Sidney Williams may have been put on Army Reserve due to his personal circumstances, but around August 1917 he was called up and processed at the Central Recruitment Office in Whitehall, joining the 16th Bn. London Regiment as rifleman 556984 Williams, leaving baby Frederick in the care of his late wife’s sister, Florence Robinson. He entered France on 2 January 1918, and was one of around 50 reinforcements who joined the Queen’s Westminster Rifles in the first week of 1918. 

They moved to the Gravelle sector in February where they remained during March. It was Sidney’s misfortune to be in the forward zone on 28 March 1918 when they suffered the full force of the enemy’s spring offensive, and was among the many killed, wounded and missing. After suffering a wound to his right leg, he was taken prisoner and held in the Friedrichsfeld POW Camp, near Wesel in Germany. Poor camp conditions and the lack of good medical care led to his death from sepsis on 11 May 1918, as reported on the camp’s ‘Toten-List’ (death list), dated 21 May 2018. 

When taken prisoner Sidney had given his 80-year-old father Charles as his next of kin and he would have been the first to be informed of their youngest son’s death. Both Charles and Mary Ann died in 1919, and it was left to other family members to arrange for Sidney’s name to be added to the Stockwell War Memorial. 

Sidney’s son Frederick remained with his aunt Florence and her husband and died in 1988, aged 72.

S. Williams. Rifleman, “D” Coy., London Regiment (Queen’s Westminster Rifles). Service no. 556984. Died on 11 May 1918, aged about 36. Remembered at Cologne Southern Cemetery, Germany

Henry Charles Wickens

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H. C. Wickens
Service no. 238091
Driver, Royal Field Artillery, “C” Bty., 342nd Bde.
Born in Westminster; enlisted in Lambeth
Died on 22 October 1918, aged 29
CWGC: “Son of Mr and Mrs H. Wickens, of 28 Wyvil Road, London.”
Remembered at Brookwood Military Cemetery, near Pirbright, Woking, Surrey

After volunteering in 1914 and completing his training, Henry Charles Wickens served with ‘C’ battery. He became seriously ill (the details are unknown) and died in the military hospital at Millbank, London in 1918.

In 1911 Henry Charles Wickens, then aged 22, was an assistant in a fish shop. He lived with his parents, Alfred Wickens, 49, who worked for a jam maker and was born in Camberwell, and Harriett Wickens, 47, whose place of birth is unknown. Henry was one of three children (the other two lived elsewhere) and the family occupied three rooms at 123 Wandsworth Road.

In 1913 Henry married Clara Caroline (née Davison), a cap finisher, at St Anne’s, South Lambeth Road. Their child, Henry Charles, was born in 1916, when Henry, then working as a doorman, and Clara lived at 75 Hercules Road, Lambeth. 

In 1920 Clara married Henry F. Glasgow and died in 1927, four months after the birth of their fourth child.

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

WICKENS, H.C., Driver, R.F.A.
After volunteering in 1914, and completing his training he served at various stations with his battery engaged on important duties. He was unsuccessful in obtaining his transfer overseas and falling seriously ill, died in hospital at Mill Bank in 1918.
“His memory is cherished with pride.”
27, Wyvil Road, Wandsworth Road, S.W.8.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Henry Charles Wickens, 22, lived at 123 Wandsworth Road, Stockwell and earned his living as an assistant in a fish shop. He was born in Leicester Square. He lived with his parents, Alfred Wickens, 49, who worked for a jam maker, and was born in Camberwell, and Harriett Wickens, 47, whose birthplace was not known. Henry was one of three surviving children (two had died). The family shared three rooms. In 1901 they family lived at 116 York Road, Lambeth.

Horace John Baker Whittingham

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H. J. Whittingham
Service no. 76274
Corporal, Tank Corps, 1st Battalion; formerly 3294, Royal Fusiliers
Died of wounds on 28 April 1918, aged 24
CWGC: “Son of John Baker Whittingham and Alice Louisa Whittingham, of 28 Angell Road, Brixton, London.”
Remembered at Marissel French National Cemetery (near Beauvais), Oise, France

Brother of Claude Lionel Whittingham

Stanley Franklin Whiting

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S. F. Whiting
Service no. F/13871
Aircraftman 1st Class, Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. President II
Died of illness on 27 January 1918, aged 20
CWGC: “Son of Benjamin F. and Augusta Whiting, of 85 Lark Hall Lane, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Wandsworth (Streatham) Cemetery, Garratt Lane, London SW17

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Clapham-born Stanley Franklin Whiting was 13 and living in a six-roomed house at 85 Lark Hall Lane, Clapham, where his family had lived since at least 1901. His father, Benjamin Franklin Whiting, 40, was a corn and coal merchant, born in Battersea; his mother, Augusta Whiting (née Burkitt), was from Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. Stanley had a brother, Eric Whiting, 8, born in Clapham. An older brother had died some time after the 1901 census. Clara Banham, a 26-year-old domestic servant from Kentish Town, lived in.

William Henry White

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W. H. White
Service no. 41697
Private, Leicestershire Regiment, 8th Battalion; formerly 11013, Royal West Surrey Regiment
Born in Stockwell; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 27 May 1918, aged 19
CWGC: “Only son of William Henry and Matilda White, of 13, Mordaunt St., Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Soissons Memorial, Aisne, France

Chris Burge writes:

William Henry White, a private in the Leicestershire Regiment, was Home (that is, in England) until 3 May 1916 when he sailed for Le Havre. The records show that he returned to London on 22 August 1916 and was admitted to the 3rd London General Hospital at Wandsworth, where he was treated for trench fever. This disease (variously known as Wolhynia fever, shin bone fever, quintan fever, five-day fever) is caused by an organism transmitted by body lice, and conditions at the front were ideal for its spread.

Soldiers serving on the front line lived in squalid, damp and cold conditions. In the fire trench – that is the foremost of three zig-zag trenches, the others being the support trench and the reserve trench – soldiers frequently lived amongst corpses and body parts, and faeces. These were ideal conditions for rats (they were said to have been as big as cats) and flies, for transmitting dysentery, and lice. In the freezing conditions (only the hottest summer days produced balmy nights), men huddled together for warmth, and thereby enabled the lice to pass from one human host to another.

Even when not in the fire trench the men stayed close to one another for they were not allowed to light fires. These would attract shellfire from the enemy or, later in the war, fire from enemy aircraft.

Soldiers did not stay indefinitely in these conditions: generally, four days’ service in the fire trench was followed by four in the support trench and eight in the reserve. The rest of the month was spent ‘in rest’ during which they performed other services, such as supplying the trenches with rations, water and ammunition. Opportunities for bathing and washing clothes were limited – the aim was to take a bath every 10 days but this was not always possible.

Lice infested the seams of the soldiers’ uniforms. To kill them required heat – either hot irons, steam or very hot water. At the front, these methods were out of the question, and the only option was to run a candle up and down the the seams or to pick them off by hand. This process was done in while sitting round in groups and became known as “chatting up”, giving rise to a new term for conversational banter. Lice eggs attached to body hair were killed using a paste of naphthalene (once used in mothballs and moderately toxic).

From 1915 to 1918 between one-fifth and one-third of all British troops reported ill had trench fever, and it is estimated that 97% of men, including officers, had lice.

Trench fever, while rarely fatal, was an unpleasant disease. Symptoms come on suddenly and include high fever, severe headache, painful eyeballs, soreness of the muscles of the legs and back, and hyperaesthesia of the shins. The patient may relapse frequently and recovery usually takes about a month. Even so, White’s 47 days in hospital were, however, probably a welcome respite from the horrors of the front and a spell at Home may have saved many others from death or mutilation when in the line of fire.

White, a messenger in civilian life, claimed to be just over 19 when he enlisted on 13 August 1915, although he was probably only just over 16. Recruits had to be 18 (and 19 before they could be sent abroad). White’s file does not indicate that his deception was discovered. He was 5 feet 4 inches tall, with a 34 inch chest (expandable by 4 inches), and a scar on the middle finger of his right hand. His physical development was judged to be “good”.

He went missing on 27 May 1918 and was later declared dead.

Information from the 1911 census
William Henry White was a 12-year-old schoolboy in 1911. He lived at 8 Rattray Road, Brixton with his parents, William Henry White, 40, an assistant in a bootmaker’s shop, born in South Lambeth, and Matilda White, 33, from Battersea. The family had four rooms. He was one of four children, all born in South Lambeth, the others being: Annie Matilda White, 13; Doris Ella White, 9 and Ethel Alice White, 1.

Thomas Henry Wellings

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T. H. Wellings
Service no. 29546
Private, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), 1st Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Camberwell
Died of wounds on 1 October 1918, aged 19
Remembered at Grevillers British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France

Brother of Alfred George Wellings 

Information from the 1911 census and British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

In 1903, Thomas Henry Wellings , who was born on 20 May 1899, was enrolled in Walnut Tree Walk school. At the time his family lived at 8 St Olave’s House, a block of social housing in Walnut Tree Walk.

Pension records show that on 20 July 1915 he enlisted in the 21st Battalion of the London Regiment. Thomas gave his age as 19 and two months but he was only 16 and was discharged. The Army was impressed with his good military character. ‘Could have made a good soldier if of the required military age,’ was written in his file. 

Wellings’s discharge papers describe him as having a fresh complexion, grey eyes, light brown hair; he was 5ft 6in, with a 36in chest, and under 8st. His physical development was judged to be ‘Fair’. He gave his address as 2 Thorncroft Street, a few streets away from Camellia Street. He must have re-enlisted later.

In 1911 Thomas Wellings, aged 12, lived at 35 Camellia Street, South Lambeth with his widowed 43-year-old mother Elizabeth Martha (née McGoun), who worked as a cardboard box maker in a factory. Another son, George Wellings, 9, also lived there. The family had two rooms. Mrs. Wellings, who had two other children living elsewhere, was from Blackfriars. She did not give place of birth for her sons.

Wellings must have enlisted again when he was able or compelled.