Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

1918

James Sidney Prescott

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S. J. Prescott
Service no. 8638
Serjeant, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 1st Battalion
Enlisted at Brixton
Died on 28 March 1918, aged about 31
CWGC: “Son of the late William George and Mary Jane Prescott.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 James S. Prescott, aged 24, was serving with the 2nd Battalion (mounted infantry) of the Royal Scots Fusiliers at King’s Hill, Harrismith, Orange Free State in South Africa. Meanwhile, his parents and sister lived at 38 South Island Place, between Clapham and Brixton Roads, where they had two rooms. William G. Prescott, 63 and from Dover, Kent, was a pensioner of Lambeth Borough Council (he was formerly a foreman); Mary Jane Prescott, 67, was from Taunton, Somerset. They had five surviving children, of eight, with only one remaining at home: Alice Venner Prescott, 23, a bookkeeper for an advertising agency. On the 1901 census, James S. Prescott is shown as working as a commercial clerk.
*The War Memorial has the initials reversed.

Ernest Alexander Potts

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E. A. Potts
Second Lieutenant, Royal Fusiliers, 24th Bn. attd. 10th Bn.
Died of wounds on 15 October 1918, aged 26
Military Cross
CWGC: “Son of Edward and Emma Potts, of 9, Mordaunt St., Brixton, London.”
Remembered at St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen

Ernest Alexander Potts, the son of a police constable and a former railwayman, volunteered for the Coldstream Guards in September 1914 and was sent to the Western Front later that year. He fought at the Battles of Ypres, Arras, Le Bassée and Givenchy. He was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the Field during heavy fighting on the Somme in 1918. Potts rose to Lance Serjeant and in early 1918, was discharged to join the Royal Fusiliers on a temporary commission. Severely wounded on 8 October, he died a week later.

At 6 feet 3 inches, Potts was the tallest man I have been able to acquire vital statistics for, but he was slender rather than sturdy – weighing just over 11 stone and with only a 36½-inch chest. He was pale-complected, with blue eyes and brown hair.

Potts suffered from eczema and he was hospitalised several times. In early 1917, he was admitted to the Bethnal Green Military Hospital at Cambridge Heath, for which he was treated with a staphylococcal vaccine. In addition, he suffered from impetigo of the scalp, myalgia and a bout of flu.

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

POTTS, E. A. (M.C.), 2nd Lieutenant, 10th Royal Fusiliers and Coldstream Guards
Volunteering in September 1914, he was sent to the Western Front later in that year. During his service overseas he fought at the Battles of Ypres, Arras, Le Bassee, Givenchy, and many other engagements of note. He was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the Field during heavy fighting on the Somme in 1918. He was severely wounded on October 8th, 1918, and subsequently died from the effects of his injuries on October 15th. He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, and the General Sevice and Victory Medals.
“A valiant soldier, with undaunted heart he breasted Life’s last hill.”
9, Mordaunt Street, Landor Road, S.W.9.

Information from the 1911 census

Ernest Alexander Potts was one of four children of Edward Alexander Potts, 56, born in Gateshead, County Durham, a police pensioner now working as a watchman at the Bon Marche, Brixton, and Emma Potts, 55, of Kennington. Ernest, 18, was a railway employee, as was his brother Edward William Potts, 20. His elder sisters worked too: Violet Mary Potts, 25, was a cashier in a restaurant, and Annie Elizabeth Potts, 23, was a drapery assistant. All the children were born in Brixton. The family had six rooms in their house at 9 Mordaunt Street, Stockwell.

Arthur George Potter

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A. G. Potter
Service no. 12028
Private, Coldstream Guards, 3rd Battalion
Enlisted at Clifton Street; lived in Clapham
Died on 13 April 1918, aged 39
CWGC: “Son of Mr and Mrs J. B. Potter, of 6 Alexandra Mansion, Stonhouse Street, Clapham; husband of Louisa Potter, of  Larkhall Lane, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium

Information from the censuses

In 1911 31-year-old Arthur George Potter was working as a messenger for the Board of Education. He lived in three rooms at 86 Southville, Wandsworth Road, with his wife Louisa Ann Potter, 39. They were both born in Lambeth. A decade previously he lived with his parents, John Potter, a 53-year-old railway inspector born in Croydon, and Mary A. Potter, 54, originally from Sellack, Herefordshire. Arthur Potter’s brother Harold Potter, 17, was a railway engine cleaner. Henry Potter, 14, was still at school. The brothers were all born in Lambeth. The family lived at 19 Rosetta Street. The 1891 census shows that there was another brother, Walter, a year younger than Arthur, and born in Battersea.

George Hand Porter

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Service no. 290873
Serjeant, Royal Garrison Artillery, 126th Heavy Bty.
Born in Brixton; enlisted in Camberwell; lived in Brixton
Killed in action on 12 September 1918, aged about 26
Remembered at Queant Communal Cemetery British Extension, France
British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920
In civilian life George Hand Porter was a copperplate engraver. His job was to incise a design on the surface of a copper plate.
The job is highly skilled and the process demanded sureness of touch combined with a light, delicate artistry. That work could not be more different to Porter’s role in the 126th (Camberwell) Heavy Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery.

Porter’s three-year Army career was a series of appointments and promotions. Before he had even left England, on 29 May 1915 he was appointed acting Bombardier and within two weeks he was promoted to Bombardier; in less than a month he was made a Corporal. On 29 April 1916 he proceeded to France. There, on 15 August 1916, he reverted to Gunner at his own request, but by November he was again acting Bombardier. Less than two months later he was a paid Bombardier. By September 1917 he had reverted to acting Bombardier, immediately becoming a paid Corporal, but by March 1918 he was an acting Serjeant, and then confirmed in this rank. In April 1918 he was wounded, but managed to remain on duty. Five months later he was killed in action.

What was the reason for so many promotions? Was Porter stepping into the breach left by the death of his fellow soldiers? The records do not say. Heavy batteries, however, attracted a lot of attention from the enemy. The attrition rate was high.

Porter’s Army service started when he was 24. On 12 May 1915 he signed up at Camberwell. The form shows that he opted to allot sixpence a day from his pay for his family – just as well because his wife, Daisy Porter (nee Kennett), was pregnant with their first and only child. It is likely that Porter was able to see his baby, Iris Georgina Porter, who was born in November 1915, as he did not leave England until April the following year.

Porter, blue-eyed with brown hair and a fresh complexion, was 5 feet 8¼ inches tall – a good height for the time – and weighed 138 pounds (getting on for 10 stone). His chest was 35 inches, which he could increase by 2 inches. His physical development was judged “fair”.

George and Daisy Porter lived at 66 Kellett Road, Daisy and Iris later moved to 61 Hinton Road, Herne Hill. From that address she sent a pained note to the Army:
“Dear Sir,” she wrote on 2 January 1919, “Could you inform me the reason why my late husband George Hand Porter No. 290873. 126 Heavy Battery R.G.A.’s effects have not been sent to me as it is nearly four months since he was killed.”

These effects, when they reached her (“Effects sent” is written across the letter) included: two wallets, photos, calendar, metal mirror, watch, pen, guard and chain, collapsible cup, pocket knife, scissors, gold ring, rosary, cap badge, belt, match box cover, whistle, safety razor and case, cap badge, belt, tobacco pouch, cigarette case, celluloid whistle, letters, spectacles in case, magnifying class and three lenses, five compasses, watch protector, razor strap, newspaper cuttings, fob watch, chevrons, brass crown. These objects together speak of a careful, sensitive man used to close work, ideal for work in copperplate engraving.

Information from the 1911 census
Before he married in 1914, George Hand Porter lived with his family at 111 Loughborough Road, Brixton. His widowed mother Martha Porter, 55, was from Walworth. There were four children: George, then 19 and working as a copperplate engraver; John Porter, 24, a machine minder (L.P); Fred Porter, 23, a corrector of the press; Henrietta Porter, 16, a dressmaker. All were born in Lambeth. The 1901 census shows that George’s father, “J. Porter,” was a printer.

Thomas Albert Pilgrim

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T. A. Pilgrim
Service no. 8761
Company Quartermaster Serjeant, Cheshire Regiment, 86th Bty.
Born in Battersea; enlisted in London
Died of pneumonia on 19 May 1918, aged 35
CWGC: “Son of Mrs. S. Silk (formerly Pilgrim), of 3, Stockwell Grove, Stockwell, London, and the late H. Pilgrim. Served in the South African Campaign. Alternative Commemoration – buried in Hartlepool North Cemetery.”
Remembered at Hartlepool (Stranton) Cemetery

British Army WW Service Records 1914-1920

Thomas Albert Pilgrim’s Army career lasted 17 years – he signed up just shy of his 18th birthday. During this time he learned about Army discipline, rose through the ranks to be Company Quartermaster Serjeant, grew nearly 4 inches and acquired medals and multiple tattoos, not to mention a wife. But he died, despite the best efforts of the medical staff, of severe pneumonia in West Hartlepool. The King and Queen wrote of their sorrow at his passing to his widow.

In November 1901 Pilgrim, a general labourer, enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment. He was 17 years and 10 months, 5 feet 5¼ inches tall, blue-eyed with brown hair; he had a scar next to his left eye and tattoos on his left arm. At camp in Chichester, he was almost immediately in trouble: irregular conduct (seven days confined to barracks); absent from parade (three days); quitting coal fatigue without permission (three days); not complying with an order (five days), and at Jamestown, Ireland, making an improper reply.

More trouble followed. While serving in South Africa he made an improper reply to an N.C.O. for which he was confined to barracks for 14 days. Back in England, at Shorncliffe camp, he was absent from reveille. And it was there, on 4 April 1903 that Pilgrim left the regiment, having been “Discharged by Purchase.”. It was an expensive decision. The £18 he paid out equates to £7,500 in today’s money.

In November 1907, aged 24, he was back at the recruitment office, enlisting in the Cheshire Regiment. By now he had grown to 5 feet 9 inches, and was a solid 11½ stone, with a 38½-inch chest. He had also acquired an impressive set of tattoos: a flower head on his left arm, a female figure, a head, flags and flowers on his left forearm; a hand with two cards and a crescent on the back of his left hand; a snake, palm tree and “an Indian” on his right forearm; a heart on his left knee.

There were only two black marks against him in this period. On 10 March 1909 he bought a pair of boots from a private soldier “contrary to regulations,” for which he was severely reprimanded; on 27 November he was found drunk and disorderly in Belfast for which he was reprimanded again. However, he had evidently calmed down somewhat. Possibly his marriage in 1908 to a 29-year-old widow, Maud Kate Nurse, at Lambeth Register Office had an influence. He was now responsible for a wife and young stepchild. In this period, Pilgrim acquired some qualifications. In 1908 he gained a 3rd class certificate of education, rising to 2nd class in 1910. He qualified as an assistant instructor in signalling in 1911.

Life was changing for Pilgrim. He started to gain promotions, making Serjeant in 1913, and on 9 July 1914, shortly after he had suffered a bout of bronchopneumonia that had put him in hospital in Londonderry, he signed up for extended service. His military character was now judged to be excellent, his superior officers describing him as “very hard working and efficient,” “reliable,” and “trustworthy.”

Soon he was off to France, but he served only three months there (between August and November 1914). Most of the war was served on the Home front. He was appointed acting Company Serjeant in June 1915 and promoted six weeks later. All the signs were that Pilgrim would have survived the war had he not been brought down by a very severe case of pneumonia while at West Hartlepool.

The doctor treating Pilgrim at the No. 8 Durham V.A.D. (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Hospital, where he was admitted on 14 May 1918, described him as “practically moribund” (meaning approaching death). They fed him carefully with fluids him every half hour, administered strychnine (this was used as a stimulant if the patient collapsed suddenly) and surrounded him with hot water bottles. But there was no antibiotic treatment and he succumbed five days later. He was 35 and had served over 10 years.

Pilgrim’s widow Maud Kate received a pension of 24 shillings and twopence for herself and her child. She received a message from the Army Council: “The Army Council having heard with regret of the death of your husband, No. 8761, C.Q.M.S. Thomas Albert Pilgrim, Cheshire Regiment, of which you have already been informed. I am instructed to send you herewith the enclosed message of Sympathy in your bereavement from the King and Queen.” Unfortunately, Pilgrim’s file does not include a copy of the letter itself.

Although Pilgrim does not appear on the 1911 census for Lambeth or Wandsworth, his mother, Susannah Silk, 56, and sister, Daisy May Pilgrim, 22, are found at 3 Stockwell Grove, where they had two rooms. In 1901, before he signed up with the Royal Sussex Regiment, the 17-year-old Pilgrim was living with his mother, stepfather Tom Silk (a 39-year-old scaffolder from Battersea) and three siblings at the same address.

Information from the censuses

Although Thomas Albert Pilgrim from Clapham does not appear on the 1911 census for Lambeth or Wandsworth, his mother, Susannah Silk, 56, and sister, Daisy May Pilgrim, 22, are found at 3 Stockwell Grove, where they had two rooms. In 1901, before he signed up with the Royal Sussex Regiment, the 17-year-old Pilgrim was living with his mother, stepfather Tom Silk (a 39-year-old scaffolder from Battersea) and siblings at 3 Stockwell Grove.
Henry Pilgrim, 21, a carman, born in Battersea
Bertie Pilgrim, 16, a shop assistant born in Battersea
Diasy M. Pilgrim, 12, born in Battersea

William Reginald Guy Pearson

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W. R. G. Pearson
Captain, Royal Air Force, No. 4 Training Depot Station
Died in a flying accident on 20 June 1918, aged 21
Son of Reginald and Minnie Pearson
Remembered at Eastham, St Mary, Cheshire

William Reginald Guy Pearson
William Reginald Guy Pearson. Captain William Reginald Guy Pearson, R.A.F., accidentally killed at a Northern aerodrome, was the second son of Dr. and Mrs. Spencer Pearson, of Clapham Road, London S.W. An exceptionally skillful and careful pilot, he was officially credited with having brought down eleven enemy machines, and had been mentioned in despatches. From The War. Illustrated Album Deluxe: the story of the great European war told by camera, pen and pencil, by Sir John Alexander Hammerton. The Amalgamated Press, 1919.

From Flight, 4 July 1918
Capt. WILLIAM REGINALD GUY PEARSON, R.A.PV, who lost his life on June 20th at a Northern aerodrome owing to a collision in the air, in which Lieuts. McFarlane and Flynn were also killed, was the second son of Dr. and Mrs. Spencer Pearson, of Clapham Road, S.W. He was 21 years of age, and was educated at Ashdown Park and Berkhampsted, where his classical attainments promised a brilliant University career. At the outbreak of war he enlisted in the Empire Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, and later, receiving a commission in the A.S.C., proceeded to France in January, 1915. He very shortly afterwards joined the R.F.C. in France, and acted for several months as an artillery observer. Returning to England, he completed his training as a Scout pilot, and served in France in a fighting squadron for nearly a year, during which time he had over fifty encounters with enemy machines, and was officially credited with having brought down eleven German aeroplanes, many of them two-seaters. He became a flight commander and gained his captaincy, being mentioned in despatches. Capt. Pearson was a flying instructor at the time of his death, and was considered one of the most careful and skilful of pilots.

E026 W R Guy Pearson paper report 26-06-1918COLLISION IN THE AIR – THREE AVIATORS KILLED
A verdict of “Accidental death” was returned at an inquest on Friday on Captain William R. G. Pearson, of London, Lieutenant William Smith Macfarlane, of Edinburgh, and Lieutenant Vincent Flynn, of New Jersey, U.S.A., who were killed as a result of a collision while flying at a height of 1,000 feet on Thursday.

Evidence was given that Captain Pearson was in a machine with Lieutenant Macfarlane, and that Lieutenant Flynn was flying alone. They came together as though practising fighting. Pearson turned to the right, which was the rule of the force when flying, but Flynn turned to his left, and the machines collided and came to the ground wrecked. Pearson and Flynn were killed instantly and Macfarlane died a few minutes after being picked up. In the opinion of the witness, had Flynn adhered to the rules, and turned to the right, the accident would not have happened.

E026 W R Guy Pearson plaque
The wooden plaque inside the church at Eastham, St Mary, Cheshire, and the burial register from the church. Pearson is no. 995. Photo © Tracey Fisher

Record of Pearson’s 11 ‘hits‘

According to a report in the Brixton Free Press, Pearson’s father, Dr. Reginald Spencer Pearson, who had played a major part in raising money for the Stockwell Memorial Committee, was too distressed to attend its unveiling in May 1922:

[A]  gentleman whose absence was the cause for general regret was Dr. Pearson, who had identified himself so much with the progress of  the movement, and who regards the memorial in the light of the tomb of his own dear son. But Dr. Pearson felt that he could not bear the strain which the ordeal of unveiling and dedicating this memorial would impose upon him.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 William Reginald Guy Pearson lived in a 10-room house, 14 Lake Street, Leighton Buzzard. His father, Reginald Spencer Pearson, 45, a doctor from Workington, Cumbria, and mother, Minnie Savile Pearson, 40, from Wakefield, Yorkshire, had four children besides William:
James Pearson, 15, born at Parbold, Lancashire (on the 1901 census)
Kathleen Mary Pearson, 7, born at Islington, London
Richard Cuthbert Liverton Pearson, 4, born at Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
Hubert Edward Spencer Pearson, 1, born at Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
There were two ‘visitors’ (probably servants) in 1901, Florence Hughes Kinchliff, 27, a single mother’s help from Wakefield, and Dorothy Morris Tabor, 24, a mother’s help from St George’s in the East, London. In 1901, when the family lived at 48, Mildmay Park, Islington, there were 2 servants: a mother’s help and a page.