Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

1919

George Edward Fensome

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G. E. Fensome
Service no. 955621
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery
Died aged about 24 15 March 1919
Remembered at Lambeth Cemetery, London and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Information from the censuses

In 1911 George Fensome, aged 16, was working as a ticket collector for the City and South London Railway and living with his family at 38 Osborne Terrace, Clapham Road (this street was merged with Richmond Terrace to become Richborne Terrace). The family occupied 3 rooms. Mark Fensome, 52, was a sewer flusher for the borough council, born in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. Caroline (here given as Carriline in her husband’s hand) Fensome, 51, was born in Lambeth. The couple had had 8 children, but only 3 survived by 1911:
Mark Fensome, 19, an engine driver’s assistant working for the City and South London Railway
George Fensome, 16, a ticket collector working for City and South London Railway
Florence Fensome, 2
The children were all born in Lambeth.

Ten years previously, in 1901, George Edward Fensome, then 6, lived with his at 17 Portland Place South, South Lambeth. The same 3 children were recorded on this census. In addition, Bertha Burden, Caroline’s single 28-year-old sister who worked as a calico machinist, lived with the family, as did Edith Burden, 20, a domestic servant and another sister to Caroline. Frederick Dovinge, 20, a 20-year-old mason from Paddington, boarded.

Edward George Cox

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Chris Burge writes:

E.G. Cox
Rifleman, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles), ‘B’ Coy.
Service no. 590198
Died in hospital in the UK on 18 February 1919, aged 22
Remembered at West Norwood Cemetery and Crematorium

Edward George Cox was born on 10 May 1896 and baptised at Holy Trinity (demolished in 1953), Vauxhall Bridge Road in Pimlico on the north side of the Thames, on 7 June 1896 when his parents Edward Charles and Harriet Cox were living at 32 Ponsonby Terrace in Pimlico. Edward’s father worked as a moulder in a brass foundry. Four years later, when Edward’s sister Mabel Johanna was born the family lived at 30 Garden Street [where?]. At the time of the 1901 census, the Cox family were living in two rooms at 54 Romney Buildings in Erasmus Street, just behind the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain). 

At the age of five, in 1902, Edward George Cox attended the newly-opened Millbank School, across the street from the Romney Buildings. The school, and Edward’s early home, were part of the Millbank Estate, an ambitious housing scheme built between 1897 and 1902 by the London County Council. Two years later, when their third child, Ivy Georgina, was born, the Cox family had moved again, to 11 Hunter Buildings on the recently built London County Council Borough Road Estate.  

By 1911, Edward and family were living in more suburban surroundings at 5 Hill Street, Peckham, near the corner with Bird in Bush Road and close to the Surrey Canal. The Cox household then consisted of: Edward Charles, 40, and Harriett, 44; Edward George, 14; Mabel Johanna, 10; and Ivy Georgina, seven. In 16 years of marriage, Edward’s mother had borne four children, of whom three had survived. Edward had followed his father and now worked in a brass foundry. The Cox family lived in four rooms, the fifth room being occupied by Dora Saunders, a 74-year-old widow in a receipt of her old-age pension. 

Edward George Cox was already a member of the part-time Territorial Force at the outbreak of war. His original service number 1349 corresponds to those joining the London Irish Rifles towards the end of 1913, qualifying him as a recipient of the Territorial Force War Medal. (Note: The CWGC information refers to the wrong TF medal. The criteria for the Territorial Force War Medal is explained here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_War_Medal.)The medal roll of the 18th (County of London) Battalion (London Irish Rifles) was annotated with the dates and theatres Edward George Cox served in, and this corresponds with soldiers in the 2nd Battalion who served in France, Salonika, Egypt and Palestine 

Captain Ernest May wrote the story of the 2/18th London Regiment (2nd Battalion), London Irish Rifles during the Great War, a work started in 1926 but not completed and published until 1972. It explains how the battalion was disbanded in Palestine around June and July 1918 and the men drafted to other battalions in their Brigade. But the medal roll entry for Edward George Cox shows him leaving the theatre months earlier, on 6 March. Although wounding or sickness are possible explanations, there are no surviving records to say why or when Edward George Cox returned to the UK. The Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects merely records that Edward George Cox ‘died in hospital’ on 18 February 1919. His death was registered in the district of Weymouth and he was buried on 25 February 1919 at West Norwood Cemetery.

The Cox family were living at 48 Stockwell Park Crescent when Edward’s father passed away in 1934, aged 64. Edward’s mother Harriet moved to Sutton to live with her married daughter Ivy. Harriet Cox died in Sutton in 1942, aged 75. 

Frank Bowring

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photo of frank bowring ww1 soldier
Frank Bowring Photo: Kind permission of Ian R. King

F. Bowring
Service no. 115005
Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, 6th Stat. Hosp. (Antwerp)
Died age 24 on 26 October 1919
Son of Mr and Mrs Henry John Bowring, of 41 Priory Grove, South Lambeth
Buried at Schoonselhof Cemetery, Belgium

Frank died of pneumonia (information from family members).

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

BOWRING, F., Private, R.A.M.C.
Joining in 1916, he was sent overseas in the same year. He was engaged on important duties at the 6th Stationary Hospital whilst in France, but in October 1919 unfortunately died at Antwerp of an illness which he contracted while in the Service. He was entitled to the General Service and Victory Medals.
41, Priory Grove, Lansdowne Road, S.W.8.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the Bowring family were living at 41 Priory Grove, London SW8. Henry John Bowring, 49, was a goods porter from Dorchester, Dorset. His wife, Ellen Maria Bowring, 47, was from Kent. Frank Bowring, then 15, was an apprentice engineer, born in Battersea. His sister Elizabeth, 12, was born in South Lambeth, as was his brother Charles Bowring, 7. Elizabeth Haysman, 49, Frank’s aunt (sister of Ellen), a single servant from Kent, was visiting on the night of the census.

Peter Anderson

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P. D. Anderson
Service no L/7853
Private, 9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers
Died on 13 February 1919, aged 28
CWGC” “Son of Thomas and Christina Anderson, of 24 Viceroy Road, South Lambeth, London. Born at Glasgow.”
Remembered at Lambeth Cemetery, Tooting, London SW17 and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 Peter Anderson’s family was living at 2 Crimsworth Road, off Clapham Road. His father, Berwickshire-born Thomas Anderson, 50, was motor car engineer. His mother, Christina Anderson, 39, was born in Ross-shire. Peter’s siblings, all born in Lambeth and registered on the census, were:
Christina Anderson, born 1893, whose occupation is given as “filling and labelling scent bottles”
Henrietta Anderson, born 1896, domestic service
George Anderson, born 1901
Jessie Anderson, born 1906
Grace Anderson, born 1911 (2 months old)
Thomas Anderson and Peter Anderson are not on the census at this address. The 1911 census shows that Christina had given birth to 11 live children, 7 of whom survived.
Information from the 1901 census
In 1901, Peter Anderson was a 10-year-old living at “26 Cavendish Arms, Public House, Viceroy Road”. Thomas Henderson, 24, a Scottish brass moulder boarded with the family, and the Murray family were visiting on the night of the census: Edward A. Murray, 44, a locomotive engineer born in Kent; his wife Mary Murray, 45, born in Scotland; their son Henry Murray, 8, also born in Scotland.

Walter Alexander

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W. Alexander
Royal Navy, Stoker 1st Class, HMS ‘Fandango’
Service no. 311118
Died on 3 July 1919, aged 28
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent

Chris Burge writes:

Walter Alexander was born on 5 December 1888 in Camberwellin southeast London. In the 1891 census he is recorded as one of four siblings living at Faraday Street, Walworth:  Maud, aged 8; Phoebe, 3; Walter, 2; and James, 5 months.  His parents William and Ellen were 63 and 52 respectively. Although it was not unknown for women to have children late in life, especially if they had many births, there is a question mark over the accuracy of the children’s recorded ages and their true relationship with the parents. 

The family home was a three-storey property housing two other families totalling 16 people, close to the Michael Faraday Board School, St Stephen’s Church, the Newington Workhouse and the ‘Mineral Water Works’ in nearby Albany Street. William Alexander worked as a ‘traveller in mineral waters’. Walter’s infant brother James died in 1892 and his father William died in 1898. The family group is not found in the 1901 census. 

On 31 January 1907 Walter, previously a grocer’s assistant, joined the Navy as a stoker, signing for 12 years’ service. He was described as 5ft 3in tall, with light brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.  Advancement was slow, not least as Walter found himself in the cells more than once and in 1912 was given 30 days’ detention for insubordination. A more serious incident occurred on the very day Britain declared war on 5 August 1914. Walter was accused of inciting insubordination and attempting to strike. The nature of any grievance was not recorded.  Walter was threatened with 90 days’ imprisonment and dismissal from the service, an order that was cancelled on 4 November. After this date, Walter’s conduct was good to very good and he served on HMS Virago in the China seas until July 1915 when he was shore-based for a few months.  

Walter was a witness at the wedding of his sister Maud to George Thomas Dalton in Tooting on 17 October 1915.  The couple lived in Leigh on Sea briefly before George Dalton volunteered under Lord Derby’s Group Scheme on 1 December 1915, and joined the Army. George was called up on 1 June 1916 and Maud moved to 244 South Lambeth Road, Stockwell.  

The battle of Jutland took place on 1 June 1916 when Walter Alexander was on board the destroyer HMS Menace, part of the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla which screened the Grand Fleet in the battle.  Walter was transferred to another destroyer, HMS Prince, in October 1916.  

In 1917,  Walter was given leave to marry Beatrice Alice Selina Dalton, a younger sister of his brother-in-law George.  The wedding took place on 3 June at St Andrew’s, Stockwell, and was witnessed by Walter’s mother Ellen and Beatrice’s father.The couple’s address was recorded as 40 Sidney Street, Stockwell.  Walter returned to HMS Prince but his service extended beyond the war’s end when he served on the armed minesweeper HMS Fandango from April 1919. Walter was killed on 3 July 1919 when his ship struck an enemy mine and was wrecked during operations in the Dvina River in north Russia. 

On 3 September 1919 Walter’s widow Beatrice gave birth to Winifred Elizabeth Alexander, who was baptised on 28 September. Walter was recorded as ‘killed in action’ in the Parish register. Beatrice was married for a second time in 1920 to Edmund Arthur Hartshorn and died in 1987 in Devon, aged 92. Walter’s married daughter Winifred passed way in London in 2002, aged 83. 

Walter Alexander, the son of Ellen and William Alexander, was born on 5 December 1888 in Camberwell, southeast London. He joined the Navy in 1907 and married Beatrice Alice Selina Dalton at St Andrew’s Church, Stockwell Green, ten years later. Their daughter Winifred Elizabeth was born on 3 September 1919 and baptised at the same church. 

Walter was killed when his ship, the HMS Fandango, struck a mine during operations in the Dvina River North Russia.

In 1920 Beatrice married Edmund Hartshorn, and lived at 40 Sidney Road, Stockwell.