Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

age 19

Mark Harry Briggs

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H. Briggs
Private, London Regiment, ‘A’ Coy. 23rd Bn.
Service no. 701038
Died on 5 April 1918, aged 19
Remembered at Martinsart British Cemetery, Somme, France

Chris Burge writes:

Mark Harry Briggs was born in Lambeth on 14 May 1898 and was baptised at All Saints’, South Lambeth on 12 June. He was named after his father, and his parents Mark Harry and Elizabeth Jane Briggs were living in three rooms at 5 Madrid Place, off Dorset Road, which was still the family home in 1911. Six of Elizabeth’s eight children had survived infancy and in the 1911 census, Mark’s father had placed his son, now aged 12, above all his sisters names in the census return. They were: Elizabeth Jane, 17; Esther Amy, 11; Phyllis Winifred, six; Florence Gertrude, five; and Ruby Ellen, just eight months old. Mark’s father was working as a house painter and his sister Elizabeth as a domestic servant. There was one final addition to the family when Ernest John Briggs was born in 1912. 

Mark was 16 at the outbreak of war and was underage when he volunteered at St John’s Hill, Clapham Junction on 18 April 1915, the administrative base of the 23rd London Regiment. He claimed to be over 19 and at 5ft 6in in height passed the medical with ease.  He was posted to the 2/23rd London Regiment as 3556, Pte. Briggs. His parents informed the authorities of his true age and prevented him from going overseas until he was over 19. Mark spent time in the 108th Provisional Battalion before being sent to France on 29 September 1916. In the summer of 1917 he was hospitalised in France with pleurisy, suffered an arm wound in November 1917 and was unfit for duty for a month. He was granted home leave in January 1918. In March and April 1918 the 1/23rd London regiment were on the old Somme battlefield near Aveluy Wood, north of Albert. They were in the path of the enemy’s spring offensive and suffered hundreds of casualties at the end of March and particularly on 5 April 1918.  

In early May 1918 Mark’s parents received notice that he had been reported missing and his name subsequently appeared in British Red Cross & Order Of St John Enquiry List of missing or wounded on 2 August and 20 November 1918. When the military authorities presumed Mark’s death had occurred on, or since, 5 April 1918, the Briggs family were left to come to terms with their loss

It was Mark’s father who completed Army Form W5080 naming himself before his wife and children in order of precedence of the relatives of a deceased soldier. It was witnessed and countersigned at St Anne’s, South Lambeth, on 27 October 1919.The family’s address was now 2 Madrid Place. In another blow to the family, Mark’s father died late in 1921, aged 48. Mark’s mother Elizabeth only received her son medals after providing evidence of her husband’s death. 

Mark’s mother Elizabeth remained at 2 Madrid Place into the 1930s before moving to Tooting. She passed away in 1946, aged 71.

John Bowden

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J. Bowden
Service no. 118026
Private, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), 157th Coy.
Died age 19 on 5 March 1918
Son of Mr. and Mrs. John Bowden, of 2 Ely Place, Dorset Road, Clapham, London.
Remembered at Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 John Bowden, then 12, lived with his widowed mother, Harriet Bowden, 38, a laundress at 2 Ely Place, off Dorset Road. His elder sister, Rose Bowden, 14, was a tobacco packer for Lambert & Butler; his younger sister, Grace Bowden, was 9. All were born in Lambeth.

Percy Bigg

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P. Bigg
Service no. CH/17624
Private, Royal Marine Light Infantry, H.M.S. “Formidable”
Died age 19 on 1 January 1915
Son of Alfred Bigg, of 12, Thorparch Road, Wandsworth. Born at Lambeth.
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Private Bigg died after H. M. S. “Formidable” was torpedoed by a German sub and sank off Portland Bill. 547 crew (35 officers and 512 men) out of total of 782 died, including the captain (Captain Loxley). The wreck site is protected under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986.
MaritimeQuest has a list of all lost on the Formidable.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the Bigg family lived in 6 rooms at 4 Victoria Place, Priory Grove. Alfred Bigg, 44, was a carman for a laundry. He was born in Hertfordshire. Ellen Bigg, 44, was born in Fontmell Magna, Dorset. There were 7 surviving children (of 11):
George Alfred Bigg, 22, a carman, born in Kennington
Rose Bigg, 20, a shell box maker, born in Kennington
Bertram James Bigg, 19, a painter, born in Kennington
Percy Bigg, 15, a porter, born in Battersea
Sidney Bigg, 9, born in Battersea
Arthur Bigg, 8, born in Lambeth
Albert Thomas Bigg, 3, born in Lambeth

William Albert George Benson

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W. A. G. Benson
Service no. 634829
Private, London Regiment, “A” Coy. 20th Battalion; formerly TR?10/108398, 23rd T.R. Battalion
Killed in action on 1 September 1918, aged 19
Son of William Albert and Rose Louisa Benson, of 34 Willington Road, Stockwell
Remembered at Sailly-Saillisel British Cemetery, Somme, France

Information from the 1911 census

William Albert George Benson, who was 11 in 1911, lived with his family in 5 rooms at 4 Tandridge Place, Stockwell, SW9 (Tandridge Place has now disappeared – I think it was in the area of Clapham North tube). William’s father, William Albert Benson, 36, was a carman (transporting grain and manure), born in Bermondsey. His mother, Rose Louisa Benson, 38, was from Sydenham. The children on the census were
Eleanor E. A. Benson, 14, born in Bermondsey
William A. G. Benson, 11
Frederick C. E. Benson, 9, born in Bermondsey
Rose L. Benson, 4, born in Clapham
Jessie V. Benson, 2, born in Clapham

Arthur William Batho

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newspaper report on the bombardment of lowestoftA. W. Batho
Service no. L/6439
Officer’s Steward 3rd Class, Royal Navy, H.M.S. “Conquest”
Died age 19 on 25 April 1916
Son of Henry Thomas Batho, of 15 Priory Road, Wandsworth Road, London. Native of South Lambeth.
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial

Batho died during the bombardment of Lowestoft on 25 April 1916 by the German High Seas Fleet. There were 38 casualties (25 dead and 13 wounded) on the “Conquest”.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Arthur Batho, 15, was a messenger for the G.P.O. (General Post Office). He lived at 411 Wandsworth Road, SW8 with his widowed father, Thomas Batho (or Henry T. Batho, according to the 1901 census), a 50-year-old railway porter born in Suffolk (Otley on the 1901 census). Arthur’s siblings were
Elizabeth Batho, 26
Frederick Batho, 19, an engine cleaner
Harry Batho, 17, a van guard
John Batho, 12
All the children were born in South Lambeth.

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901 Arthur Batho was a 4-year-old living with his widowed father, grandmother, aunt and siblings at 65 Tradescant Road. Elizabeth Batho, 65, was from Farnham, Suffolk. Her son, Henry T. Batho (Thomas Batho according to the 1911 census), Arthur’s father, 42, was a widowed railway porter born at Otley, Suffolk. Henry’s single sister, Emily F. Batho, 34, was a dressmaker born at Friston, Suffolk. Arthur’s siblings were registered on the census as
Elizabeth Batho, 16, ironer
Thomas Batho, 13
Frederick Batho, 10
Harry Batho, 7
John Batho, 2

Leslie Frank Bailey

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L. F. Bailey
Midshipman, Royal Naval Reserve, H.M.S. “Bayano”
Died on 11 March 1915, aged 19
Son of Frederick Harvey Bailey and Maria Bailey, of 11 Belle Vue Gardens, Clapham Road, London. Served on H.T. “Huanchaco” on which he continued to serve when it was taken over as an Admiralty Transport in the first months of the war. Native of Brixton, London.
Remembered at Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Hampshire, at Putney Vale cemetery, and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Midshipman Leslie Frank Bailey (HU 113154) CWGC family information: Son of Frederick Harvey Bailey and Maria Bailey, of 11, Belle Vue Gardens, Clapham Rd., London. Served on H.T. ‘Huanchaco’ on which he continued to serve when it was taken over as an Admiralty Transport in the first months of the war. Native of Brixton, London. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205289913

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Leslie Frank Bailey was 15 and at school. He lived in 5 rooms at 363 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton with his mother, Maria Bailey, 59, born in Croydon and sister, Edith Mary Bailey, 34, a fruiterer’s assistant born in Dalston, London. Frank was one of 5 children. He was born in Lambeth.

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901 Leslie Bailey was 5 and living at 50 Solon Road, Brixton, with his mother, then 49, a florist; sister, Nettie F. Bailey, 26, a florist; sister Edith F. M. Bailey, 24, a commercial clerk. Both sisters were born in Dalston. Visiting on the night of the census were Ellen R. Laurence, 41, married and born in Croydon, and Harold R. Laurence, 6, born in Long Acre, Covent Garden and presumably Ellen’s son.

Frederick Harvey Bailey, cited by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, was mentioned in neither the 1911 nor the 1901 census returns for this household.