Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

age 20

Alfred Colin Dopson

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A. C. Dopson
Service no. P/200377
Rifleman, Rifle Brigade, 10th Battalion
Died aged about 20 on 23 September 1917
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium

Information from the censuses

In 1901 Alfred Dopson, aged 4, was living at 34 Kenchester Street with his parents, George Dopson, 37, a railway porter born in Newbury, Berkshire, and Elizabeth Dopson, 36, from Shipnal, Shropshire. Alfred’s siblings on the census were
Edward G. Dopson, 5
Emily Violet Dopson, 3
Edith M. Dopson, 10 months
All the children were born in Kennington.
Elizabeth A. Rogers, 40, a widowed monthly nurse born in Cape of Good Hope, boarded with the family.

In 1911 the Dopson family lived at 33 Ely Place, Stockwell, occupying 4 rooms. Edward,16, was now a printing trade apprentice, as was Alfred, 15. Emily was 13. Since the 1901 census, Alexander, 9, and Alice, 6, had been born. The Dopsons claimed that they had had 5 children all of whom survived. However, no mention is made of Edith, 10 months in 1901, who would have brought the number to 6.

Frederick John Doel

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F. J. Doel
Service no. 31188
Private, East Surrey Regiment, 8th Battalion
Killed in action aged about 20 on 3 May 1917
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Information from the censuses

In 1901 Frederick J. Doel, 4,  was living at  5 Spring Gardens with his mother, Ada Jane Doel (née Scrine), 23, a washer and ironer born in Lambeth, and his younger brother, Walter H. Doel, 2. The boys were born in Lambeth. There is no mention of their father.

In 1911 the family was living in 3 rooms at 29 Fountain Street (now gone), Lambeth. Frederick is listed as Fredrick. There were 3 sons: Frederick, 14, Walter, 12, and Arthur, 9, the latter born in Brixton. Again, Ada describes herself as married and a “wife” rather than “head” but there is no husband on the census.

Reginald Percy Dickason

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R. P. Dickason
Second Lieutenant, Middlesex Regiment, 6th Battalion attd. 1st Battalion
Died age 20 on 14 February 1917
Son of Harold Burfield Dickason, of 155 Clapham Road, London.
Remembered at Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension, France

British Army WWI Officers Service Records 1914-1920

Reginald Percy Dickason was educated at King’s College School and Pitman’s Metropolitan School. Pitman’s, opened in 1870, was the first school of business education in the world, and covered office routine, accounting and law, and shorthand and typing. Possibly Dickason was training to be a court reporter, for he transferred out of the 3/25th London Cyclists, which he joined as a private on 1 April 1915, to the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.

This corps was originally part of the London Territorial Force and consisted mainly of men connected with the law courts. On 4 August 1916 he was accepted for admission to No. 8 Officer Cadet Battalion at Lichfield, and a little over three months later he left for France, serving with the Middlesex Regiment.

He survived for just under four months, dying near Clery-sur-Somme. In July 1920 the Army wrote to Dickason’s father Harold Burfield Dickason to tell him that his son’s body had been moved to the cemetery at Peronne, assuring him that the removal was done “carefully and reverently.”

Dickason, born on 3 December 1896 and an only child, was 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed over 10½ stone and measured 40½ inches around the chest. He had the distinction of being the only man on the Memorial whose family included an elephant hunter.

Information from the 1911 census

Reginald Percy Dickason was 14 in 1911 and living with his family at 155 Clapham Road, where they occupied 10 rooms. Reginald was an only child. His father, Harold Burfield Dickason, 36, was an orchestral musician who was born in Highgate. His mother, Esther Dickason, 35, was from Lambeth. Harold’s brother, Percy Dickason, 34, an elephant hunter, and an aunt, Charlotte Hare, 69, lived with the family, along with a boarder, John Greenslade, 35, a stone and wood carver. Lily Cawley, 15, a general domestic servant born in Lambeth, lived in.

Information from the family
After Reginald died, his parents Harold and Esther went on to have another child, a son. This son later joined the Army and fought in World War 2. Esther died in the 1930s.

Charles Henry Charnock

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C. H. Charnock
Service no. 195781
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, 120th Bty. 27th Bde.
Killed in action at around age 20 on 14 October 1917
Remembered at La Clytte Military Cemetery, near Ypres, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census and the Charnock family

The 10 members of the Charnock family lived in 4 rooms at 15 Madrid Place, South Lambeth. Frederick Thomas Charnock, 41, was a bricklayer, born in Southwark. Kate Charnock (maiden name Bushnell), 36, was also born in Southwark. They had 9 children, 7 surviving.  All were born in Brixton:
Charles Charnock, 14 (born on 3 April 1897 in Ingleton Street, Brixton; baptised in St Andrew’s Church, Stockwell)
Frederick Charnock, 11
Lily Charnock, 9
Alfred Charnock, 8
Florence Charnock, 6
Annie Charnock, 2
Edward Charnock, 9 months
Mary Ann Varns, 63, Kate’s widowed mother, who was born in St Giles, lived with the family.

William Spencer Benson

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W. S. Benson
Service no. 35733
Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, 17th Field Ambulance
Died of wounds 23 April 1917, aged 20
Born in Brixton, enlisted in Holborn
Remembered at Bethune Town Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA.

Information from the 1911 census

William Spencer Benson, 14, was the eldest child of William Spencer Benson, 43, and Jessie Elizabeth Benson, 35. William the elder was a general labourer, while William the younger was a paper boy. The other children were
Jessie Elizabeth Benson, 12
Henry James Benson, 9
Rose Esther Benson, 4
Edith Phyllis Benson, 7 months
Henry James Benson, 33, brother to William, and Richard Smith, 28, both single and both working as labourers boarded with the family. All in the household, at 62 Ingleton Street, were born in Brixton.