Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

age 26

Frank William Edmund Russell

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F. W. E. Russell
Service no. 302875
Rifleman, London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade), “D” Coy. 1st/5th Battalion
Born in Southwark; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 16 August 1917, aged 26
CWGC: “Son of Mr and Mrs F. Russell, of 89, London Rd., Southwark, London; husband of Katherine L. Russell, of 33 St Martin’s Rd., Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census and other sources

Frank Russell with his wife Katherine Louisa Kies

Commercial clerk Frank William Edmund Russell, 20, was the youngest child of Farnham-born Francis Russell, 49, the owner of a coffee shop at 89 London Road, Southwark, and Catherine Russell, 49, from Camberwell. He had two siblings, Catherine Annie Elizabeth Russell, 24, an assistant in the coffee shop, born in Walworth, and Emily Rosian Lucy Russell, 22, a milliner. The family lived in five rooms.

On 2 August 1915, at the Church of St Saviour with St Thomas in Southwark, Frank, aged 24 and working as a book-keeper, married 28-year-old typist Katherine Louisa Kies, of 34 Newcomen Street, Southwark, the daughter of Jacob Kies, German baker. She later gave her address as 33 St Martin’s Road, Stockwell. 

Frank’s family have preserved some postcards and letters from Frank. On 25 August 1916 Frank wrote to his sister’s fiancé Jack (John Thomas Moore) from the training camp at Havant in Hampshire:

I have just found out that I can get leave and will act as your best man, I hope your ankle is better than that you are able to use it. I am sorry Ern has to go under another operation, He seems to be having a rough time with his leg, I hope he will soon be better although I hardly think he will be able to go out again. A good thing too so long as he does not have any trouble in the future. I expect he will get off with a slight limp. 

A letter from Quartermaster Segeant Denny of ‘D’ Company to Katherine reads:

…I am reluctantly writing to inform you that your husband […] has been reported “MISSING” since Aug. 16 in an attack on the Prussian trenches East of Ypres. He may possibly gave gone down to a hospital through the dressing station of another battalion, in which case you shall be informed.

In the summer of 1929 Katherine married Albert A. Anderson. She died in Bromley, Kent in 1965.

With thanks to family members Andrew Tate and Stephanie Higgins.

Alfred Roskilly

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A. Roskilly
Second Lieutenant, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 7th Battalion
Killed in action age 26 on 3 May 1917
CWGC: “Son of Mr and Mrs A. J. Roskilly, of 96, Stockwell Park Road, London; husband of Ruth Roskilly, of 16, Briarwood Road, Clapham Park, London.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France and at St John’s Church, Clapham Road, London SW9

After Alfred Roskilly died, there was some confusion in the War Office as to whether he was killed in action on 3 May 1917 or died just over a month later as a prisoner of war. The authorities had received information via the International Red Cross, that an “A. Rostkeilly” of the Royal West Surrey Regiment was held by the Germans. However, no real conclusion emerges from the files, except that, in the absence of real evidence, the Army accepted the earlier date as the date of death. The date of death was important as it affected the payments owing to the deceased, inherited by his widow.

Roskilly, an assistant clerk in the Post Office Savings Bank at Blythe Road, West Kensington, had considerable military experience, having joined the 2nd (Cadet) Battalion of the London Regiment (Civil Service), moving to the 15th Battalion, and subsequently transferring to the London Field Ambulance on 9 July 1915. He served 1 year and 225 days before being granted a temporary commission in March 1917. He survived less than 10 weeks.

Arthur Roskilly, the eldest of four children of compositor Alfred Joseph Roskilly, from Dalston, east London, and Clara (née Guest), from Southampton. His military character was described as “very good.” He stood 5 feet 7½ inches, weighed 9¾ stone and had a 39-inch chest. In 1911 the Roskilly family lived at 32 Clitheroe Road, Stockwell, where they occupied six rooms. Arthur married Ruth Lambert at St Anne’s and All Saints Church, South Lambeth Road on 2 April 1914.

Information from the censuses

In 1911, Alfred Roskilly, the eldest child of compositor Alfred Joseph Roskilly, 41, from Dalston, east London, and Clara Roskilly, 42, from Southampton, was 20 and working as a civil service clerk. The couple had three other surviving children (one had died): Frank Roskilly, 19, a “boy clerk’, like Alfred born in Southwark; Doris Roskilly, 8, born in Stockwell; Ruby Roskilly, 6, born in Stockwell. A boarder, Henry Goerge Downer, 19 and from Cirencester, Gloucestershire, another boy clerk, lived with the family at 32 Clitheroe Road, Stockwell, where they had six rooms. A decade earlier, the Roskilly family lived at 16 Grantham Road.

Charles Henry Randell

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C. H. Randell
Service no. 9114
Private, South Lancashire Regiment, 2nd Battalion (described as a “drummer” in the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919 database)
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Wandsworth
Killed in action on 25 September 1915, aged about 26
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

Information from the censuses

Charles Henry Randall’s two sisters, a nephew and a boarder were living with his mother, Lilian Randell, in four rooms at 15 Sterndale Road, Battersea. Lilian had had 13 children of whom only five survived.

In 1901 the Randell family were living at 94 Crimsworth Road, Lambeth. William Henry Randell, 39, was a motorcycle maker born in Dalston; his wife Lilian Randell, also 39, was a “tailoress” born in Paddington. Their children were
William J. Randell, 15, a waiter born in Wandsworth
Lilian T. Randell, 14, born in Wandsworth
Charles H. Randell, 12, born in Wandsworth
Daisy E. Randell, 7, born in Wandsworth
May E. Randell, 1, born in Wandsworth

In 1891 the family were living at 34 Camelia Street, Lambeth, and William Randell was described as a “cab driver”. There were two older children, Ernest E. Randell, born in 1883 and then aged 8, and Florence E. Randell, born in 1885 and then aged 6.

Going back 10 years, in 1881, William Randell was a railway lampman, married to Lilian, who was described as a mantle maker, and living with his father, James Randell, 52, a cigar maker, at 68, Regent St, Lambeth.

There are some discrepancies in all the three censuses on place and dates of of birth but these may be transcription errors.

Charles Henry Randell, born on 9 August 1888, the son of William Henry Randell and Lillian Randell of 43 Thorne Street (now Thorne Road), was baptised on 20 September 1888 along with two older siblings at St Barnabas Church, South Lambeth. Aged 20, working as a labourer, he married Caroline Lillian Shepherd at the same church. In 1911 Caroline had returned to her parents at 22 Camellia Street, Stockwell and was working as a machinist. The whereabouts of Charles is unknown.

William Charles Purslow

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W. C. Purslow
Service no. S/12717
Corporal, Rifle Brigade, “B” Coy. 3rd Battalion
Born in Plymouth; enlisted in London; lived in Stockwell
Died of wounds on 29 May 1916, aged 26
CWGC: “Husband of Eleanor Annie Hillyer (formerly Purslow), of The Drill Hall, Richmond, Surrey.”
Remembered at Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord, France and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

Brother of Albert Edward Purlsow.

William Charles Purslow’s grave is in an extension of Bailleul town cemetery, where there are also graves of French and German soldiers from the Great War, as well as some WWII graves. Photo: Ray Gloster

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

William Charles Purlsow died on 29 May 1916 after the amputation of his right arm. Eight days earlier he had sustained a gunshot wound to his right arm. He had served just under a year, with only about three months in total at the front.

Purslow’s Army career was unremarkable, at least according to the service records. He had suffered from otitis media (inflamation or infection of the middle ear) in March and he was treated on an ambulance train. There is not much other than these details – and the list of his effects (disc, testament, diary, photos, cap badges, gold ring, letter) – to say. He was 25 when he joined up on 8 June 1915, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.

Purslow left a widow, Eleanor Annie nee Hutchinson, whom he married in late 1915 (the banns were read at St Michael’s church), who later remarried.

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.

George Albert Pelling

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G. A. Pelling
Service no. C/3505
Rifleman (served as batman), King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 17th Battalion
Born in Wandsworth, enlisted in London
Died 1920, aged 26 (not listed in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database)

Medals

Silver war badge no. 169847 (War Office and Air Ministry: Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War. Silver War Badge. RG WO 329, 2958–3255. The National Archives.)

Data from British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920 (The National Archives)

Joined 28 May 1915 in London. Occupation given as “wood machinist”. Address 60 Union Grove, Clapham.

Height 5 ft 7¾in. Chest 36½in (expansion 2½in). Middle finger of right hand missing.

Posted 26 January 1916; posted home 11 February 1917 – “Discharged. No longer physically fit for service”

Born in March 1894. Baptised 4 February 1898 at All Saints, Lambeth. Parents given as George Pelling, a cab driver, and Miriam Mary Ann, of 99 Thorparch Road.

1911 Census

In 1911 George Albert Pelling, aged 17, was working as a painter and living with his parents and two of sisters at Thorparch Road.

Family tree information on Ancestry.co.uk

Miriam Mary Ann née Hirst, died 1936.