Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

age 28

Stephen Jetten

by

S. E. Jetten
Service no. L/13259
Serjeant, Royal Fusiliers, 4th Battalion
Died age 28 on 31 August 1918
CWGC: “Son of Mrs Mary Jetten, of 88 Paradise Road, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at H.A.C. Cemetery, Ecoust-St Mien, Pas de Calais, France

jetten medalsInformation from Major Dave Sellers

“I have the campaign medals to Sgt Jetten listed on the Stockwell War Memorial. Alas his Military Medal “for bravery in the field” has become detached from the group through the passage of time. Jetten is listed in the London Gazette a couple of times once for the MM and another for an MiD although his name is sometimes spelt incorrectly as Jetton.”

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Stephen Jetten, 22, was a serving soldier (a private) with 3rd Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, at Vacoas, Mauritius. His widowed mother, Mary, from Wych, Hampshire, lived with 2 sons, Frederick, 23, and Richard, 9, at 78 Paradise Road, Stockwell.
Ten years previously, in 1901, Stephen Jetten, 11, lived with his parents, Charles Jetten, 42, a railway porter from Isington, Hampshire, and Mary A. Jetten, at 23 Luscombe Street, South Lambeth. There were eight children:
Erwin W. Jetten, 18, an engine cleaner
Frederick C. Jetten, 13, an oil shop assistant
Stephen E. Jetten, 11
Charles F. Jetten, 10
Lilian M. Jetten, 7
Herbert W. Jetten, 4
Ethel C. Jetten, 1
William Jetten, 16, a family member born in Isington, Hampshire (as was Charles Jetten), boarded with the family and worked as an engine cleaner.
Luscombe Street has disappeared, but there is a Luscombe Way just off Wyvil Road.

William Henry Jackson

by

W. H. Jackson
Service no. 9011
Private, Middlesex Regiment, “D” Coy. 4th Battalion
Born in Paddington; lived in Hounslow
Killed in action age 28 on 15 October 1914
CWGC: “Husband of Ethel May Jackson, of 3 Seneca Road, Sandmere Road, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Vieille-Chapelle New Military Cemetery, Lacouture, France

Frank William Gibbins

by

Frank Gibbins in Rifle Brigade uniform. Courtesy of Bob Ray.

F. W. Gibbins
Service no. S/32220
Rifleman, Rifle Brigade, 7th Battalion
Died age 28 on 21 March 1918
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Camberwell; lived in Lambeth
CWGC: “Son of Charlotte Gibbins, of 62, Wilcox Road, South Lambeth, London, and the late William Gibbins.”
Remembered at Pozières Memorial, Somme, France.

Information from the 1911 Census

In 1911 Frank Gibbins was 21 and living at 161 Hartington Road (just around the corner from Wilcox Road) with his parents William Gibbins, 57, a railway guard born in Sussex, and Charlotte Gibbins (née Dance), 47, also born in Sussex. (The couple had had 5 children, 4 of whom survived.) Frank’s occupation is listed as railway porter. His brother Reginald Gibbins, 20, was a printer, and his sister Gertrude Gibbins, 16, was a domestic servant. The youngest, Horace Gibbins, at 12, was still at school. The children are listed as born in London.

Frank, the second of five children, was born on 23 April 1889 and baptised at Christ Church, Clapham on 28 November. The family then lived at 83 Clifton Street.

Emanuel Feder

by

E. Feder
Service no. 354910
Private, London Regiment, 7th Battalion
Also London Regiment, posted to 1st/19th Battalion
Killed in action, aged about 28, on 1 September 1918
Born in Soho, London; lived in Brixton
Remembered at Vis-en-Artois Memorial, France and at the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

See We Were There Too, which gives his address as 15 Lorne Road and his synagogue as Borough New Synagogue in Heygate Street (Vowler Street), Walworth Road, London SE17.

Manny Feder and Hettie Bicknell

In 1912 Hettie Bicknell (1893-1985) and Manny Feder had a daughter, Gladis Hettie (d. 2018), followed in 1913 by Deborah Frances (d. 1998). Hettie and Manny married in 1914 in Islington. Hettie gave birth to a third daughter, Peggy G. Christey (d. 1934) in 1926. The Brixton and Kennington electoral rolls to 1936 record Hettie Feder as living at 15 Lorn Road with George Christey (d. 1962), after which they appear to have married and moved to Downton Avenue in Streatham.

Information from the censuses

The 1911 Census has a match for a “Manny Feder”, born around 1890, living at that time at 58 Wardour Street, in the borough of Westminster, with his parents, Wolf Feder, 58, a clothes dealer who emigrated from Russia, and Dina Feder (née Herz), 44, who emigrated from “Austria” (then the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Two of their 5 children survived: Manny Feder, 21, and his brother David Feder, 18, both born in west London, assisted in the family business. The family lived in 3 rooms (including kitchen).

Ten years earlier, in 1901, they were living at the same address. The census describes the Feder parents as “naturalised British subjects”.

The 1891 census clarifies the family’s origins, giving Littin, Russia as Wolf’s birthplace and Tardiff, Austria, as Dina’s (she is listed as Dora). David is listed as Esidorf. Sara Prolen, a married 35-year-old domestic servant born in Poland, lived with the family, who were then resident at 33 St James Residences, Little Pulteney Street, Westminster.

Notes
(1) Birth years vary between the censuses, with Manny listed variously as 1890 and 1889. Haziness about Western-style years and varying first names were normal for Jewish families at this time.
(2) Littin (various spellings), Russia, was a Jewish shtetl (village), now in Ukraine. I have been unable to identify Tardiff.

Manny’s brother David served as a driver in the Royal Field Artillery and survived the war. In 1919 he gave his address as 117 Lambeth Walk, S.E.

Information from Wolf Feder’s certification of naturalisation (23 January 1896)

Wolf Feder swore that he was a subject of Russia, born at Taurogen (Tauragė [Lithuanian], Tovrik [Yiddish], Tauroggen [German], Taurogen [Russian], now in Lithuania), the son of Isaac and Janie Feder, that he was a clothier, married with two children, “Many” aged 6 and “Davis” aged 2.

John Henry Burns

by

J. Burns (listed on the Memorial as J. Burns)
Corporal, Royal Army Medical Corps, 15th Field Ambulance
Service no. 6003.
Died on 20 April 1918, aged 28
Remembered at Tannay British Cemetery, Thiennes, France

Chris Burge writes:

John Henry Burn was born in 1890 and baptised on 15 January at St Mary the Less, Lambeth, the first child of Henry Thompson Burn and Elizabeth (née Castle) who had married on 11 May 1886 at St Paul, Walworth.  By 1901 there were five children and the family lived at 39 Neptune Street (Seaham Street in 1912) along with two other families, totalling 16 people. 

In the 1911 census, John, then 21, is shown living in three rooms at 35 Dashwood Road with his parents and six younger siblings. John’s father Henry worked as a bill poster,  while John worked as a cellarman. By then Elizabeth had given birth to 13 children, seven surviving. 

Dashwood Road, sandwiched between the Longhedge and Nine Elms locomotive works and criss-crossed by the lines of the competing railway companies, was an area of social deprivation.  John’s home was a few yards from both St Andrews Church and the Bolingbroke Public House. It  was never silent and always grimy. 

John’s service number is within the range of men who joined the RAMC early in 1912, when initial training took place at Aldershot.  To the Army he was 6003 Burns.

John was sent to France on 20 August 1914, one of four men attached to the Regimental Medical Officer’s team for the 5th Divisional Ammunition Column. At some later date he was transferred to the Division’s 15th Field Ambulance, a mobile medical unit with orderlies, bearers, horse and motor transport.  It had been a long war and on 14  April 1918 the 15th  FA moved near Boeseghem.  Five days later, a party of 20 men was sent to assist the 13th  FA, based at Thiennes, who were hurriedly moving their advanced dressing station to the safety of a cellar, after their farmhouse location was shelled.  The keeper of the 15th  FA war diary noted on 20 April that ‘1 man Cpl. Burns killed by shell at CROIX MORRAISE ref map 36A 1/40000 J.21.C.10.2’ (50°38’49.5”N 2°32’03.4”E Rue de Tannay France).          

John’s parents wanted an inscription for their son’s headstone at Tannay British Cemetery, making sure his name was correct.  It seems possible the evidence they provided to those dealing with the Stockwell War Memorial led to his name being spelt as he was known to the Army. 

Henry Thompson and Elizabeth Burn were living at 55 Gaskell Street by 1918, remaining there for several years after the war.

Arthur Edward Blacker

by

A. Blacker
Service no. 44089
Rifleman, Royal Irish Rifles; formerly 5973, London Regiment
Died of wounds on 25 June 1918, age 28
CWGC: “Son of Arthur and Nellie Blacker, of London; husband of Charlotte Blacker, of 50 Shillington Street, Battersea, London.”
Remembered at Wandsworth (Earlsfield) Cemetery

Information from the censuses

In 1901 Arthur Edward Blacker was living with his famiy in 3 rooms at 7 Lithgow Street, Battersea (this street is no longer in existence). He is still living there in the 1911 census. His father, also called Arthur, was born 1862, was born in Wandsworth and was employed as a general builder’s labourer. His mother, Ellen H. Blacker (also known as Nellie), born 1865, was also from Wandsworth. There were 3 children on the 1911 census, all born in Battersea:
Ellen Eliza, Blacker, born 1886
Arthur Edwards Blacker, born 1890, a biscuit factory worker
Lilian Edwards Blacker, born 1901
The 1911 census states that there had been 9 children, 4 of whom had died.
The 1901 census includes, in addition,
Florence Blacker, born 1894
Annie Blacker, born 1895
In 1911 Ellen’s brother, George Fry, 34 and married, who worked in a print house, was visiting.

Additionally, a member of the Blacker family tells me that Arthur’s other brother and sisters were:
James George 1896-1897
Violet Ivy 1903-1905

Arthur and his wife Charlotte had at least two children, both born in Battersea:
Frederick G. A. Blacker, born 1916
Ivy L. Blacker, born 1918

Arthur was baptised on 21 February 1890 in Saint Mary’s Church, Battersea, Wandsworth. At the time, he was living at 13 Harroway Road, Battersea.