W. J. Williams
Service no. R/19181
Rifleman, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, “D” Coy. 11th Bn.
Born in Vauxhall; enlisted in Piccadilly, central London; lived in Lambeth
Died on 8 August 1917, aged 30
CWGC: “Son of James and Henrietta Williams, of 36 Kenchester Street, South Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium
H. I. White
Service no. 550898
Rifleman, London Regiment, 12th Bn (Queen’s Westminster Rifles)
Died 15 August 1917, aged about 30
Remembered Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belguim
Son of William George and Emma White, of 11, Stirling Rd., Stockwell, London.
This identification was made by Chris Burge, who writes:
Henry Ingham White was born in 1887, the youngest of William George and Emma White’s two sons. He was baptised on 20 July 1887 at St Barnabas, Pimlico, where William and Emma had been married seven years before. The family lived at 3 Union Street, Pimlico Bridge. Henry’s father worked as a ‘shopman’. Within a decade the White family had moved to 11 Stirling Street, off Clapham Road. Young Henry was still at school, this brother William John, then aged 17, assisted their father who managed a trunk shop.
In the 1911 census, the four members of the White family were living in relative comfort as occupants of the seven-room property at 11 Stirling Street. The census revealed that only two of William and Emma’s six children had survived into adulthood. William John, then 28, and Henry, then 22, were part of the family business. Henry’s father was the manager of a trunk and bag manufacturer, his brother William John was the secretary, while Henry was a ‘fancy leather worker’. The location of their premises and full extent of their business is not known.
The key surviving document in understanding the war service of Henry Ingham White is his entry in the Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects. A low service number of 3308 was added beneath the 550898 number and his war gratuity amounted to £13. The 3308 service number may not appear on Henry’s medal records, but the Soldiers’ Effects information indicates someone who joined in 1914.
When Henry Ingham White decided to volunteer, his links with Pimlico drew him to 58 Buckingham Gate, Westminster, home of the Queen’s Westminster Rifles, the 16th Battalion County of London Regiment. The QWR had departed for France on 1 November 1914 and were recruiting for their reserve. Perhaps Henry met Frederick Watson Haggett from Clapham as he stood in line on 7 November 1914. New recruits were posted to the battalion’s 2nd or 3rd reserve for training. Henry White became private 3308, and Frederick Haggett private 3309. Frederick Haggett and men with similar numbers were drafted in France at the end of June 1916, soon to be on the Somme. It is possible Henry was held in England for other duties. It is certain that Henry was in France by 19 April 1917, a replacement for men lost in the Arras offensive.
The QWR were in action in July and August 1917 near Ypres in what is commonly known as Passchendaele. Henry was wounded on, or shortly before, 15 August after trenches held by the QWR were heavily shelled. He was evacuated to the 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station at Remy sidings, some five miles behind front lines. Hundreds of casualties passed through the Station between 14-16 August. Henry Ingham White was one of the five deaths noted on the 15 August 1917.
It was a bitter blow for Henry’s father who had lost both his wife Emma and sister Caroline in 1916. William George White passed away in 1924, aged 65. An image of Henry’s CWGC headstone and the White family grave may be found here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10778460/henry-ingham-white.
W. C. Tidnam
Service no. 227258
Able Seaman, Royal Navy, H.M.S. “Vanguard”
Died on 9 July 1917, aged 30
CWGC: “Son of William Tidnam, of Harleston, Norfolk; husband of Kathleen Mary Tidnam, of 2 Burnley Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA
Information from the parish register
On 11 December 1916, William Charles Tidnam married Kathleen Mary Roberts at St. Michael’s Church, Stockwell. Kathleen’s address was 15 St. Martin’s Road, Stockwell. She gave her father’s occupation as carpenter and joiner. William gave his father’s as coachman.
Information from the censuses and other sources
In 1911 William Charles Tidnam, 23, was staying at the Union Jack club in Waterloo Road, Lambeth. He was listed as a “Navy able seaman” from Reddenham, Norfolk. In 1901 he was a 14-year-old errand boy, living at “Mendham Lane, Redenhall With Harleston” in Norfolk. His 45-year-old father, also called William, was a “groom (domestic)”; his mother, Emma Tidnam, 44, was born at Reddenham. Besides William the couple’s children included
Ellen Tidnam, 11
Alice Tidnam, 10
Percy Tidnam, 7
Fred Tidnam and Herbert Tidnam, 5
Winifred Tidnam, 11 months
Ernest Singleton, a 22-year-old Irish-born “motor car driver”, boarded with the family.
H. T. Sutton
Service no. 9005
Private, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion
Born in Battersea; enlisted in London
Died on 21 November 1914, aged 30
CWGC: “Son of Stanley and Mary Sutton, of 5 Gauden Road, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium
Information from the censuses
I have not managed to track down Hubert Tindal Sutton in the 1911 census, but his parents, Stanley Sutton, 49, a clerk from Tenterden, Kent, and Mary Sutton, 47, from London, are found at Tendring, Essex. The census shows that Stanley and Mary claimed they had had five children, two of whom had died. As they named three daughters on the census (Mary G. Sutton, 20, Ethel D. M. Sutton, 16, and Anita P. Sutton, 9, one wonders whether there was some kind of rift with Hubert. The family had a live-in servant, Alice Woods, 17, from Gillingham, Kent.
In 1901 Stanley Sutton was a 39-year-old pawn broker from Tenderden, Kent, living at “41 & 43 Battersea Park Road” according to the 1901 census. His wife, Mary Sutton, was born in Kennington. Hubert’s occupation is not given (he was then 17). He was born in New Brompton, Kent. His sisters, Mary Sutton (10) and Esther Sutton (6), were born in Battersea. Mary Hallard, 20, from Sheerness, Kent, was the family’s live-in domestic servant, and Samuel Perry, 29, described as an “assistant pawn broker” and who was born in Kilburn, London, resided with the family. It is likely that the Suttons lived over the shop.
W. H. Smale
Service no. 6810
Private, East Surrey Regiment, “C” Coy., 1st Battalion
Died age 30 on 29 July 1916
Son of Martha Tucker (formerly Smale) of 3 Kenchester Street, South Lambeth, London, and the late William James Smale.
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, France
Brother of Joseph Charles Smale
L. H. Sims
Service no. R/25464
Rifleman, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 9th Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Wandsworth
Killed in action on 21 August 1917, aged about 30
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium
Information from the censuses
Louis Henry Sims was an only child. In 1911, aged 24, he was working as a printer’s labourer. His parents, Henry William Sims, 51, a copper and steel plate printer born in Lambeth, and Henrietta Sims, 50, from Richmond, had had two children, but one died. The family lived at 31 Ely Place, Stockwell, in 6 rooms, which they shared with 3 boarders, all born in Lambeth: Emma Chaproniere, 76, a pensioner; Louie Chaproniere, 33, a sewing machinist; and Ivy Henrietta Chaproniere, 5. Ten years previously, the Sims family lived at 37 Ely Place. Henry was born in Lambeth.
On 14 November he married Daisy Elizabeth Amos at St Stephen’s, South Lambeth.