Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

age 31

William Charles Viney

by

W. C. Viney
Service no. 179460
Gunner, Royal Garrison Artillery, No 1 Depot
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Camberwell; lived in Lambeth
Died on 21 February 1918, aged 31
CWGC: “Husband of Florence Emily Viney, of 3 Portland Place South, Clapham Road, London.”
Remembered at Lambeth Cemetery, Tooting, London SW17

Information from parish records and 1911 census

William Charles Viney, 25, and Florence Emily Sheaff, 27, married at All Saints Church, Newington, on 27 August 1911. William described himself as a stock keeper of confectionary, and his father, William Viney, as a general labourer. The 1911 census shows William Viney as boarding at 7 Freemantle Street, Newington (the address he gives on his marriage record), where he lived with engine fitter Alfred Webster and his family. Viney’s occupation here is given as “store keeper”.

William James Sharp

by

W. J. Sharp
Service no. 656082
Rifleman, London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles), 21st Battalion
Killed in action on 22 August 1918, aged 31
Born in Lambeth; enlisted at Camberwell; lived in Clapham
CWGC: “Husband of Grace Elizabeth Sharp, of 16 Paradise Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Norfolk Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt, France

Information from the 1911 census

Clapham-born William Sharp was a tram car driver, aged 24 in 1911. He lived with his widowed father, Joseph Sharp, 65, an unemployed coachman from Pimlico, in two rooms at 1 Northall Street, Stockwell.

Ernest Albert Pyle

by

E. A. Pyle
Service no. G/81351
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 23rd Battalion; formerly 5505, Middlesex Regiment
Killed in action on 19 March 1918, aged 31
Born in Tottenham; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Brixton
CWGC: “Husband of Ellen Pyle, of 11a Morat Street, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918

PYLE, ERNEST ALBERT, Private, No 81351, (–) Battn. The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regt.), 3rd s. of Richard Pyle, of 1, Henry Road, South Tottenham, N., by his wife, Sarah Jane; and brother to Private H. G. Pyle (q.v.); b. Tottenham, N.; educ. Bramar Road there ; enlisted in 1915; served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders, and was killed in action 19 March 1918.

Note: The De Ruvigny’s entry contains a number of inaccuracies. It refers to ‘… his wife Sarah Jane’. Sarah Jane Pyle was in fact his mother. He was educated at Bramar Road. This should be Braemar Road, Tottenham.

Further information

Ernest Albert Pyle was born in Henry Road, Tottenham on 21 January 1888. He married Ellen Edgar in Tottenham on 6 June 1908. He was killed at The Somme on 19/03/1918. One of his brothers Herbert George Pyle (aka Hubert) was also killed at The Somme a year earlier (08/03/1917) having emigrated to Australia in 1913 and joined the Australian Army in 1915.

Ernest had three sons: Ernest Richard Pyle (born 2 March 1909), Albert Edward Pyle (c1911 – c1986) and Arthur James Pyle (c1913 – c1916, aged 2 years 10 months.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Ernest Albert Pyle, aged 23, was a house painter working on the Holland Estate. Like his wife, Ellen Pyle, 25, he was born in South Tottenham. They had a son, Ernest Richard Pyle, 2, born in Islington, north London. The family lived at 59a Morat Street. Ernest’s father Richard Pyle, 47 in 1901, was a painter, born in Islington; his mother Sarah Pyle, 48, was from Bristol. Ernest had at least four siblings.

James Sidney Prescott

by

S. J. Prescott
Service no. 8638
Serjeant, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 1st Battalion
Enlisted at Brixton
Died on 28 March 1918, aged about 31
CWGC: “Son of the late William George and Mary Jane Prescott.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 James S. Prescott, aged 24, was serving with the 2nd Battalion (mounted infantry) of the Royal Scots Fusiliers at King’s Hill, Harrismith, Orange Free State in South Africa. Meanwhile, his parents and sister lived at 38 South Island Place, between Clapham and Brixton Roads, where they had two rooms. William G. Prescott, 63 and from Dover, Kent, was a pensioner of Lambeth Borough Council (he was formerly a foreman); Mary Jane Prescott, 67, was from Taunton, Somerset. They had five surviving children, of eight, with only one remaining at home: Alice Venner Prescott, 23, a bookkeeper for an advertising agency. On the 1901 census, James S. Prescott is shown as working as a commercial clerk.
*The War Memorial has the initials reversed.

Herbert Charles Nuthall

by

Herbert Charles Nuthall in uniform
Herbert Charles Nuthall. By kind permission of Brian Denny

H. C. Nuthall
Service no. 7498
Private, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 1st Battalion
Born in Camberwell; enlisted in London; lived in Brixton
Killed in action on 25 April 1915, age 31
CWGC: “Son of Henry and Jane Nuthall, of Lambeth, London; husband of Gertrude Beatrice Nuthall, of 12, Lingham Street, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Seaforth Cemetery, Cheddar Villa, Belgium

Herbert Charles Nuthall.
Herbert Charles Nuthall. Photo © Marietta Crichton Stuart. The headstone has the following inscription: “From strife to the peace and love of God” Marietta Crichton Stuart writes: “The cemetery is a fairly rare instance of a battlefield cemetery, originally called Cheddar Village, the Commanding Officer of the 2nd Bn Seaforth Highlanders later asked if the name could be changed to Seaforth as 100 of the 127 burials belonged to that Battalion. Herbert’s headstone was very clear and so must have been recently cut.”

Brian Denny, Herbert Charles Nuttall’s great-grandson, says he may have been a witness to the Christmas truce of 1914 and the first gas attack in April 1915, as his regiment was in the vicinity of both. Brian has written this beautiful song in memory of Nuthall.
http://youtu.be/4slLT8aC3sA

 

John Strachan Kelly

by

J. S. Kelly
Service no. 45038
Private, Surrey Yeomanry (Queen Mary’s Regiment), “A” Sqdn.
Born in Aberdeen; enlisted in Clapham; lived in Brixton
Killed in action aged 31 on 22 October 1917
Son of Timothy and Agnes Kelly; husband of Laura M. Kelly, of 6 Benedict Road, Brixton, London.
Remembered at Struma Military Cemetery, Greece)

Information from the 1911 census

John Strachan Kelly, 25 in 1911, lived with his parents and siblings at 13 Dunbar Road, Forest Gate, West Ham. His father, Timothy Kelly, 50, was a customs and excise officer from County Roscommon, Ireland. His mother, Agnes Kelly, 49, was from Aberdeen, Scotland. Of their 10 children, 7 survived (5 of them are on the census return):
John Strachan Kelly, 25, an assistant clerk at the Board of Trade, born in Aberdeen
Mary Kelly, 23, an assistant teacher, born in Aberdeen
Agnes Kelly, 21, a student teacher, born in Aberdeen
Edith Kelly, 19, no occupation, born in North Shields, Northumberland
Charles Edward Kelly, 7, born in Edinburgh

Information from 1901 Scottish census on the BERR website (which lists employees of the Board of Trade who died in the First World War).

John S. Kelly, who at the time of his death worked for the Board of Trade Seamen’s Registry, lived with his family at 4 Admiralty Street, Leith, Midlothian. Nellie Kelly, 8, and Alice Kelly, 9 months, are on this census (and not on the 1911 census).