Stockwell War Memorial

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Sidney Williams

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S. Williams

Rifleman, “D” Coy., London Regiment (Queen’s Westminster Rifles)
Service no. 556984
Died on 11 May 1918, aged about 36
Remembered at Cologne Southern Cemetery, Germany

Chris Burge writes:

Sidney Williams was born in 1881, the youngest of Charles Richard Williams and Mary Ann Ford’s 10 children. Sidney spent his formative years in the heart of Southwark, living near London Bridge Station in Borough High Street above his father’s successful clothier and tailor shop. At the time of the 1901 census, Sidney was not quite 20 and working as an auctioneer’s clerk. 

On retirement, Charles Richard and Mary Ann Williams moved to the relative quiet of 86 Gauden Road, North Clapham, where they rented four rooms. In the 1911 census, Sidney, 29, was living there with his parents and two sisters, 45-year-old Emily and 35-year-old Ada Lily, a schoolteacher. Sidney’s parents were now 73 and his father Charles lived on a masonic annuity (he had joined the Royal Jublia masonic lodge in the year before Sidney was born). Sidney was still working as an auctioneer’s clerk. Six other rooms at the same address were home to the family of Sidney’s older brother Mark Albert Williams, his wife Ellen and their three children. 

Sidney Williams married Ethel Mary Edwards, a dressmaker originally from Dorset, in the spring of 1914 in a civil ceremony, which took place near the home of Ethel’s married sister Florence Richards who lived near Acton Green, west London. The couple lived in Jefferys Road, Clapham after their marriage. Ethel died soon after the birth of their son Frederick Charles Sidney Williams on 27 October 1916 and was buried in Wandsworth cemetery. 

Sidney Williams may have been put on Army Reserve due to his personal circumstances, but around August 1917 he was called up and processed at the Central Recruitment Office in Whitehall, joining the 16th Bn. London Regiment as rifleman 556984 Williams, leaving baby Frederick in the care of his late wife’s sister, Florence Robinson. He entered France on 2 January 1918, and was one of around 50 reinforcements who joined the Queen’s Westminster Rifles in the first week of 1918. 

They moved to the Gravelle sector in February where they remained during March. It was Sidney’s misfortune to be in the forward zone on 28 March 1918 when they suffered the full force of the enemy’s spring offensive, and was among the many killed, wounded and missing. After suffering a wound to his right leg, he was taken prisoner and held in the Friedrichsfeld POW Camp, near Wesel in Germany. Poor camp conditions and the lack of good medical care led to his death from sepsis on 11 May 1918, as reported on the camp’s ‘Toten-List’ (death list), dated 21 May 2018. 

When taken prisoner Sidney had given his 80-year-old father Charles as his next of kin and he would have been the first to be informed of their youngest son’s death. Both Charles and Mary Ann died in 1919, and it was left to other family members to arrange for Sidney’s name to be added to the Stockwell War Memorial. 

Sidney’s son Frederick remained with his aunt Florence and her husband and died in 1988, aged 72.

S. Williams. Rifleman, “D” Coy., London Regiment (Queen’s Westminster Rifles). Service no. 556984. Died on 11 May 1918, aged about 36. Remembered at Cologne Southern Cemetery, Germany

Albert Edward Parsons

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A. E. Parsons
Service no. 653411
Rifleman, London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles), 1st/21st Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Camberwell; lived in Brixton
Killed in action 7 June 1917, aged about 36
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Lambeth-born Albert Edward Parsons, 30, was working as a drapery warehouseman and living with his wife and family in five rooms at 40 Bellefields Road, Stockwell. Jessie Emily Parsons, 29, was from Southwark. Their two sons were Albert Edward Parsons, 6, born in Newington, and Horace William Parsons, 2. The household included a boarder: John Frederick Knight, a 22-year-old single jeweller’s packer, from Newington.

F. W. Hopkins

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F. W. Hopkins
Service no. 55321
Private, Welsh Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Formerly 31166, the King’s Own Shropshire Light Infantry
Died of wounds 22 September 1918, aged about 36
Buried at Brie Cemetery, Somme, France (grave I C 9)

Remembered at Stockwell War Memorial and on a wooden memorial plaque at Westminster Abbey, London, where he worked as a plumber (information from L. Hopkins, great-grandson)

Research contributed by Marietta Crichton Stuart

Hopkins’ Medal Index card names him as Frederick Hopkins and shows that he was eligible for the Victory and British Medals.

Soldiers Died in the Great War records him as Private Frederick William Hopkins, born in Lambeth, residence Walworth, Middx (sic), Enlisted Kensington, Middx (sic), Private, Welsh Regiment, 2nd Battalion, number 55321, died of wounds, theatre of war Western European Theatre, comments formerly 31166, Shropshire LI.

The CWGC entry gives no family details.

Frederick William Hopkins was born between April and June 1882 in Lambeth. He was the son of William and Mary Ann Hopkins nee Rayner. The family was living at 4 China Walk in North Lambeth and William worked as a wine cellarman. They had three daughters: Mabel, Alice and Florence. William died in 1888.

On the 1891 census, Mary Hopkins is a widow, working as a charwoman and living with her son Frederick and three daughters at 15 Union Street in North Lambeth.

Between October and December 1901 when he was 20, Frederick married Nellie Eliza L. Walker.

Nellie Walker was born in December 1881, the daughter of William and Louisa Walker (nee Dixon) who had married at St Philip’s Lambeth. Her father was a Nottingham born iron turner. When Nellie was baptised on 5 March 1882 in the parish of Emmanuel, Surrey, the family’s address was given as 120 Vauxhall Terrace and her father’s occupation was an engineer.

On the 1891 census Nellie was living with her parents at 55 Stockwell Green and her four brothers: William 5, Robert 4, Horace 2 and Alfred 2 months and one sister, Louisa aged 5. Four of the children were Lambeth-born and two were born in Southwark.

On the 1901 census Nellie Walker was living in 33 Villa Road and working as a general servant (domestic). This was the home of Marion Butler, 58, a boarding-house keeper, with three boarders, Henrietta Mark (living on own means), Alfred A C ?Suggate, a widower who was a civil engineer, and John Baddley, a ?drapery warehouseman (employer).

Nellie and Frederick Hopkins were married October-December 1901 and their first child, Dorothy Amelia, was born on 2 November that year. When Dorothy was baptised at St Mary’s the Less, Princes Road on 19 February the following year, the family was living at 63 Fitzalan Street in Kennington and Frederick was working as a plumber.

Their son Frederick William (Junior) was born in 1904 and a second daughter, Nellie Ethel, in 1908. All three Hopkins children were born in Lambeth.

On the 1911 census the family was living at 31 Upper Kennington Lane. Frederick was now 29 and working as a plumber/journeyman in the building trade. Nellie was 28, Dorothy 9, Frederick 7 and Nellie 2.

Frederick’s army records do not appear to have survived for either the Shropshire Light Infantry or the Welsh Regiment. His entry on Soldiers died says he enlisted in Kensington. The 2nd Battalion Welsh regiment was a regular battalion, and  it is possible that Frederick was in one of the territorial battalions of the 2nd.

As he was ineligible for either a 1914 or 1915 star medal, the assumption is that Frederick entered a theatre of war in 1916. In September 1918 the 2nd Welsh were part of the 1st Division who fought in the Battle of Epehy during what was later known as the Advance to Victory. By 19 September the Division had been unable to capture either the fortified village of Fresnoy le Petit or the mass of trenches known as the Quadrilateral and the Corps Commander decided to bombard these two strong positions before renewing the attack on 24 September. It is possible that it was during this fighting that Frederick was wounded. He may have been taken to one of the casualty clearing stations near Brie and subsequently died of his wounds. He was then buried in Brie Cemetery.

Fifty years later, his widow, Nellie E. Hopkins, died in Lambeth during the winter of 1967. She was 85.

Frederick Charles Hayden

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F. C. Hayden
Service no. 724529
Private, London Regiment, 24th Battalion
Born in Thaxted; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Studley Road
CWGC: “Husband of Mrs E. Hayden, of 2 Stanley Villas, Studley Road, Clapham, London.”
Died of wounds at age 36 on  22 August 1918
Remembered at Bray Vale British Cemetery, Bray-sur-Somme, France

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

Frederick Charles Hayden, a 35-year-old married travelling salesman, living at 2 Stanley Villas, Studley Road, Stockwell, attested on 8 December 1915 and joined the Army Reserve. He was mobilised on 28 August 1916 and posted to France the next day, leaving his wife, Emily (née Austin) and their daughter Ethel, 9. It is unclear from the records whether his 14 days’ leave, granted on 31 July 1918 enabled him to return to London to see them, or were spent near the Front. In any case, he died shortly afterwards, on 22 August.

Few details of his life are available, but the medical examination on mobilisation records him as 5 feet 5 inches tall, with a 34½ inch chest, to which he could add 2 inches. He had both upper and lower dentures. His effects consisted only of two military discs.

Information from the 1911 census

The 1911 census shows a 29-year-old Frederick (or Fredrick*) Hayden working as a warehouseman and living with his wife Emily (née Austin), three-year-old daughter Ethel and in-laws at 2 Stanley Villas, Studley Road, London SW4. He was born in Thaxted, Essex. Emily’s stepfather, Henry Willey, 57, was a railway locomotive engine driver. There was a boarder, Alice Robinson, a 38-year-old single nurse from Gateshead, County Durham.
*The 1911 census has Frederick as Fredreck.

Frank Thomas Frisby

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F. T. Frisby
Service no. 26192
Private, Grenadier Guards, 1st Battalion
Died on 12 October 1917, aged 36
Enlisted at Battersea
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium

Chris Burge writes:

Frank Thomas Frisby was born on 4 April 1881, the first child of parents John Hulbert and Mary Ann Frisby. He was baptised as an infant on 29 May 1881 at St. James’s, Piccadilly. The family had moved to Stockwell around the time of his third birthday as the family grew with the addition of two more children, Louisa Jane Frisby and Arthur Hulbert Frisby.

Frank married Ellen Susannah Reed at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell on Christmas Eve 1900. At the time of their wedding, Frank said he was a ‘cellar man’ and the couple gave their address as 55 Russell Street.

A decade later, at the time of the 1911 census, Frank and Ellen Frisby were living in five rooms at 52 Union Road, Clapham. They had no children. Frank was now a fishmonger and employed at least one person. Widower Harry Morgan boarded with them, giving his occupation as ‘fish fryer’.

Frank and Ellen’s comfortable life was to be shattered by the Great War. Like anyone trying to run a business, the introduction of conscription early in 1916 made labour even harder to find and dwindling fish supplies led to a doubling of prices by 1916. Who could afford fish suppers now?

Conscription was soon extended to married men after its introduction, and Frank’s turn came in the summer of 1916. His army service number, 26192, is consistent with recruits to the 1st Bn. Grenadier Guards in July and August of that year. Frank would be sent to France towards the end of 1916.

Frank had been on the Western Front for close on a year when the his battalion took part in the opening of the First Battle of Passchendaele on 12 October 1917. Frank Thomas Frisby was killed in action on that day.

In due course, Ellen Susannah Frisby received a War Gratuity and widow’s pension, meagre compensation for her loss. Her husband’s medals followed in 1920. With no known grave, Frank Thomas Frisby was one of the thousands of names added to the Tyne Cot Memorial, unveiled in 1927.

In common with other families, Frank Thomas Frisby’s name was added to the headstone marking the grave of his parents at Lambeth Cemetery, Blackshaw Road, Tooting. The simple inscription reads ‘Also FRANK THOMAS FRISBY (son) Killed in action (Belgium) 12th October, 1917. Aged 36 years.

Surely it was Ellen Frisby who arranged for her husband’s name to appear on the Stockwell Memorial. Ellen continued to live at 52 Union Road into the 1930s, only moving to Tooting near the time of her death in 1944.

Frank’s brother, Arthur Hulbert Frisby, married with four children, had volunteered in 1915 and served in the Royal Engineers throughout the War, returning safely to his family in May 1919.

Harry Cutmore

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gravestone of harry cutmore
Harry Cutmore Photo © Marietta Crichton Stuart

H. Cutmore
Service no. 720754
Lance Corporal, London Regiment, 24th Battalion
Died age 36 on 2 January 1917
Son of Anne Cutmore, of 13, St. Martin’s Road, Stockwell, London, and the late William Cutmore.
Remembered at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinge, Belgium and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

Information from the 1911 census

Like his father, Harry Cutmore was a house decorator. In 1911 he was living with his parents and siblings in a 9-roomed house at 13 St Martin’s Road. William Cutmore, 60, had a firm of house decorators and was married to Annie Cutmore, 61. They were both from Lambeth. Harry, then 31, worked in his father’s firm. His brother Horace Cutmore, 25, ran a greengrocers and his sister Ethel Annie Cutmore, 23, was a sorter for the G.P.O (General Post Office). Harry, Horace and Ethel were born in Clapham. Winifred Maud Cutmore, 18, had no employment. She was born in Lambeth.

Harry Cutmore’s brother James Cutmore also died during the war and is listed on the wooden war shrine in the chapel at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell but not on Stockwell War Memorial. There are many possible reasons why names were not put forward to the Memorial Committee for inclusion, among them the feeling that to be listed once was ‘enough’, anger with the authorities and subsequent reluctance to engage with them, and simply not hearing about the Memorial project.

Information from Marietta Crichton Stuart

James Cutmore
Service no. 321775
Rifleman D Company, 6th Battalion London Regiment (City of London Rifles)
Died of wounds 23 March 1918, aged 40
Remembered at Chauny Communal Extension Military Cemetery on the Aisne (he was previously buried in a battlefield cemetery) and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

According to the CWGC, he was the son of William and Annie Cutmore, St Martin’s Road, Stockwell, husband of Florence Cutmore.

On the CWGC paperwork for the cemetery register, it gives an address for Florence of 7 Linden Avenue, Thornton Heath, Surrey, formerly of Stockwell and also Gisborne, New Zealand.

They had been married at St Michael’s Stockwell Park Road on 9 April 1905 and their daughter Hilda was christened there in early 1906, James’ occupation was given as Law Writer, his address 13 St Martin’s Road. They had a daughter Anne in 1909.

On James’ probate record, his address is given as 25 Burnley Road, Stockwell.