Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

age 37

Albert Edward Waymark

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A. E. Waymark
Service no. 40762
Private, Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment), 15th Battalion
Enlisted at Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire
Killed in action on 26 November 1916, aged 37
CWGC: “Son of Mrs S. A. Waymark, of 38 Heyford Avenue, South Lambeth Road, London.”
Remembered at Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, France

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

Details on Albert Edward Waymark are scant but bring to mind a vivid picture. We know that he was 5 feet 2¾ inches tall and weighed 9½ stone. He measured 38 inches around the chest, which he could expand by a further 2 inches. He stated that he was a concrete worker, and was 36 years and 113 days.

He was assigned to the 15th (Service) Battalion (Nottingham), a bantam battalion for troops under the normal regulation minimum of 5ft 3in.

Waymark joined the British Expeditionary Force on 18 July 1916. During that month, the battalion took part in the fighting for Arrow Head Copse and Maltz Horn Farm and for Falfemont Farm, on the Somme. 

After he was killed in action on 26 November 1916, his mother, Sarah Ann Waymark, living at 38 Heyford Avenue, South Lambeth, received his medals but no effects.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Albert Edward Waymark, 32, was boarding with the Shephard family at Donington-on-Bain, a small village near Louth in Lincolnshire. Waymark was born in Clapham. The host family, Frederick (also a bricklayer’s labourer) and Louisa Shephard, had lost six babies in their marriage. Only one, Ivy Shephard, 11, survived. Waymark had been in Lincolnshire since at least 1901, when, aged 21, he lived with in Wigtoft, Lincolnshire, again boarding. The 1891 census shows Waymark living with his parents, William H. Waymark, a valet, and Sarah A. Waymark, at 9 Stamford Buildings, South Lambeth Road.

Sydney G. Smith

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S. G. Smith
Service no. 470355
Company Serjeant Major, London Regiment (The Rangers), 12th Battalion
Killed in action on 26 September 1917, aged 37
CWGC: “Son of George and Frances Smith, of Stockwell; husband of Mabel Annie Smith, of 54, Mordaunt Street, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Belgium and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

British Army WWI Pension Records, 1914-1920

There are only 3 pages on Smith in the archive. They cover his 5-year period of service with the Territorials, from 26 May 1909 to 25 May 1914, when he left the London Regiment (The Rangers) as Lance Corporal.
The records state that

  • Smith was 29 and 5 months when he joined
  • He was married and living at 13 Effort Road, Highbury
  • He was a clerk with “Ellis & Co”
  • He was 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a chest of 34½ inches, which he could expand by 2 inches

Joseph Wellman Hussey

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J. W. Hussey
Service no. 4288
Serjeant, 9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers, “B” Sqdn.
Born at Chard, Somerset; enlisted in Sevenoaks, Kent; lived in West Ewell, Surrey
Died at about age 37 on 24 May 1915
CWGC: “Cross of St. George (Russian). Son of Ann Hussey, of Winsham, nr. Chard, Somerset. Served in South African Campaign.”
Remembered at Hop Store Cemetery, near Ypres, Belgium; also at Waterloo Station and Canterbury Cathedral

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Joseph Wellman Hussey, 33, was living alone in one room at 78 Wilcox Road, South Lambeth. He was working as a railway porter. He stated that he was born in Thorncombe, Dorset. In 1912 he married 22-year-old Elsie Ann Cameron, who lived at 88 Wilcox Road.

Hussey is mentioned in John Buchan’s book Francis and Riversdale Grenfell: A Memoir (Francis Grenfell was his commanding officer).

Charles Richard George Hill

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C. R. G. Hill
Service no. 495791
Private, London Regiment, 1st/13th Kensington Battalion; also Machine Gun Corps, attd. 56th Coy.
Born in Camberwell; enlisted in Camberwell; lived in Lambeth
Died of wounds age 37 on 20 March 1918
CWGC: “Husband of Ethel May Hill, of 17 Clitheroe Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Etaples Military Cemetery, France

Information from the 1911 census

Charles Richard George Hill, 30 in 1911, was a compositor born in Camberwell. His wife, Ethel May Hill, 34, was from Brentford, Middlesex. The couple had no children and occupied 5 rooms at 17 Clitheroe Road, Stockwell.

Herbert Thomas Head

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H.T. Head.
Private, 3rd Reserve Cavalry Regiment
Service no. 7211
Died on 26 December 1916, aged 37, after discharge

Chris Burge writes:

Herbert Thomas Head was born in 1879 to parents William and Sarah. He was baptised Herbert Thomas William Head, at St Stephen’s, Villa Street, Walworth Common, Southwark, on 21 August 1879. His father William was a hackney carriage driver.

On 7 October 1897, at the age of 19, Herbert joined the 3rd Dragoon Guards. He was described as 5ft 6in tall, 115lbs with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and dark brown hair. He served in the South African War before being discharged on 1 September 1902 as medically unfit. After returning to ‘civvie street’, Herbert found work as a coachman  and married widow Caroline Applegate (née Pettit) on 30 July 1905 at St Jude’s in Brixton. The couple lived at 269 Shakespeare Road, opposite the extensive Herne Hill railway sidings. Caroline was originally from Norfolk. 

Herbert and Caroline’s first child William Herbert George was born on 24 April 1906 and baptised at St Jude’s on 17 June. Herbert was now described as a carman and the couple had moved close to 69 Saltoun Road, a turning off Atlantic Road in the centre of Brixton. 

The 1911 census shows that Herbert, Caroline and William had moved to the ground floor of 91 Hargywne Street, Stockwell, where they rented three unfurnished rooms on the ground floor of 91 Hargywne Street from Sarah Neighbour, a widowed domestic cook, who lived at the same address. Herbert was now earning a living as an ‘acetylene generator’. 

At the outbreak of war, Herbert left the family home to volunteer, enlisting in Lambeth on 31 August 1914. Three days later Herbert Head was in Canterbury, as a private in the 3rd Reserve Cavalry. He was now 37 years old. Outwardly his physical appearance was little changed but he was no longer fit and was discharged on 6 June 1915. The Dragoon records show he was issued with a silver war badge by October 1916. 

Herbert and Caroline’s second child, Lilian Winifred Head, was born on 16 September 1916 and baptised on 1 November at St Andrew’s, Stockwell Green. The family were still living at Hargywne Street. Herbert’s health deteriorated and he died on Boxing Day 1916, leaving his widow and children with no means of support. 

At the end of the war Caroline received a £3 war gratuity, but the war pension ledgers imply that Herbert’s married sister Elsie May Gazzard had become the guardian of William and Lilian. Caroline married Walter Hill in 1921 and they lived in Santley Street in Clapham until 1925. 

Caroline died in Wandsworth in 1964, aged 87. William was living in Cato Road, Clapham when he passed away on 6 September 1979, aged 73.

Herbert Alfred Blick

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H. A. Blick
Service no. 295157
Private, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), 2nd/4th Battalion; formerly 553758, 16th London Regiment
Killed in action on 21 September 1917, aged 37
CWGC: “Son of John and Jessie Blick, of 128 Grove Road, Balham, London; husband of Emily Elizabeth Blick, of 202 Clapham Road, Stockwell, London. Served with the City Imperial Volunteers in the South African Campaign.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census

Herbert Alfred Blick, 31, a ladies and gents tailor born in Stockwell, lived in 6 rooms at 202 Clapham Road, London SW9, with his wife, Emily Elizabeth Blick, also 31 and born in Clapham, and 8-month old son, John Herbert Blick, who was born in Clapham. Baby John Herbert died in April 1917.