Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

age 40

Joseph Charles Terrett

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J. C. Terrett
Service no. 2746
Private, London Regiment, “C” Coy. 1st/23rd Battalion
Killed in action on 26 May 1915, aged 40
Enlisted at Clapham Junction; lived in Brixton
CWGC: “Son of Mrs C. Terrett, of 58 Dalyell Road, Stockwell, London; husband of Mary Anne Terrett, of 187 Arthur Street, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada.”
Remembered at Le Touret Memorial, France and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA (which gives the name as Joseph Terratt)

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

When Joseph Charles Terrett joined enlisted on 8 September 1914 at St John’s Hill, Clapham Junction he left behind a wife, Mary Ann, and three boys: 14-year-old Joseph, 10-year-old Reginald, and Geoffrey, who was 2.

The Service Record file for Joseph Terrett does not contain much information about him. We know that he was 39 and that had previously served in the 4th Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment, but the file includes no physical description of him or his medical state, his behaviour or his movements other than that he joined his “service battalion” on 12 November 1914.

There is a torn scrap of paper listing some of his effects: photo, knife, torch, mineral (a lump of unusual rock, I am supposing).

Most of the file is taken up with letters concerning the whereabouts of Joseph’s widow Mary Ann Terrett in order that the authorities could forward her husband’s medals. Efforts to find her via her solicitors, the rather wonderfully named Balderston, Warren and Pothecary of Bedford Row, W.C.1, drew a blank, as they were not even sure who Terrett was. On 3 April 1922 they wrote to the Infantry Record Office: “Shall be glad if you will give us any further information re the identify of Private Terrett. We do not appear to know him but our address may have been give on..” and here the letter ends – the bottom has been torn off. Another small mystery.

It appears that back in 1920 Mrs. Terrett’s neighbour at Knowle Road (that letter is torn too, so we cannot be sure of her name but it looks like she may have been a Mrs Lawrence) put the authorities right: “Mrs. Terrett has sailed with the children for Canada June 18th 1920,” she told them. She had given Mrs Lawrence permission to open her letters. “I know that she will be glad to receive any decoration that may be awarded to her late husband. … I have also written to her.”

These small scraps (literally) of documents do not together tell much of a narrative. Perhaps, however, they illustrate in a personal way how the war caused, not just loss of life on an unprecedented scale, but disruption and and dispersal. Would Mary Ann Terrett have taken her three sons to Canada at her time of life (she was nearly 50) if Joseph had not died and options for her in London been limited? We may never find out.

Mary Ann died in Canada in 1948.

Joseph Charles Terrett was one of seven  of Joseph Benjamin Dobell Terrett , a cabinet-maker, and Louisa (née Butler), both from Newington, southeast London. 

Information from the censuses

Joseph Charles Terrett, who was 36 in 1911, was a school attendance officer working for London County Council. He lived with his wife, Mary Ann Terrett, 38, at 65 Knowle Road (now gone but Knowle Close, at the back of Wynne Road, remains), Brixton, where they had four rooms. There were two sons: Joseph St. John Terrett, 10, born in Wandsworth and Reginald St. John Terrett, 6, born in Clapham. Another child born to the couple had died, and a son was born shortly after the 1911 census. Ten years previously, Joseph Charles Terrett was described as a “gas meter index taker”. He was born in Bermondsey. At that time he, Mary Ann and son Joseph lived at 122 New Kent Road, Newington. In 1891 he worked as a printer’s assistant. His father, also called Joseph, was an envelope cutter, from Newington (married to Caroline Terrett, from Southwark, the Mrs. C. Terrett on the War Graves database).

John Lee

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J. Lee
Service no. PW/1826
Private, Middlesex Regiment, 19th Battalion
Born in Haywards Heath, Sussex; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 3 October 1916 aged about 41.
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

Information from the 1911 census

John Lee was born in Hayward’s Heath, Sussex. In 1911, aged 35, he worked as a road labourer. He lived in 2 rooms at 30 Lingham Street with his wife, Edith Lee, who was from Walworth. They had 2 children: Edith Lee, 3, and John Lee, 1, both born in Stockwell.

Information from British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

John Lee, a chimney sweep aged 40, enlisted at Lambeth on 19 April 1915. He left behind his wife Edith (née Milne) and four children aged  between 7 and 1. Another child was born in 1916. He gave his address as 94 Lingham Street, Stockwell.

At 5 foot 7½ inches and 11 stone, with a 40 inch chest (which he could expand by 3 inches), Lee was better built than many recruits and his physical development was judged to be “good.”

Lee was killed in action at the Somme. He had served 1 year and 168 days. The Army sent on his effects: letters, a purse and some photos.

William George King

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W. G. King
Service no. 51125
Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, 30th Amb. Train
Born in Chelsea; enlisted in London; lived in Lambeth
Died in an accident on 10 January 1917, aged about 40
Remembered at St. Pierre Cemetery, Amiens, Somme, France

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

KING, W. G., Private, R.A.M.C.
He volunteered in January 1915, and shortly afterwards crossed to France. Whilst in this theatre of war he was engaged on duties of an important nature on the ambulance trains, by one of which he was unfortunately run over and killed in January 1917. He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.
“His memory is cherished with pride.”
23, Wilcox Road, Wandsworth Road, S.W.8.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 William George King, 33, lived in 3 rooms at 23 Wilcox Road, Stockwell. William was born in Chelsea and earned his living as a house painter. His wife Margaret Annie King, 28, was born in Lambeth. They had a one-year-old daughter, Edith Mabel King, born in Lambeth. Seilia May Mitchell, a 22-year-old “needlewoman” from Stoke Newington, boarded with the family.

William George Avenill

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Avenill WG Lijssenhoek
Photo © Marietta Crichton Stuart

W. G. Avenill
Service no. 87965
Gunner, Royal Garrison Artillery, 1st/1st (Wessex) Heavy Bty.
Died of wounds age 40 on 6 June 1917
CWGC: “Son of Jane Charlotte Avenill, of 57 Thorne Road, South Lambeth Road, London.”

Remembered at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinge, Belgium

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

The early 20th century certainly had strong social conventions. For most, marriage came before children for most people, for instance. Many were regular church goers. Social classes were not immutable but were certainly more fixed than they are now. Sexual and social respectability was more important to one’s self-esteem.

However, it is a mistake to think that everyone stuck by society’s rules or that families always fitted into neat shapes, that people were any healthier than they are now or indeed that life was generally any “better” then.

Some of the brief biographies I have written on the men of the Stockwell Memorial and the St Mark’s Memorial point this up well. They are a mixed group: old, young, English, Scottish, of German parentage, Church of England, Jewish, Baptist, middle-class, manual workers, tall, short, wide, puny. Not only that, they were not universally “good” or well-behaved. Ernest Bailey was repeatedly punished for absences. Henry Alfred Styles was so troubled he blew his brains out at the trenches. Seasoned soldier Harry Nixon was treated for syphilis.

The physical state of these young men is apparently from reading the stories. Many of the men were under 5 feet 5 inches and 120 pounds. George Avenill was an exception – his record brings to mind a well-made fit man, 37 when he signed up on 27 May 1916. He stood 5 feet 8¾ inches tall, with a 37½ chest (with 2½ inches expansion). His tattoos were noted: an eagle on his left forearm and a tea rose plant on his left.

cadogan court gardens
Cadogan Court Gardens © Photo copyright Basher Eyre and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

He left behind a job as head porter at Cadogan Court Gardens (on the right in the picture), Sloane Square, London SW3, and a wife, Edith Elizabeth Avenill (nee Robinson), formerly of 141 Sidney Street, King’s Road, Chelsea. Edith Elizabeth Robinson – 30 when she married Avenill at St Anne’s Church, South Lambeth Road on 8 June 1912 – was a manageress. Avenill was then living at 52 St Agnes Place, London SE11.

Avenill had served 12 years (1896 to 1908) with the Royal Marine Artillery, so he must have known the score, but this did not help his disciplinary record. While in England he transgressed several times. An unknown crime noted on 17 January 1917 led to a forfeit of pay. His absence from 13 to 22 February 1917 was punished with 168 hours in detention and 10 days loss of pay. He lost another 10 days’ pay and was given 120 hours detention on 26 February. We cannot know what caused him to be so erratic. However, in the records the name of his wife as next of kin has been scored through and his mother’s written in the space.

The next we know about Avenill is he is posted on 19 March 1917, transferred to the Wessex Heavy Battery on 2 May and dangerously wounded on 5 June. He died the following day at the 10 Ambulance. He was 40.

The Army set about contacting his widow. A note in the record says: “From Police. 11/6/17 No trace of Mrs. Edith Avenill.”

Then another note: “Miss V. Broughton, 3-0 Block, Sutton Buildings, Chelsea SW states she was living with Pvt Avenill since Oct 1916 and that he was married and wife died on 5 Dec. She was supported by him and was known as Mrs Avenill. Asks for his case to be enquired into.”

It seems that Avenill had been carrying on while his wife was still alive.

The 1911 census has two women who could fit “V. Broughton,” the most likely being Violet Broughton, a 20-year-old servant from Plumstead who was then working (and living) at an old people’s home at 34 Nottingham Place, Marylebone.

We will never know the outcome of the Army’s enquiry into the status of Miss Broughton.

William’s Next of Kin record was amended to his mother – Jane Charlotte Avenill, 57 Thorne Road, South Lambeth Road. She, presumably, received her son’s effects: letters, photos, card, disc, pipe, pouch, whistle and pertinently enough, marriage certificate.

Poor Mrs Avenill. In 1921 Mrs. Avenill received William’s medals. She wrote on the receipt that she carefully sent back to the War Office: “War medals with very grateful thanks.” There is something poignant about her emphatic gratitude – for she had very little left. The Army pension claim form (W5080) of 1919 provides a simple outline of the shape of her family. William was dead, of course, and another, 43-year-old mother-of-four Edith Brewer, was in a mental asylum in Portsmouth and had been at least since 1911 (she can be found on the census there). There was no one else.

Avenill’s file shows that not all families were standard. Avenill’s biography – with his military misdemeanours, his mentally ill sister, and his ill-fated wife and needy mistress – did not fit a the usual pattern of respectability and order. Life was ever thus.
Information from the 1911 census
The 1911 census shows a William George Avenill, 33, at 53 Hartington Road, London SW8, out of employment and living with his parents and sister. He was born in Lambeth.

The family included Henry Avenill, 65, a street sweeper born in Lambeth; Jane Charlotte Avenill, 58, widowed by the time her son William was killed in 1917, born in St Luke’s; and Annie Deverill, 40, described as “daughter” (born before her parents married, so possibly illegitimate at the time or the product of Henry’s previous relationship), who worked as a laundry hand.
© Photo copyright Basher Eyre and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence