Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

Belgium

Edward Driscoll

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E. Driscoll
Service no. 216940
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, 12th Bty. 35th Bde.
Died age 24 on 21 October 1917
Son of Michael and Ellen Driscoll, of 2 Crimsworth Road, Wandsworth Road, London.
Remembered at The Huts Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Edward Driscoll, 18, was working as a driller (acetelyne) and living with his family in 4 rooms at 26 Madrid Place (now gone), South Lambeth. Michael Driscoll, 56, was a road sweeper for the borough council. He was born in City of London, where Ellen Driscoll, 55, was also born. The couple had had 7 children, 4 of whom survived. James Driscoll, 25, was a carman for the LRSW Railway. Both sons were born in Lambeth.

Alfred Colin Dopson

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A. C. Dopson
Service no. P/200377
Rifleman, Rifle Brigade, 10th Battalion
Died aged about 20 on 23 September 1917
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium

Information from the censuses

In 1901 Alfred Dopson, aged 4, was living at 34 Kenchester Street with his parents, George Dopson, 37, a railway porter born in Newbury, Berkshire, and Elizabeth Dopson, 36, from Shipnal, Shropshire. Alfred’s siblings on the census were
Edward G. Dopson, 5
Emily Violet Dopson, 3
Edith M. Dopson, 10 months
All the children were born in Kennington.
Elizabeth A. Rogers, 40, a widowed monthly nurse born in Cape of Good Hope, boarded with the family.

In 1911 the Dopson family lived at 33 Ely Place, Stockwell, occupying 4 rooms. Edward,16, was now a printing trade apprentice, as was Alfred, 15. Emily was 13. Since the 1901 census, Alexander, 9, and Alice, 6, had been born. The Dopsons claimed that they had had 5 children all of whom survived. However, no mention is made of Edith, 10 months in 1901, who would have brought the number to 6.

George Dimond

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G. Dimond
Service no. L/6478
Private, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 2nd Battalion
Died of wounds age 18 on 9 November 1914
Son of Charles and Clara Dimond, of 44 Priory Road, South Lambeth, London.
Remembered at Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery, Belgium

Information from British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1918 and 1911 census

George Dimond joined up at the age of 18 just before the war started, on 27 April 1914. He lived for only 194 days after that, dying of wounds to the legs on 9 November 1914 at Poperinghe. Allied forces commandeered this town, the primary military centre for British forces located in Flanders and only 10km from Ypres, as a base from the early days of the war. It remained in Allied command, apart from a period between May and October 1914.

Dimond, blue-eyed with dark brown hair, was 5 feet 7½ inches, weighing 116 pounds, with a 33 inch chest he could expand by 2½ inches. In civilian life he was a sawyer’s assistant. The Army records show that Dimond’s parents were separated. In 1911 his mother Clara, then 50, is listed as a boarder at 104 Hartington Road – her occupation is “charwoman” and she is described as “married but separated”. Dimond’s father, Charles, 49, meanwhile was boarding in 27 Dawlish Street. Between them they had five daughters and George.

George is cited in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918.

Frederick John Dicker

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F. J. Dicker
Service no. 295165
Private, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), 1st/4th Battalion
Killed in action 19 August 1917
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Frederick John Dicker, 31, was living in 4 rooms at 8 Beech Street, Dorset Road with his wife, Susan Dicker, 30. He was born in South Lambeth and was working as a general labourer. Susan was born in Battersea. They had had one child, who had died.

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

DICKER, F. J., Private, 4th London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
He joined in April 1917 and at the close of his training was drafted overseas in the following July. During his brief service on the Western Front he was engaged in much heavy fighting on the Ypres sector, where he was unfortunately killed in action on August 16th, 1917. He was entitled to the General Service and Victory Medals.
8, Beech Street, Dorset Road, S.W.8.

Frederick J. Desaleux

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listing of desaleux brothers on stockwell war memorial
The Desaleux brothers are listed on Stockwell War Memorial

Amongst the names on the Stockwell War Memorial are three brothers, Ernest, Frederick and Alfred Desaleux. They all died in 1917 – Frederick in February, Ernest in April and Alfred in May. The brothers joined different brigades, although two, Ernest and Frederick, were riflemen. Alfred may have moved to Canada before the war: he joined the Canadian Field Artillery and his widow, Alice, is listed as living in Winnipeg in 1917. She was certainly in London during 1911. In 1911 the Desaleux family were living at Fountain Street (now gone), Stockwell.

F. J. Desaleux
Rifleman, London Regiment (First Surrey Rifles), 21st Battalion
Service no. 653511
Died age unknown on 25 February 1917
Remembered at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, near Ypres, Belgium

Brother of Ernest William Desaleux and Jules Benjamin Alfred Desaleux.

Census and other Desaleux family information

Christopher Dartnell

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world war 1 soldier christopher dartnell
Christopher Dartnell before and after returning from the front. Courtesy of the Dartnell family

C. Dartnell
Service no 19561
Lance Corporal, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, 6th Battalion
Killed in action on 16 October 1917 age 21
Enlisted at Camberwell
Remembered at Hooge Crater Cemetery, Belgium

Chris Dartnell volunteered for military service shortly after the start of World War One. He was part of what was known as Kitchener’s volunteer army formed from the volunteers in 1914 and 1915.

The medal roll confirms that he was awarded the 1914/15 campaign Star together with the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

The official War Diary of the 6th DCLI for the 16th October 1917 states the following:

“The Battalion was in Brigade Support (to the 10th Battalion Durham Light Infantry who were in the front line trenches) and were quartered in Sanctuary Wood in Dugouts and Shelters about J13 C.5.7.” During the night 15/16th the enemy shelled the portion of the wood the Battalion were occupying with Gas Shells and High Explosive shells. He also again shelled the Wood very heavily from about 9am to Dusk. A&C coy’s carried up rations to the 10th DLI and our B” coy, leaving the wood at 5.30pm in parties of 20 under an officer. Casualties other ranks 4 killed 7 wounded”.

Alongside Christopher’s grave are the headstones of 3 other NCOs, all having been killed on the night of 15/16 October 1917.

In 1980, shortly before she died, Ethel Florence Humphreys (born 1903), the youngest of the 12 Dartnell siblings, wrote his reminiscence of her brother Chris for her daughter in 1980:

…My next vivid memory was War being declared in August 1914. My brothers, Roger, Jim and Fred were called up and transported to France and India. My father was called to repair the Hospital ships and was often in France for a month at a time. His trade was plumbing. It was frightening when the Zeppelins came over and dropped bombs and you wondered if you might be killed when they came your way. We very often stayed and sheltered in the underground where the trains were stationary until All Clear was sounded.

Next to be called up was my brother Chris, when he was 18. He hated war and violence and often wished he was not in the Army. When he had leave from France he never wanted to go back after his leave and the last break he had from the trenches he didn’t go back until after another day had passed. That was in 1917 (May). We then had a telegram to say he was killed in action in October – he was just 21. We all were very shocked because of this and the news that my brother Bill had been wounded in German East Africa and was on his way home having been shot in his right hand and had lost a thumb and was also wounded in the right hip. So he was out of soldering for good. He became a Commissionaire for a firm in the City of London.

My last brother, Reg was called up when he was 18 in January 1918 and sent to France for the big push in May 1918. We had a couple of cards from him the first few weeks and then no more news until August that he was a prisoner of war.

Thank goodness they all arrived home except Chris, safe and well after the war ended in November 1918.

Then Armistice was declared in November 1918 and we were told to go home at lunchtime. I remember going to see the masses of people gathering in the Strand, London and felt lost in the crowd. People dancing and cheering and drinking. I had to walk home as there were no buses running. When I reached my house my Mother was crying because her son, Chris, had been killed and would not be returning and my other brother Reg was still a prisoner of war and we were still waiting to hear if he was still alive.

Chris Dartnell died at Sanctuary Wood during the third Battle of Ypres and is buried at Hooge Crater Cemetery not far from there. Chris Dartnell’s great-niece Sheila says, “It’s just one of many cemeteries across Europe which shows that they are highly maintained – not like some of the memorials here.”

Information from the censuses

According to the 1911 census, the Dartnell family were living at 24 Hartington Road (that side of the road was demolished many years ago). Frederick Dartnell (senior), was a 48-year-old plumber, who was born in Lambeth, as was his wife Jane, also 48. Of their 12 children, these were at home on the night of the census:

Frederick Dartnell, 28, a plumber’s mate
Albert Dartnell, 26, another plumber’s mate
James Dartnell (Jim in the memoir his sister wrote), 24, a stationer’s clerk
Ellen Dartnell, 18, a “driver maker”
Lydia Dartnell, 16
Chris Dartnell, 13 (who later died in the Great War and is listed on the Stockwell War Memorial)
Reginald Dartnell, 12
Florence Dartnell, 6 (who wrote the reminiscence of her brother Christopher)

The 1901 census gives the Dartnells’ address as 34 Hartington Road, so either they moved from No 24 or 34 is a transcription error.
Frederick Dartnell senior’s name is given as Christopher F. Dartnell. It also lists the other Dartnell children:
William Dartnell, 11, born 1890
Helen M. Dartnell, 10, born 1891
Sidney Dartnell, 4 months, born 1901

In 1891 the Dartnell family were living at 34 Hartington Road. Frederick and Jane Dartnell and their (then) four children lived with Frederick senior’s mother Eliza Dartnell, 62, who was born in Chelsea. In addition, there was a married couple lodging with them – Richard Chamberlain, 58, a general labourer, and his wife Martha, 57, both born in Lambeth.

1881 Before Frederick married Jane, he lived at 34 Hartington Road with his parents, Edward J Dartnell, a 56-year-old compositor born in Lambeth, and Eliza, 50, whose birthplace is given as “Westminster” (rather than Chelsea as in the 1891 census). Frederick, then 18, was working as a carpenter (he later became a plumber) and his sister, Harriet, 16, was a dress-maker.
1871: In 1871 the Dartnell family, Edward and Elizabeth (grandparents to Christopher Dartnell, who died in 1917 and is named on the Stockwell War Memorial) and four children,
Mary Dartnell, 14
Harry Dartnell, 11
Christopher (Frederick) Dartnell, 8 (later the father of ‘our’ Christopher)
Harriet Dartnell, 6
lived in Spring Grove, Lambeth.
1861: In 1861 Edward and Elizabeth Dartnell family were living at 71 Vauxhall Street, with four children
Edward George Dartnell, 9
Lizzie Dartnell, 7
Mary Ann H Dartnell, 4 (listed in the 1871 census)
Harry Dartnell, 1