Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

Belgium

Frank William Edmund Russell

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F. W. E. Russell
Service no. 302875
Rifleman, London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade), “D” Coy. 1st/5th Battalion
Born in Southwark; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 16 August 1917, aged 26
CWGC: “Son of Mr and Mrs F. Russell, of 89, London Rd., Southwark, London; husband of Katherine L. Russell, of 33 St Martin’s Rd., Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census and other sources

Frank Russell with his wife Katherine Louisa Kies

Commercial clerk Frank William Edmund Russell, 20, was the youngest child of Farnham-born Francis Russell, 49, the owner of a coffee shop at 89 London Road, Southwark, and Catherine Russell, 49, from Camberwell. He had two siblings, Catherine Annie Elizabeth Russell, 24, an assistant in the coffee shop, born in Walworth, and Emily Rosian Lucy Russell, 22, a milliner. The family lived in five rooms.

On 2 August 1915, at the Church of St Saviour with St Thomas in Southwark, Frank, aged 24 and working as a book-keeper, married 28-year-old typist Katherine Louisa Kies, of 34 Newcomen Street, Southwark, the daughter of Jacob Kies, German baker. She later gave her address as 33 St Martin’s Road, Stockwell. 

Frank’s family have preserved some postcards and letters from Frank. On 25 August 1916 Frank wrote to his sister’s fiancé Jack (John Thomas Moore) from the training camp at Havant in Hampshire:

I have just found out that I can get leave and will act as your best man, I hope your ankle is better than that you are able to use it. I am sorry Ern has to go under another operation, He seems to be having a rough time with his leg, I hope he will soon be better although I hardly think he will be able to go out again. A good thing too so long as he does not have any trouble in the future. I expect he will get off with a slight limp. 

A letter from Quartermaster Segeant Denny of ‘D’ Company to Katherine reads:

…I am reluctantly writing to inform you that your husband […] has been reported “MISSING” since Aug. 16 in an attack on the Prussian trenches East of Ypres. He may possibly gave gone down to a hospital through the dressing station of another battalion, in which case you shall be informed.

In the summer of 1929 Katherine married Albert A. Anderson. She died in Bromley, Kent in 1965.

With thanks to family members Andrew Tate and Stephanie Higgins.

John James Renton

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J. H. Renton

This may be an error on Stockwell War Memorial. There is a John James Renton in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. He lived at 12 Stockwell Cottages and was the son of J.H. Renton. This entry gives his details.

J. J. Renton
Service no. 6074
Private, East Surrey Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Killed in action on 9 May 1915, aged 23
CWGC: “Son of Mr. J. H. Renton, of 12, Stockwell Cottages, Stockwell Green, London.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Information from the 1911 census

John James Renton, 19, a coal porter, lived at 1 Stockwell Cottages, Stockwell Green. He was born in Brixton. Renton’s father, John Henry Renton, 47, was a nightwatchman for Lambeth Borough Council, born in Walworth, Southwark, and his mother, Kathrine Renton, 44, was a washer, born in Lambeth. The couple had had 12 children, with six surviving. These children were at home.
Ellenor Renton, 24, a starcher, born in Walworth
John James Renton
William Renton, 18, an assistant in an oil shop, born in Brixton
Kathrine, 9, born in Loughborough Junction, Brixton

Charles Henry Randell

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C. H. Randell
Service no. 9114
Private, South Lancashire Regiment, 2nd Battalion (described as a “drummer” in the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919 database)
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Wandsworth
Killed in action on 25 September 1915, aged about 26
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

Information from the censuses

Charles Henry Randall’s two sisters, a nephew and a boarder were living with his mother, Lilian Randell, in four rooms at 15 Sterndale Road, Battersea. Lilian had had 13 children of whom only five survived.

In 1901 the Randell family were living at 94 Crimsworth Road, Lambeth. William Henry Randell, 39, was a motorcycle maker born in Dalston; his wife Lilian Randell, also 39, was a “tailoress” born in Paddington. Their children were
William J. Randell, 15, a waiter born in Wandsworth
Lilian T. Randell, 14, born in Wandsworth
Charles H. Randell, 12, born in Wandsworth
Daisy E. Randell, 7, born in Wandsworth
May E. Randell, 1, born in Wandsworth

In 1891 the family were living at 34 Camelia Street, Lambeth, and William Randell was described as a “cab driver”. There were two older children, Ernest E. Randell, born in 1883 and then aged 8, and Florence E. Randell, born in 1885 and then aged 6.

Going back 10 years, in 1881, William Randell was a railway lampman, married to Lilian, who was described as a mantle maker, and living with his father, James Randell, 52, a cigar maker, at 68, Regent St, Lambeth.

There are some discrepancies in all the three censuses on place and dates of of birth but these may be transcription errors.

Charles Henry Randell, born on 9 August 1888, the son of William Henry Randell and Lillian Randell of 43 Thorne Street (now Thorne Road), was baptised on 20 September 1888 along with two older siblings at St Barnabas Church, South Lambeth. Aged 20, working as a labourer, he married Caroline Lillian Shepherd at the same church. In 1911 Caroline had returned to her parents at 22 Camellia Street, Stockwell and was working as a machinist. The whereabouts of Charles is unknown.

Frederick Thomas George Pulsford

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Frederick Thomas George Pulsford
Frederick Thomas George Pulsford

F. T. G. Pulsford
Service no. 2338
Rifleman, London Regiment (The Rangers), 1st/12th Battalion
Died aged 17 on 21 April 1915
CWGC: “Son of Frederick Luke Pulsford and Blanche Bertha Pulsford, of 10, Tradescant Rd., Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium

De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918

PULSFORD, FREDERICK THOMAS GEORGE, Rifleman, No. 2338, 12 Battn. (The Rangers) The London Regt. (T.F.), only s. of Frederick Luke Pulsford, of 10, Tradescant Road, South Lambeth Road, S.W., by his wife Blanche Bertha, dau. of George Hawke; b. London, 26 June, 1897; educ. Westminster City School; volunteered and joined the Rangers after the outbreak of war, 8 Sept., 1914; went to France, 9 March, 1915. Buried at the back of the trenches there. 2nd Lieut. H. H. Bentley wrote: “On 21 April your son and his friend Elvin were in a dug-out at Zonnebeke tending to the pressing wants of a comrade who was dreadfully wounded. As they busied themselves with him, a German shrapnel fell into the dug-out and burst. The violence of the explosion and the deadly hail of shrapnel bullets annihilated all the occupants of the dug-out, and The Rangers lost two fine soldiers in the painless heroic deaths of your son and his friend Elvin. It gives me great pain to have to break this sad yet heroic news to you, because he was always a great friend of mine and one who always did the utmost of his duty.”

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Frederick Pulsford, 13, was living with his parents, Frederick Luke Pulsford, 40, a designer and heraldic engraver born in Brixton, and his wife Blanche B. Pulsford, 38, from Saltash, Cornwall at 10 Tradescant Road, South Lambeth where the family occupied five rooms. He an his sister, May I. Pulsford, 10, were born in Lambeth. Mary A. Pulsford (nee Blonner), 82, mother of Frederick senior, was from Leominster, Herefordshire, lived with the family. The family had lived at this address since at least 1901. The 1891 census shows the widowed Mary A. Pulsford as a “corndealer”; her son Thomas Pulsford, 23, is a carpenter; Frederick Pulsford, 24, is apprenticed to a heraldry engraver; Lewis J. Pulsford is a corndealer like his mother, and living in the house with his wife, Minnie J. Pulsford, 24, and son Jack Pulsford, 3. The family then lived at 62 Whitcomb Street, St Anne Soho, London. Mary’s deceased husband was a builder, born in Dulverton, Somerset.

Arthur George Potter

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A. G. Potter
Service no. 12028
Private, Coldstream Guards, 3rd Battalion
Enlisted at Clifton Street; lived in Clapham
Died on 13 April 1918, aged 39
CWGC: “Son of Mr and Mrs J. B. Potter, of 6 Alexandra Mansion, Stonhouse Street, Clapham; husband of Louisa Potter, of  Larkhall Lane, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Ploegsteert Memorial, Belgium

Information from the censuses

In 1911 31-year-old Arthur George Potter was working as a messenger for the Board of Education. He lived in three rooms at 86 Southville, Wandsworth Road, with his wife Louisa Ann Potter, 39. They were both born in Lambeth. A decade previously he lived with his parents, John Potter, a 53-year-old railway inspector born in Croydon, and Mary A. Potter, 54, originally from Sellack, Herefordshire. Arthur Potter’s brother Harold Potter, 17, was a railway engine cleaner. Henry Potter, 14, was still at school. The brothers were all born in Lambeth. The family lived at 19 Rosetta Street. The 1891 census shows that there was another brother, Walter, a year younger than Arthur, and born in Battersea.