Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

Belgium

Percy William Arthur Philcox

by

P. W. A. Philcox
Service no. 3252
Rifleman, London Regiment (The Rangers), “C” Coy. 1st/12th Battalion
Killed in action on 8 May 1915, aged 24
CWGC: “Son of Alice E. Philcox, of 15 Palace Rd., Streatham Hill, London, and the late Alfred James Philcox.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium, on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA, and on a family memorial at West Norwood Cemetery

In 1911 19-year-old Percy William Arthur Philcox was living with his family at 255 South Lambeth Road and working as a clerk in his father’s timber business.

Brother of Cecil Ernest Philcox

Fred Cecil Payne

by

F. C. Payne
Service no. 42266
Private, Manchester Regiment, 18th Battalion
Born in Westminster; enlisted in London; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 13 June 1917, aged about 39
Remembered at Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Belgium

Information from the 1911 census

Fred Cecil Payne, 33 in 1911, was a restaurant waiter. He lived with his widowed mother, Emily Payne, 66, from Iffley, Oxfordshire, and sister, Winifred Payne, 27, a dressmaker, in two rooms in 2 Thorne Road, South Lambeth. Fred and Winifred were born in Lambeth.

Albert Edward Parsons

by

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.

Leonard William Oakes

by

L. W. Oakes
Service no. 50044
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 26th Battalion
Assumed dead 2 April 1918, aged 19

Leonard William Oakes was baptised at All Saints, Devonshire Road, South Lambeth on 26 August 1898, the son of John Thomas Oakes and Mary (née Spearing).

The service medals and awards rolls show that Leonard William Oakes first joined the 10th Battalion, was moved to the 23rd and then the 26th. For unknown reasons, his name is not included in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Leonard William Oakes, 12, lived at 64 Paradise Road, Clapham with his widowed father, John Thomas Oakes, 56, a platelayer for the railway from Burton-on-Trent, and four of his five siblings. Lillie Anna Oakes, 28, born in Wilton, kept house. Alfred John Oakes, 22, was a welder in a wheel works. Allan Henry Oakes, 21, railway porter. Leonard Gosmay, a single 24-year-old carpet salesman from Kidderminster, boarded. The latter three were born in London.

In 1901 Oakes lived with his family at 10 Riverhall Street, South Lambeth. His mother, Mary Oakes, 47, was from Stowell, Somersetshire.  In 1891 the family lived at 170 Wandsworth Road with two lodgers: James Gillard, 23, a fitter’s assistant from Drayton, Somerset, and Ernest H. Stenning, 21, an engine cleaner born in Lambeth.

The household also included Maurice G. Spearing, a 14-year-old engine cleaner described as “stepson” (ie Mary’s son from a previous marriage) born in Hambridge, Somerset. The 1881 census reveals that at the age of four, Maurice was with his step-grandparents, carpet weaver Samuel and Ann Oaks, and their two sons, William and John, in Burcombe, Wiltshire.

Herbert Charles Nuthall

by

Herbert Charles Nuthall in uniform
Herbert Charles Nuthall. By kind permission of Brian Denny

H. C. Nuthall
Service no. 7498
Private, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 1st Battalion
Born in Camberwell; enlisted in London; lived in Brixton
Killed in action on 25 April 1915, age 31
CWGC: “Son of Henry and Jane Nuthall, of Lambeth, London; husband of Gertrude Beatrice Nuthall, of 12, Lingham Street, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Seaforth Cemetery, Cheddar Villa, Belgium

Herbert Charles Nuthall.
Herbert Charles Nuthall. Photo © Marietta Crichton Stuart. The headstone has the following inscription: “From strife to the peace and love of God” Marietta Crichton Stuart writes: “The cemetery is a fairly rare instance of a battlefield cemetery, originally called Cheddar Village, the Commanding Officer of the 2nd Bn Seaforth Highlanders later asked if the name could be changed to Seaforth as 100 of the 127 burials belonged to that Battalion. Herbert’s headstone was very clear and so must have been recently cut.”

Brian Denny, Herbert Charles Nuttall’s great-grandson, says he may have been a witness to the Christmas truce of 1914 and the first gas attack in April 1915, as his regiment was in the vicinity of both. Brian has written this beautiful song in memory of Nuthall.
http://youtu.be/4slLT8aC3sA