Stockwell War Memorial

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Brothers

Bernard Christopher Rance

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barneyrance2
Bernard Christopher Rance Photo © Clare Stone

B. C. Rance
Service no. L/11692
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, 27th Bde.
Died on 26 March 1917, aged about 22
Born in Lambeth; enlisted at Camberwell
Remembered at Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension, France

Brother of Charles F. Rance

rance1 (1)

Information from the National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

Four Rance brothers served in the Great War: Bernard, Charles, James and Richard. William Arthur Rance, whose connection to the Lambeth Rances is unclear, also served. Spring 1915 must have been a trying time for their parents, William and Sarah Rance, with two sons attesting in March, another in April and a fourth in May. Sadly, two years later, in March and June 1917, the youngest two, Bernard and Charles, had been killed.

RANCE, B.C., Gunner, R.F.A.
He volunteered in March 1915 and in the following December was drafted to the Western Front, where he did excellent work as a Gunner at Ypres, the Somme, the Ancre and Arras. He gave his life for the freedom of England in March 1917, and was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.
“A valiant soldier with undaunted heart he breasted Life’s last hill.”
155, Hartington Road, South Lambeth, S.W.8.

RANCE, C.F., Rifleman, 6th London Regiment (Rifles).
He volunteered in April 1915 and in the following September was drafted overseas. Whilst in France he fought in many engagements, including those on the Somme and at Arras. He gave his life for King and Country at Vimy Ridge on June 7th, 1917, and was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.
“He died the noblest death a man can die,
Fighting for God, and right, and liberty.”
155, Hartington Road, South Lambeth, S.W.8.

RANCE, J. W., Sergt., King’s Royal Rifle Corps.
He had previously served in the South African War and in May 1915 re-enlisted and was drafted to France in the following March. During his service on the Western Front he fought on the Somme and at Richebourg, Bapaume, Givenchy and in many other engagements until the cessation of hostilities. He was demobilised in March 1919, and holds the General Service and Victory Medals.
155, Hartington Road, South Lambeth, S.W.8.

James Rance joined the Army in 1900 and saw service in South Africa and India. In 1905 he was invalided back to England suffering from malaria and ague (rheumatism). He appeared on the 1911 census aged 33 and working as a barman in a hotel. At this time, he had been married to Elizabeth Rance for 5 years and they had one child: Edward James Rance, born about 1908 in Lambeth. The family lived at 40 Bolney Street, a few doors down from James’s parents and the other children at home. However, by 1915 he had moved to 11 Clyston Street, just off Wandsworth Road.

James’s second Army career, serving in the King’s Royal Rifles during World War One, must have been testing, as this army was largely volunteers and conscripts. When he joined up, in May 1915, he was already 36. He rose quickly to Lance Corporal, to Lance Serjeant, to Corporal, to Serjeant. However, on 13 March 1917 he was punished for “disobeying a lawful command given by his Superior Officer.” His sentence was to be reduced in rank to Corporal. In April he was transferred to the Middlesex Regiment, and then in June to the Labour Corps. His character was described on demobilisation as “very good”.

RANCE, R., Bombadier, R.F.A.
He volunteered in May 1915 and in the following December was sent to France. During his service overseas he was frequently in action, notably on the Somme, the Ancre, and at Ypres, Arras, Cambrai and Peronne. He was demobilised in March 1919, and holds the 1914-15 Star, and the General SErvice and Victory Medals.
3, Madrid Place, Dorset Road, South Lambeth, S.W.8.

RANCE, W. A., Private, 24th London Regiment (Queen’s) is also described in the National Roll – he has no connection with this Rance family.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the family was still living at 16 Bolney Street. The household consisted of
William Rance, 53, a furniture porter, born in Westminster
Sarah Rance, 53, also born in Westminster
Their children:
Agnes Rance, 23. The census transcript gives her occupation as “Surrey bank iron”. It is unclear whether this is something to do with the Surrey Iron Railway, a narrow gauge railway which ran between Wandsworth and Croydon or whether she was an ironer.
Lizzie Rance, 20, a dress maker
Albert Rance, 18, van guard
Barnard Rance, 16, a van guard
Charlie Rance, 13
All the children were born in Lambeth – no birthplace is given for Charlie
In all, William and Sarah Rance had nine surviving children, of 18 born alive.

Information from the 1901 census
In 1901 Bernard Christopher Rance, then 6, lived with his family at 16 Bolney Street. His father, given as William H. Rance on this census, was then 43 and described as a furniture porter. Bernard was registered as “Barney”. The children were:
Richard Rance, 18, a furniture carman
Agnes Rance, 13
Elizabeth Rance, 10
Albert Rance, 8
Barney Rance, 6, remembered on Stockwell War Memorial
Charles Rance, 3, also remembered on Stockwell War Memorial

Information from the 1891 census
In 1891, the family was living at 12 Bolney Street. William is listed as a labourer, and their children were:
James Rance, 12
Richard Rance, 8
George Rance, 6
Emily Rance, 5
Agnes Rance, 3
Elizabeth Rance, 6 months

Information from the 1881 census
In 1881 William and Sarah Rance lived at 19 Green Street, Newington. William is listed as a bricklayer’s labourer and Sarah as a charwoman They had at that time two children:
James Rance, 2
Richard Rance, not yet 1
Richard Havannagh, a 24-year-old single bricklayer’s labourer from Peckham, boarded.

On 19 August 2009, Avril Heron, who is a great-niece of Bernard Christopher Rance and Charles F. Rance, contributed the following information:

“William and Sarah Rance also had a daughter called Emily. She shows on the 1891 census aged 5. She was my grandmother, my mother’s mother. On the 1901 census she is shown working as a domestic kitchenmaid for a 56-year-old widow lady, Sophia Gregory, at 23 Wilkinson Street, just around the corner from Bolney Street where the rest of the family were living.

“Emily was a feisty lady, very strong and independent. She married William Lowton (who lived with his family in Dorset Road) and they sailed to Canada where my mother was born in 1909. I have found the family on the passenger lists. William Lowton joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and I have his service record. The story in the family was that he died of the Spanish flu after the war,  and my grandmother, my mother and her two brothers came back on their own. I have looked in Canada and England for a death certificate for William Lowton but so far have not found one. Grandma never married again and I have always felt that there was a mystery here.

“I have recently contacted a lady whose grandfather was Albert Rance, older brother to Bernard and Charles, and have even got a photo of him. I am not sure about his service career.

“Agnes and Elizabeth were both quite poorly and my grandma told me ‘Poor Aunty Elizabeth used to sit on the stairs and cry bitterly.’ Just yesterday I discovered that Agnes lived until 1966 and was married to a Frederick Earl and seemed to live in 155 Hartington Road where her parents lived. Her husband’s father seems to have lived there also. Lots more to find out…

“Richard Havannagh, who was on the 1881 census as boarding with the family, must have been a very good friend of the family as he was a witness to William and Sarah’s wedding. I have tried to track him down the years but with no luck.”

On 27 August 2009, another Rance family member, Clare Stone, contributed this information:
“My grandfather, Albert Rance, served from 4 July 1914 to 3 July 1934 and was a Gunner in the Royal Artillery Corps for 8 years, and Army Reserve B & D for 11 years. However, my cousin recalls that Grandad spoke to him about being in the Military Police and I do have a postcard of theHMS Balmoral Castle with reference to this written on the back so it could be true – I would need to investigate.

albert rance

“Albert definitely served in India (he loved curry) and Jamaica but not sure at this point where else.  He was awarded the British Medal but it cannot be traced.  My cousin recalls a story that on his last visit to Grandad in hospital before he died, as he approached his bed he called out ‘Get down – the fuzzy wuzzies are coming!’. This was a reference to some event to do with the war, albeit not very politically correct for this day and age!

“When he left the Army he did very simple jobs such as porter and laundry man at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Surrey.  He married Rose Kallendar and had 6 children, 2 of which died as infants.  I am not sure when he moved from London but he lived in Hallsowen Road, Carshalton all of his married life.  He died a widower on 1 September 1968 age 75 following a stroke.

Albert is in the second row second from the right (with the monkey). Date unknown

All photos © Clare Stone

William Charles Purslow

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W. C. Purslow
Service no. S/12717
Corporal, Rifle Brigade, “B” Coy. 3rd Battalion
Born in Plymouth; enlisted in London; lived in Stockwell
Died of wounds on 29 May 1916, aged 26
CWGC: “Husband of Eleanor Annie Hillyer (formerly Purslow), of The Drill Hall, Richmond, Surrey.”
Remembered at Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord, France and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

Brother of Albert Edward Purlsow.

William Charles Purslow’s grave is in an extension of Bailleul town cemetery, where there are also graves of French and German soldiers from the Great War, as well as some WWII graves. Photo: Ray Gloster

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

William Charles Purlsow died on 29 May 1916 after the amputation of his right arm. Eight days earlier he had sustained a gunshot wound to his right arm. He had served just under a year, with only about three months in total at the front.

Purslow’s Army career was unremarkable, at least according to the service records. He had suffered from otitis media (inflamation or infection of the middle ear) in March and he was treated on an ambulance train. There is not much other than these details – and the list of his effects (disc, testament, diary, photos, cap badges, gold ring, letter) – to say. He was 25 when he joined up on 8 June 1915, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.

Purslow left a widow, Eleanor Annie nee Hutchinson, whom he married in late 1915 (the banns were read at St Michael’s church), who later remarried.

Albert Edward Purslow

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A. E. Purslow
Service no. 170
Corporal, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 7th Battalion
Born at Stonehouse, Devon; enlisted at Kingston Upon Thames; lived in Brighton
Died on 18 November 1916, aged 21
Remembered at Stump Road Cemetery, Grandcourt, France and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

Brother of William Charles Purslow

Ray Gloster writes: ‘The Stump Road Cemetery is situated in a bleak windswept location, so on a cold February morning we could only imagine what it was like there in November 1916. Many of the graves were for men from the same regiment, The Queen’s, who died on the same day, 18 November, the last day of the battle of the Somme/Ancre.’

Information from the 1911 census

William Purslow, 21, and Albert Purslow, 15, were shop assistants, William for a hosier and Albert for an oilman. The household lived in four rooms at 15 Burnley Road, Stockwell. Charles Purslow, 50, from Lydford in Devon, was a music-hall musician; Alice Purslow, 46, was from Plymouth. They had four children, three of them living at home:
William Purslow, 21, born in Plymouth
Albert Purslow, 16, born in Stonehouse, Devon
George Purslow, 7, born in Fulham

Ray Gloster writes:

Albert Edward Purslow married Emma Caroline Ann Shed at Wandsworth in 1915. They had a daughter Phyllis Jeanette Elinor Purslow, who was born on 10 November 1916, just eight days before Albert was killed in action on the Somme at the battle of the Ancre.

He enlisted at Kingston upon Thames, which according to his pension records he did so before the war, at the age of 18. It is likely that he was transferred to the 7th Battalion as a Non Commissioned Officer after it was formed in September 1914.

In 1916 Emma was living in Brighton, Sussex in 1916, and she stayed in Sussex until her death at Eastbourne in 1981. She did not remarry but brought up her daughter alone, and then her two grandsons. Phyllis died in Hailsham on 1 November 2008.

Albert was a 4th generation professional soldier. His father Charles, although working as a music-hall musician in 1911, had served for 15 years in the Royal Marine Light Infantry at Plymouth, until 1899, 13 years as a musician, having previously served for almost six years in the 1st Battalion 53rd Shropshire Regiment of Foot at Plymouth, the same regiment as his father William and also his grandfather William, who was from Shrewsbury, Shropshire but continued to live in Plymouth in retirement.

In 1908, Albert’s sister Ethel married a musician, Alfred George Manning, one of four brothers who had served in the Royal Marines Light Infantry band (a fifth brother was also a musician, whilst the sixth was a baker). In 1913 she emigrated to Canada with her husband and son George (b. 1909), their second son Alfred was born soon after arriving in Canada. The family settled in the United States a few years later.

Percy William Arthur Philcox

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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

Cecil Ernest Philcox

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Cecil Ernest Philcox
Cecil Ernest Philcox

C. E. Philcox
Lieutenant (temp), South Staffordshire Regiment, 1st Battalion
Died on 24 May 1917, aged 21
Awards Military Cross; mentioned in despatches
CWGC: “Son of Alice E. and the late Alfred James Philcox.”
Remembered at Achiet-le-Grand Communal Cemetery Extension, France, on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA and at family memorial at West Norwood Cemetery

Brother of Percy William Arthur Philcox

Cecil Ernest Philcox was born in 1895. After attending Dulwich College he worked in a timber broker’s office in the City (his father was a timber merchant). He enlisted in the ranks of 12th Battalion of the London Regiment (The Rangers). One of his two brothers, Percy William Arthur Philcox, was killed in action with the Rangers on 8 May 1915.

Cecil was transferred to the Inns of Court Officers Training Corps at Berkhamsted on 20 April 1915 and in July was given a temporary commission in the 10th (Reserve) Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment at Harrogate. He took part in action at High Wood, Mametz, Beaumont-Hamel, Arras, Serre, Martinpuich, Bullecourt.

In November 1916 Cecil was appointed Battalion Bombing Officer. He died on 24 May 1917 at No. 45 Casualty Clearing Station near Bullecourt of wounds received three days earlier when a defective No. 5 Mills grenade thrown by Private T. Hindley exploded during training, fracturing Cecil’s skull and injuring Hindley himself and Lance Corporal Carrington. A court of enquiry held in the field, at which three witnesses gave evidence, and Hindley made a statement, concluded that no one was to blame for Cecil’s death. All described how Cecil had given the order to throw, how Hindley’s throw was a good one and made in the “regulation manner” and how the grenade exploded only six feet away from the bombing party.

Cecil was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.

Cecil’s family lived at 255 South Lambeth Road. His father, Alfred James Philcox, who died in 1913, was a timber merchant, originally from Kentish Town, north London. His mother, Alice Eliza Philcox was born in Lambeth. After Cecil and his brother Percy died in the war, two children survived: Alfred Reginald, who in 1911 was working as a clerks in a timber merchant’s office (presumably his father’s) and Ethel Beatrice Philcox.

Information from the censuses
On the night of the 1911 census Cecil Ernest Philcox, aged 15 and still at school (Dulwich College), was at his cousin’s house at 29 Kingsmead Road, Streatham. Leonard Wilfred Philcox, 13, was the son of Mervyn Philcox, 50, a watch and jewellery dealer born in Wandsworth, and Martha Jane Philcox, 51, from Lambeth. Meanwhile, his family were at 255 South Lambeth Road.

Alfred James Philcox, 59, was a timber merchant, born in Kentish Town, north London. His wife, Alice Eliza Philcox, 55, was born in Lambeth. They had five children: Cecil; Alfred Reginald Philcox, 22, and Percy William Arthur Philcox, 19, both clerks in a timber merchant’s office (presumably working with their father); Ethel Beatrice Philcox, 18; and one other. All the children were born in Lambeth. Florence Maud Philcox, 19, a niece born in Lambeth, lived with the family, as did Kate Elizabeth Percival, a 20-year-old single domestic servant from Rotherhithe, south-east London.

George Thomas Mullett

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G. T. Mullett
Service no. 8760
Serjeant, Dorsetshire Regiment, 1st Battalion
Born at Pimlico; enlisted at Dorchester, Dorset; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 21 May 1918, aged about 28
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Brother of Arthur Joseph Mullett

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

George Thomas Mullett signed up with the Dorsetshire Regiment in Dorchester on 15 November 1909, ending his civilian role of barman. Perhaps he didn’t completely leave his old life behind. In 1911 he was severely reprimanded for allowing a man to smoke cigarettes on parade.

Evidently, Mullett learned from his mistake – there are no other misdemeanours on his conduct record. Rather, the files detail his steady rise through the ranks. He was promoted to Corporal in October 1913 and to Serjeant in September the following year.

Mullett married Lucy Emma Cane at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell on 16 April 1916. Emma had a six-year-old son – Lewis George Cane, whom Mullett lists as “illegitimate.”

On 1 July 1916, his brother Frederick James was killed. George Thomas survived until five months before the Armistice. A note in the file says that he was wounded on 31 May 1918. Two weeks later this was amended to “wounded and missing” and then again in late August to “to be regarded for official purposes as having died.”

Mullett was 5 feet 7⅞ inches, weighed a little under 10 stone and had a 36-inch chest. He had hazel eyes and brown hair. There was a a scar on his right cheek.