Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

Brothers

William George Hilton

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W. G. Hilton
Service no. 688
Private, East Surrey Regiment, 7th Battalion
Died of wounds age 21 on 5 October 1915
CWGC: “Son of Sarah Annie Hilton, of 1 Trigon Road, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Chocques Military Cemetery, France

Brother of Frederick Hilton

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901 William Hilton was 8 and living with his family at 70 Harleyford Road. His father, also called William, was 36 and working as a house porter. William (Senior) was born in Worcester. His wife, Sarah A. Hilton, 30, was born in Lambeth. Annie E. Hilton, 10, William G. Hilton, and Frederick Hilton, 4, were all born in Lambeth.

John Herriott

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J. Herriott
Lieutenant, Machine Gun Corps, 41st Coy.
Died of wounds, age 26 on 17 February 1919
Awarded Military Cross
Son of John and Mary Herriott, of 50 Milton Road, Herne Hill, London. Native of London.
Remembered at Etaples Military Cemetery, France

Two of John Herriott’s brothers, Andrew Herriott and Archibald Herriott, also died.
For information from the 1911 on the Herriott family, see Andrew Herriott’s entry.

Military Cross citation, Supplement to the London Gazette 30 July 1919

For conspicuous gallantry and good work. During a counter-attack on September 29th, 1918, near Menin, the infantry with whom he was co-operating withdrew to a line 400 yards behind him. He covered their withdrawal; then, seeing that he could inflict casualties from where he was, he decided to remain in position. For two hours he was well in front of the infantry and engaged the enemy on two sides. From his position, to which he brought a second gun for the purpose, he was able to cover the infantry advance when the situation was restored.

Andrew Herriott

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A. Herriott
Service no. 470471
Lance Corporal, London Regiment (The Rangers), 12th Battalion
Enlisted in London; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 24 August 1918, aged 21
Remembered at Bray Hill British Cemetery, Bray-sur-Somme, France

Brother of John Herriott and Archibald Herriott

Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 the Herriott family, 3 of whose sons are on the memorial, lived at 27 Gateley Road, Brixton, where they had 7 rooms. John Herriott, 51, was an electrical engineer from Berwick-upon-Tweed. Mary Herriott, 51, was from Edinburgh. They had 8 children, all surviving in 1911. Six lived at home:
George Hope Herriott, 22, a milkman
May Herriott, 20, a dressmaker
John Herriott, 18, an electrician
Archibald Herriott, 16, a bookseller’s assistant
Andrew Herriott, 14
Isabel Lenore Herriott, 9
All were born in Ponders End, Middlesex.
There was also a boarder, Lillian Eliza Ellery, a 25-year-old married assistant to a wool manufacturer, from Poplar, east London.

Robert Grainger

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R. Grainger
Private, East Surrey Regiment, 1st Bn.
Service no. 201552.
Died on 18 July 1917, aged 31
Remembered at Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France

Brother of John Albert Grainger

Chris Burge writes:

Robert Grainger, the first child of Robert Grainger and Amelia Sarah Lea, was born on 17 March 1866 and baptised four days later at St Andrew’s, Lambeth, when the family address was recorded as 17 Windmill Street and Robert Snr worked as a carman (carter). 

In 1891, the Grainger family lived at 83 Thomas Street (now Warham Street) near Kennington Oval. They later moved to 16 Surrey Lodge, a complex of social housing on Kennington Road.

School records show Robert and his next youngest brother Frederick attending nearby Walnut Tree School in 1893. Robert stayed with his family during their various moves over the following years until on 19 March 1907 he walked the short distance from his home in the Hayles Buildings on St George’s Road, across the busy Elephant and Castle junction to the Army recruiting office at 38 New Kent Road. Within a week he had been posted to the depot of the Lincolnshire Regiment. He was discharged medically unfit after just 163 days. 

At the outbreak of the war, Robert and his younger brother John were living near Clapham Junction railway complex and working as goods porters. In December 1915, Robert Grainger attested in the final days of Lord Derby’s Group Scheme, with the obligation to come if called up later on. His medical, which took place at Wandsworth Town Hall on 12 December 1915, recorded him as 29 years and 9 months, 5ft 9in tall, 10 stone, with a 37in chest and physically strong but with bad teeth.

He was issued with a grey armband with a red crown, and have his National Registration card stamped, “ATTESTED 12 DEC 1915”. His call-up date followed Lord Derby’s group schedule and Robert reported to the Wimbledon recruitment centre on 1 March 1916. Robert Grainger was now private 3806 of the 3/5th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment. 

There was no immediate expectation that this Territorial Force unit would go overseas. It moved to Cambridge on 1 January 1916, then Crowborough and was in Tonbridge by October 1916. A year after Robert was first in uniform, on 27 December 1916, he married Beatrice Harriet Salmon at St Jude’s, Southwark. The couple gave their address as 63 Hayles Street, which was Beatrice’s home. Robert had first met Beatrice when they were both living in the Hayles Building some nine years before, when she was just 16. 

Robert was a trained signaller and was sent to France on 29 March 1917 (he was renumbered 201552). He had been in the Arras sector when he was posted from the 7th East Surrey to the no. 1 company of the 1st Bn East Surrey on 10 June 1917, they were north-east of Arras. June had ended with a quiet five days in trenches opposite the shattered Fresnoy Wood. Specific mention was made of good communications between HQ and front companies by use of ‘Fullerphones’, buzzer, pigeon and lamp. Early in July, orders were received that a ‘two company’ strength raid was to be made on enemy trenches at Fresnoy. Preparations and training followed after nos. 1 and 4 company had been chosen for the task. Bad weather delayed the raid from the 15th to 4am on the 18th. The raid casualties were two officers wounded, other ranks four killed, 20 wounded and 14 missing. The missing were not thought to have survived. 

On 18 July 1917 Beatrice was informed that her husband had been reported missing. She was left waiting for further news, her hopes fading as the months past until finally Robert Grainger was officially presumed to have died on or since 18 July 1917. 

German documents show that Robert did die on that day. His identity disc was retrieved when his body was buried and returned to British authorities. The disc was the only possession returned to Beatrice. Inexplicably this happened twice, once in July 1918 and again in November 1920. On both occasions Beatrice dutifully acknowledged receipt of the item posted to her address at 52 Hayle Buildings, St. Georges Road SE 11. 

In order to receive her husband’s Plaque and Roll, Beatrice was obliged to complete Army Form W5080, a statement naming all living relatives of a deceased soldier. Beatrice took the completed form to St. Jude’s Vicarage in Southwark to be witnessed and countersigned on 9 October 1919. Apart from herself, she listed Robert’s parents and his four remaining siblings who all lived at various addresses in Stockwell. 

Beatrice Harriet Grainger did not remarry and remained in Southwark for many years. She died in 1971, aged 

John Albert Grainger

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J. A. Grainger

Private, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 6th Bn.
Service no. G/14181
Died on 12 July 1917, aged 26
Remembered at Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais France

Brother of Robert Grainger

Chris Burge writes:

John Albert Grainger was born in 1891 and baptised in Kennington on 25 January, the fourth child of Robert and Amelia Sarah (née Lea) Grainger. John’s father, who was born in Cork, Ireland was a carter; his mother, Amelia, was born in Clerkenwell. 

In the 1891 census, the Grainger family were living at 83 Thomas Street (now Warham Street) in the parish of St Mark’s, Kennington, close to the open space of Kennington Park and the Oval Cricket Ground. 

By the time of the 1901 census, there had been two more additions to the family. The Grainger family had moved to 14 Mitre Street, North Lambeth, close to Waterloo Station. John’s father was recorded as a cartage foreman and his older brothers Robert Jr and Frederick worked as errand boys or porters. When the social researcher Charles Booth visited the area in 1899 he described Mitre Street as having ‘a few fairly comfortable remaining but the majority [were] poor to very poor’. 

The Grainger family soon moved to Weston Street, close to London Bridge Station, and by 1907 were living in the Hayles Buildings, St George’s Road. 

In the 1911 census, the Grainger family had returned to Kennington and were living at 236 Hillingdon Street. John’s father Robert Snr described his occupation as a ‘Cartage manager for the Railway’. All six of their surviving children (Amelia had given birth to 11 in total), lived in the family home. Robert Jnr, 25, was a cellarman; Frederick, 24, a porter; Amelia, 21, a tobacco worker; John, 20, a porter; Alfred, 20, and Benjamin, 15, Post Office telegraph messengers. They shared five rooms and another family of three shared just one room at the same address. 

After the outbreak of war, John’s parents moved to Morat Street and then Camellia Street, near Nine Elms. Robert Jnr had been living with his younger brother John at 16 Bramfield Road, Clapham, half a mile from the Clapham Junction railway complex where the brothers worked as ‘goods porters’. 

Robert Jnr attested under the Derby Scheme (see Alfred Thomas Evans) on 12 December 1915, and was not called up until 1 March the following year. Six weeks later John, then aged 25, was conscripted. After reporting locally, he was directed to Kingston where he joined the Royal West Surrey Regiment. His details were recorded in the pages of the Surrey Recruitment Registers: he was 5ft 11in, 144llb, with a chest size of 37in. He was assigned to the 12th Battalion.

Little is known of John’s military service after this, other than at some stage he was posted to the 6th Battalion RWS as private G/14181, J. Grainger. The 6 RWS were involved the Arras offensive in April and May 1917 on its southern extreme, near St Leger. After a period of rest, on 1 July they returned to the front line trenches south-east of Arras. Their part of the trench was attacked and shelled on the 11th and 12th. Casualties reported were: ‘4 OR killed and 3 wounded’. 

At the end of the war, John’s parents should have received his medals and war gratuity. But there is no entry for Private 14181 J. Grainger in the Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects. Some time after his parents  moved from Stockwell to Norwood Amelia applied for her son’s medals. They were finally issued on 17 February 1930. The Arras Memorial was not unveiled until 31 July 1932.