Stockwell War Memorial

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Died

Stanley Henry Compson

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S. H. Compson
Service no. G/19059
Private, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), 10th Battalion
Died aged about 21 on 23 March 1918
Awarded the Military Medal
Remembered at Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France
Enlisted at Maidstone, resident at Hunton, Kent

British Army Service Records 1914-1920

Stanley Henry Compson was assumed dead on 23 March 1918. Like so many other families of soldiers, the Compsons not only had no body – generally only those gravely injured soldiers who managed to get back to Britain were buried at home – but no imagined foreign resting place.

Grieving families clung to whatever was left in order to mourn their dead. Memorials such as St Mark’s and Stockwell went some way to fill the gap left by the absence of a funeral. They are places to focus on and a place to point to with pride. Medals do the same – physical remnants of the deceased. Perhaps this is why Compson’s father, Joseph H. Compson, enquired often about the medals.

On 17 July 1919, he wrote to the military authorities with is change of address (he had moved to 77 St Agnes Place, SE11). “What is to be done about his M. M. [Military Medal]?” he asked. He requested that his was presented “publicly” and the medal arrived on 20 January 1920.

On 17 February 1921 he wrote again: “When may I expect to receive the medals due to my late son?”. Again, on 8 November 1921 he sent a change of address and added, “By the way, when may I expect to receive any medals that he is entitled to?”

A notice in the Edinburgh Gazette Supplement of 22 October 1917 stated that “His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to award the Military Medal for bravery in the Field to the undermentioned Non-Commissioned Officers and Men” includes Compson’s name.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Stanley Henry Compson was 14 and working as an errand boy for a grocer’s. He lived with his grandmother and other family members at 240 South Lambeth Road, London SW8. The household included
Jane Compson, 60, widowed, the mother of 6 children, 3 surviving: Joseph (Stanley’s father), Albert and Alfred.
Her son Albert Compson, 31, a motor cab driver
Another son, Alfred Compson, 28, also a motor cab driver
A granddaughter Lilian Compson, 16, a dressmaker’s assistant
Stanley Compson, 14
All the Compsons were born in Lambeth
Henry Hussey, 43, a boarder, working as a motor cab driver, born in Greenwich.
Information from the 1901 census
In 1901 four-year-old Stanley Henry Compson lived at 6 Wynyard Terrace, Lambeth, with his family: his father, Joseph H. Compson, a 27-year-old stockbroker’s clerk born in Lambeth; his mother, Catherine B. V. Compson, 23, born in Kennington; his brother, William E. Compson, 10 months, born in Kennington. Stanley was born in Brixton.

Edwin William Collins

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edwin william collins named on stockwell war memorial london sw9
Edwin William Collins. Photo with kind permission of Emilia Alchin.

E. W. Collins
Service no. 479594
Private, London Regiment, 1st/24th Battalion
Then Labour Corps, transf. to (720746) 798th Area Emp. Coy. attd. Emp. S.B. Unit.
Died age 26 on 2 August 1918
Son of Edwin Collins, of 18 Elwell Road, Clapham
Remembered at Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, Pas de Calais, France

British Army Service Records 1914-1920
Edwin Collins joined up on 5 September 1914 and survived nearly to the end. He was admitted to 2 Can. General Hospital in Boulogne on 1 August with multiple bomb blast injuries including a factured skull. His condition was “dangerous,” says the record. He died the following day.

Edwin was unusually tall – 5 feet 11 inches – although not very broad. His chest measured only 37 inches with 2 inches expansion. His physical development was “good”.

His final effects were sent on to his father, who was also called Edwin: pouch, purse, ring, testament, 2 leather cases, 2 numerals, cards, photos, letters, 2 French books, 3 religious books, 4 coins, disc.

Edwin was one of six children – 5 girls and a boy. His father, also called Edwin, lost his wife Frances in 1898 but remarried in about 1899.

Information from the 1911 census
Edwin William Collins was 19 in 1911, working as a railway porter, and living with his father, stepmother and sister in 6 rooms at 18 Elwell Road, Clapham (now disappeared). Edwin Collins, 61, was a retired policeman working as a “check-taker” at a theatre. He was born in Brenchley, Kent. His wife, Louisa, 53, to whom he had been married for 12 years was from Old Southgate (north London). Frances Maud Collins, 24, was a restaurant waitress. Like her brother she was born in Clapham.

Fredrick Victor Clement

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or Frederick Victor Clement
F. V. Clement
Service no. 3538
Private, London Regiment, 1st/24th Battalion
Died age 19 on 11 June 1916
Son of Walter George and Harriett Clement, of 38 Burgoyne Road, Stockwell
Remembered at Bruay Communal Cemetery Extension, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Fredrick/Frederick Victor Clement was a 14-year-old schoolboy boarding at 60 Burgoyne Road (off Combermere Road), London SW9.  He, his mother Harriett Clement, 58, a widowed charwoman from Clapham, and brother Walter George Clement, 36, a chair caner, also from Clapham, lived with the Faux family: Frank Mark Faux, 34, a brewer’s drayman, Ada Ethel Faux, 30, and their sons Frank William Faux, 5, and Leonard Henry Faux, 2.
The 1901 census shows that Walter George was “part blind from birth” and was working as a tea agent. Chair caning, his occupation in 1911, was a popular job for the blind.

Frederick was baptised on 15 September 1897 at St Andrew’s, Landor Road. His father, Walter George Clement, was a coach painter, and the family lived at 90 Dalyell Road.

Frederick died at No.22 Casualty Clearing Station.

Alfred Charles Clarke

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A. C. Clarke
Service no. 453028
Rifleman, London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles), 2nd/11th Battalion
Died age 22 on 6 November 1917
Son of William and Eliza Clarke, of 18 Wilkinson Street, Albert Square, Clapham
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the Clarke family occupied 8 rooms at 18 Wilkinson Street, London SW8. William Clarke, 52, a plaster model maker at a terracotta works (possibly this was Doulton’s on Albert Embankment) from Burbage in Leicestershire, and Eliza Clarke, 50, from Whitwick, Leicestershire, had 9 children, all of whom survived. The household was full on the night of the census:
Gertrude Eliza Clarke, 22, born in Hathern, Leicestershire
Elisa Maryann Clarke, 18, a book folder, born in West Bromwich
Alfred Charles Clarke, 15, a grocer’s assistant, born in Lambeth
Albert Thomas Clarke, 11, born in Lambeth
Maud Beetrace [sic] Clarke, 10, born in Lambeth
Doris Lilian Clarke, 5, born in Lambeth
Annie Clarke, 26, visiting from America (married to one of Alfred Charles’ brothers)
Getrude Annie Clarke, 2, Annie’s daughter, born in America
Philip Lindsey Clark, 22, single, a sculptor, born in Brixton, a boarder
Emma Paul, 49, a single lady from Loughborough, was visiting as was Hannah Duplex, 78, a widow from Loughborough.