Stockwell War Memorial

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Died

Leslie Frank Bailey

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L. F. Bailey
Midshipman, Royal Naval Reserve, H.M.S. “Bayano”
Died on 11 March 1915, aged 19
Son of Frederick Harvey Bailey and Maria Bailey, of 11 Belle Vue Gardens, Clapham Road, London. Served on H.T. “Huanchaco” on which he continued to serve when it was taken over as an Admiralty Transport in the first months of the war. Native of Brixton, London.
Remembered at Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Hampshire, at Putney Vale cemetery, and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Midshipman Leslie Frank Bailey (HU 113154) CWGC family information: Son of Frederick Harvey Bailey and Maria Bailey, of 11, Belle Vue Gardens, Clapham Rd., London. Served on H.T. ‘Huanchaco’ on which he continued to serve when it was taken over as an Admiralty Transport in the first months of the war. Native of Brixton, London. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205289913

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Leslie Frank Bailey was 15 and at school. He lived in 5 rooms at 363 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton with his mother, Maria Bailey, 59, born in Croydon and sister, Edith Mary Bailey, 34, a fruiterer’s assistant born in Dalston, London. Frank was one of 5 children. He was born in Lambeth.

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901 Leslie Bailey was 5 and living at 50 Solon Road, Brixton, with his mother, then 49, a florist; sister, Nettie F. Bailey, 26, a florist; sister Edith F. M. Bailey, 24, a commercial clerk. Both sisters were born in Dalston. Visiting on the night of the census were Ellen R. Laurence, 41, married and born in Croydon, and Harold R. Laurence, 6, born in Long Acre, Covent Garden and presumably Ellen’s son.

Frederick Harvey Bailey, cited by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, was mentioned in neither the 1911 nor the 1901 census returns for this household.

William George Bacon

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W. G. Bacon
Service no 242252
Private, South Staffordshire Regiment, 2nd/6th Battalion
Died on 21 March 1918, aged 33
Husband of Alice Rachel Bacon, of 37 Kimberley Road, Stockwell, London.
Remembered at Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

In 1911 Bacon was a tobacconist living with his brother and his wife at 86 St John’s Hill, Clapham Junction. He married Alice Rachel Potts and left a daughter Vera Alice.

Frederick Avis

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F. Avis
Service no 46278
Corporal, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 4th Battalion
Died age 22 on 9 June 1918
CWGC: “Son of Mrs. R. Avis, of 37 Thorncroft Street, Wandsworth Road, South Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Franvillers Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Information from 1911 Census
In 1911 Frederick Avis was 16 and working as an errand boy. He lived in 2 rooms at 59 Lambeth High Street, SE1 with his father George Avis, 38, a compositor, and mother Rhoda Avis, 44, and his brothers: Joseph Avis, 14, and Charles Avis, 9. All were born in Lambeth.

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920
Frederick Avis, a 19-year-old single brewer, joined up barely a month after war was declared on 4 August 1914. Many assumed that the war would be short in duration (“home by Christmas”) and not particularly arduous. It would be like one big party – not to be missed. Avis must have been aware of the bitter irony of these hopes: he survived, possibly exhausted by stress and trauma, nearly to the end of the conflict, and his service included at least one major period of illness.

Initially Avis joined the Wiltshire Regiment but he was transferred to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in May 1916. He rose from Private to unpaid Lance Corporal and Corporal (attracting proper pay). Avis’s only transgression on record is a failure to comply with an order in November 1915 for which he forfeited 4 days pay.

Avis stood 5 feet 4½ inches, with a chest of 35½ (expandable by 2½ inches), and weighed 118 pounds. His hair was brown and his eyes blue. On enlistment he was described as fit, but after three years of gruelling warfare he was returned to England and spent at least 60 days in hospital. In September 1917 was receiving treatment at the Birmingham War Hospital for kidney stones, and he was also diagnosed with muscular rheumatism. He spent 38 days there, and a further 22 days in the Convalescent Hospital at Plymouth.

And then, on 31 March 1918, he was back at the front.

He died at the Somme after serving for 3 years and 275 days, on 9 June 1918.

His widowed mother, Ada, received his effects: letters, photos, a wallet, two religious books, a watch and watchstrap. And later, in 1919, with the help of the Rev Helm, the vicar at St. Anne’s Church, South Lambeth Road, she filled in the Army form declaring next of kin who may have a claim for pension: Charles, 17; Joseph, 22 (now living in Balfour Street, Nine Elms), and Edward, 24.

Peter Anderson

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P. D. Anderson
Service no L/7853
Private, 9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers
Died on 13 February 1919, aged 28
CWGC” “Son of Thomas and Christina Anderson, of 24 Viceroy Road, South Lambeth, London. Born at Glasgow.”
Remembered at Lambeth Cemetery, Tooting, London SW17 and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 Peter Anderson’s family was living at 2 Crimsworth Road, off Clapham Road. His father, Berwickshire-born Thomas Anderson, 50, was motor car engineer. His mother, Christina Anderson, 39, was born in Ross-shire. Peter’s siblings, all born in Lambeth and registered on the census, were:
Christina Anderson, born 1893, whose occupation is given as “filling and labelling scent bottles”
Henrietta Anderson, born 1896, domestic service
George Anderson, born 1901
Jessie Anderson, born 1906
Grace Anderson, born 1911 (2 months old)
Thomas Anderson and Peter Anderson are not on the census at this address. The 1911 census shows that Christina had given birth to 11 live children, 7 of whom survived.
Information from the 1901 census
In 1901, Peter Anderson was a 10-year-old living at “26 Cavendish Arms, Public House, Viceroy Road”. Thomas Henderson, 24, a Scottish brass moulder boarded with the family, and the Murray family were visiting on the night of the census: Edward A. Murray, 44, a locomotive engineer born in Kent; his wife Mary Murray, 45, born in Scotland; their son Henry Murray, 8, also born in Scotland.

Frederick John Allen

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F. J. Allen
Second Lieutenant, Devonshire Regiment, “C” Coy. 9th Battalion
Died age 22 on 27 September 1915
CWGC: “Son of Frederick Herbert and Alice Allen, of 79 Union Road, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Lapugnoy Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, at St John’s Church, Clapham Road, London SW9

Frederick John Allen

Information from the Royal Bank of Scotland archives:

Frederick John Allen joined the London County and Westminster Bank on 6 October 1910 at the Victoria Street branch in London SW1. He remained there until he joined the Army. The bank was later incorporated into Royal Bank of Scotland. The following is an extract from the County & Westminster staff magazine of November 1915:
A photograph also appears of Second Lieut. J. F. Allen, of the Victoria Street Branch. He was educated at the Westminster City School, and received his earliest military training in their cadet corps. He joined the Artists and was a first rate shot, being in the eight that won the Daily Telegraph Cup for H Company, and later in the sixteen which ran second in the Inter-Battalion Cup. He was the first volunteer to mount guard at the outer gate of the Tower of London. After receiving his commission in the 9th Devons he became Signalling Officer and was selected for a special job by the Brigadier.

Information from the 1911 census
Frederick John Allen, then 17, is registered on the 1911 census as the only surviving child of 43-year-old schoolmaster Frederick Herbert Allen, an assistant elementary schoolmaster for London County Council born in Newington, and his wife Alice Minta Varney Allen, also 43 and born in Norwood. Frederick was working as a bank clerk for London County and Westminster Bank. They lived in 6 rooms at 47 Mayflower Road, SW9.
The family is also on the 1901 living at the same address.