Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

DOW

George Dimond

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G. Dimond
Service no. L/6478
Private, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 2nd Battalion
Died of wounds age 18 on 9 November 1914
Son of Charles and Clara Dimond, of 44 Priory Road, South Lambeth, London.
Remembered at Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery, Belgium

Information from British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1918 and 1911 census

George Dimond joined up at the age of 18 just before the war started, on 27 April 1914. He lived for only 194 days after that, dying of wounds to the legs on 9 November 1914 at Poperinghe. Allied forces commandeered this town, the primary military centre for British forces located in Flanders and only 10km from Ypres, as a base from the early days of the war. It remained in Allied command, apart from a period between May and October 1914.

Dimond, blue-eyed with dark brown hair, was 5 feet 7½ inches, weighing 116 pounds, with a 33 inch chest he could expand by 2½ inches. In civilian life he was a sawyer’s assistant. The Army records show that Dimond’s parents were separated. In 1911 his mother Clara, then 50, is listed as a boarder at 104 Hartington Road – her occupation is “charwoman” and she is described as “married but separated”. Dimond’s father, Charles, 49, meanwhile was boarding in 27 Dawlish Street. Between them they had five daughters and George.

George is cited in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918.

Stanley William Clarke

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S.W. Clarke
Private, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), 3rd Bn.
Service No. 279057
Died 31 May 1918, aged 19.
Remembered at Pernois British Cemetery, Halloy-Les-Pernois, France

Chris Burge writes:

Stanley William Clarke was born on 7 April 1899 and baptised on 24 October 1900 at Forest Gate, St James, Essex. Stanley was the third of the five known children of Thomas and Elizabeth Mary Clarke.  He was about five when the family settled in Lambeth.

In the 1911 census, Stanley, his four siblings and their parents lived in four rooms at 27 Angell Road, Brixton.  Stanley’s father was a foreman motor fitter and his older brother Sydney was working as an office boy. 

With the introduction of conscription in 1916, Stanley’s parents knew that, if the war continued, all but the youngest of their four sons might have to fight.  What happened to his older brothers Sydney and Harold is not known, but Stanley, who was just 15 in 1914, was conscripted in 1917.  He become eligible for overseas service at the age of 19 and was sent to France on 3 April 1918 as a private 654707 Clarke of 21st Bn., London Regiment.  He was transferred and renumbered as private 279057 Clarke four days later, on his 19th birthday. 

Stanley reached the support line on the 13 April, part of a 70-man draft, in cold and wet weather. After moving to the front line, their position was attacked on 24 April.  Fierce fighting led to over 200 casualties in a 48-hour period.  The battalion was relieved and in the first two weeks of May they played a football match and were entertained by concert parties.  They returned to a forward position on 22 May, in fine weather.  The situation remained quiet until sporadic shelling three days later caused 10 casualties, of whom Stanley was one. He passed down the evacuation chain to reach the 4th Casualty Clearing Station at Pernois, but succumbed to his wounds on 31 May 1918.*  

The Clarke family were living at 40 Tasmin Road when they received news of Stanley’s death.  His father Thomas died in 1930, aged 60. His mother Elizabeth, who continued to live in Tasmin Road with her youngest daughter Ivy until at least 1939,  died in 1956, aged 87.

Richard Charman

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R. Charman
Service no. L/21002
Driver, Royal Field Artillery, “B” Bty. 156th Bde.
Died of wounds age 17 on 23 July 1916
Enlisted at Camberwell, lived in Brixton
Son of Henry and Mary Charman, of Brixton, London.
Remembered at Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L’Abbé, Somme, France and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London 0DA.

Information from the South London Press

The South London Press reported Charman’s death on 25 August 1916:
Killed in action was the young son – he was only 17 – of Mr. and Mrs. Charman, Ingleborough Street, Brixton. He was one of six brothers serving with the colours, all descendants of a fighting race. In a letter to his mother, his company officer says: ‘Your son died nobly, doing his duty and as his section commander I can testify to the fine young soldier whom we mourn. He was, for his age, quite exceptional in his work, and beyond praise in the fearless way in which he carried out his dangerous and arduous duties. In him we have lost one who is irreplaceable and who, by his cheerfulness and courage endeared himself to us all.’

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Richard (or Dick) Charman’s family lived in 4 rooms at 13 Ingleborough Street, London SW9 (between Robsart Street and Lorn Road). Henry Charman, 56, a general labourer, was born in “Lambeth Parish” (St Mary’s Parish, north Lambeth). Mary Charman, 54, was born in Clapham. They had had 15 children, of whom 12 were still living in 1911. Those listed on the census for this address were
Henry Charman, 31, a carrier’s carman, born in Clapham
John Charman, 28, a painter’s labourer, born in Brixton
William Charman, 21, a painter’s labourer, born in Brixton
Daisy Charman, 13, born in Brixton
Lilly Charman 13, born in Brixton
Dick Charman, 11, born in Brixton

William George Callen

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W. G. Callen
Service no. 12089
Rifleman, King’s Royal Rifle Corps
Died age 24 on 29 August 1920
Son of Mr W. H. Callen, 100 Dorset Road, Clapham Road, London.
Remembered at Lambeth (Tooting) Cemetery

Information from the censuses

In 1911 William Henry Callen, then 45, born in Eastleigh, Hampshire, was living with his wife Ada Elizabeth, 47, born in Woolwich, at 100 Dorset Road, where the family occupied 4 rooms. Callen was a railway porter. His children, all born in South Lambeth, were Jessie Marion, 17, no occupation listed; William George, then 15, who was to die in 1920, presumably of wounds sustained in the war; and Florence Elizabeth, 13. The 1901 includes a third daughter, Margaret, born in 1900. At that time the family was living at 12 Walberswick Street.

The 1911 census shows that William Henry and Ada Elizabeth had had 5 children, 3 of them surviving to 1911.