Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

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Harry George Burls

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H. G. Burls
Service no. 15147
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, “B” Bty. 211th Bde.
Died of wounds age 25 on 25 October 1918
Born in Stockwell, enlisted at Camberwell
Son of George and Elizabeth Burls, of 25 Moat Place, Stockwell, London.
Buried at Romeries Communal Cemetery Extension, France

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

BURLS, H. G., Gunner, R.F.A.
Volunteering in April 1915, he was sent to the Western Front in the same year. He took part in many important engagements, including those on the Somme, and was wounded. He also served in the Retreat and Advance of 1918, and was killed in action at Cambrai in October of that year. He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.
25, Moat Place, Stockwell, S.W.9.

There is also an entry for Harry’s brothers Walter Alfred (born 1897) of 25 Moat Place and Frederick Arthur Burls of 1 Combermere Road, a few streets away. Both these men survived the war (the latter being invalided out of the Army).

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Harry George Burls lived with his widowed mother and siblings in 5 rooms (including kitchen) at 25 Moat Place, Stockwell SW9. Elizabeth Burls, 45, was a housekeeper, born in Finchenfield, Essex. She had given birth to 9 children, 8 of them surviving. Six of them lived with her:
Frederick Burls, 24, a labourer
Harry Burls, 18, a labourer
Zillah Burls, 16, a daily servant
Alfred Burls, 13, part-time schoolboy and baker
Eva Burls, 12
Nellie Burls, 6
All were born in Lambeth

John Bunn

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J. Bunn
Service no. R/32876
Rifleman, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, “C” Coy. 10th Battalion
Formerly TR/13/29465, T.R. Battalion
Died of wounds age 30 on 10 August 1917
Son of the late Thomas and Jane Harriett Bunn.
Remembered at New Irish Farm Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 John Bunn’s widowed mother, Jane Harriett Bunn, was living in 4 rooms at 35 Meadow Road, London SW8 with 2 single daughters:
Jane Bunn, 38, born in Lambeth
Rosa Bunn, 26, a dressmaker, born in South Lambeth
Jane Harriett was born in Milbrook, Southampton.
Jane Harriett had 6 children – all surviving to this date.

Arthur Brooker

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A. Brooker
Service no. 30907
Private, Devonshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Died of wounds at about age 18 on 24 April 1918
Remembered at St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France

Information from the 1911 census

rthur Brooker is the youngest person in his household at 36 Rutland Street, South Lambeth. His mother, Annie Brooker, 53, was a widow from Wroughton in Wiltshire. Annie had had 10 children (all survived) and she lived with 7 of them (6 sons and a daughter) in 5 rooms. The children on the census were:
Joseph Brooker, 27, a locomotive fireman
John Brooker, 23, a goods porter
Charles Brooker, 21, a bricklayer’s labourer
Frederick Brooker, 19, an office boy
Albert Brooker, 17, a messenger
Elsie Brooker, 15
Arthur Brooker, 12
All but Annie were born in Lambeth.

Arthur Edward Blacker

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A. Blacker
Service no. 44089
Rifleman, Royal Irish Rifles; formerly 5973, London Regiment
Died of wounds on 25 June 1918, age 28
CWGC: “Son of Arthur and Nellie Blacker, of London; husband of Charlotte Blacker, of 50 Shillington Street, Battersea, London.”
Remembered at Wandsworth (Earlsfield) Cemetery

Information from the censuses

In 1901 Arthur Edward Blacker was living with his famiy in 3 rooms at 7 Lithgow Street, Battersea (this street is no longer in existence). He is still living there in the 1911 census. His father, also called Arthur, was born 1862, was born in Wandsworth and was employed as a general builder’s labourer. His mother, Ellen H. Blacker (also known as Nellie), born 1865, was also from Wandsworth. There were 3 children on the 1911 census, all born in Battersea:
Ellen Eliza, Blacker, born 1886
Arthur Edwards Blacker, born 1890, a biscuit factory worker
Lilian Edwards Blacker, born 1901
The 1911 census states that there had been 9 children, 4 of whom had died.
The 1901 census includes, in addition,
Florence Blacker, born 1894
Annie Blacker, born 1895
In 1911 Ellen’s brother, George Fry, 34 and married, who worked in a print house, was visiting.

Additionally, a member of the Blacker family tells me that Arthur’s other brother and sisters were:
James George 1896-1897
Violet Ivy 1903-1905

Arthur and his wife Charlotte had at least two children, both born in Battersea:
Frederick G. A. Blacker, born 1916
Ivy L. Blacker, born 1918

Arthur was baptised on 21 February 1890 in Saint Mary’s Church, Battersea, Wandsworth. At the time, he was living at 13 Harroway Road, Battersea.

William Spencer Benson

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W. S. Benson
Service no. 35733
Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, 17th Field Ambulance
Died of wounds 23 April 1917, aged 20
Born in Brixton, enlisted in Holborn
Remembered at Bethune Town Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA.

Information from the 1911 census

William Spencer Benson, 14, was the eldest child of William Spencer Benson, 43, and Jessie Elizabeth Benson, 35. William the elder was a general labourer, while William the younger was a paper boy. The other children were
Jessie Elizabeth Benson, 12
Henry James Benson, 9
Rose Esther Benson, 4
Edith Phyllis Benson, 7 months
Henry James Benson, 33, brother to William, and Richard Smith, 28, both single and both working as labourers boarded with the family. All in the household, at 62 Ingleton Street, were born in Brixton.

John Edward Bean

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J. E. Bean
Service no. 50155
Corporal, Royal Field Artillery, “C” Bty. 49th Bde.
Died of wounds on 22 August 1916, aged about 44
Remembered at Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-l’Abbe, Somme, France

The 1911 census return completed by 43-year-old ‘Edward John Bean’, a dustman born in Brixton living in three rooms at 5 Carfax Square (now replaced by local authority housing), Clapham with his wife Ada, their son Edward, four, and Ada’s three children from a previous marriage. Edward and widow Ada Gilbert (née Purkiss) had married five years previously at St Paul’s, Clapham. 

In January 1906 Edward, then working as a coachman, and Ada had their son Edward baptised at Holy Trinity, Clapham, along with two of Ada’s children from her mariage to George Gilbert. They lived at 2 St Alphonsus Road, Clapham.

Edward attested in Camberwell, southeast London in 1914 or 1915. The Army records consistently show him as John Edward.