Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

DOW

Reuben Edward Wild

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R. E. Wild
Service no. R/6573
Rifleman, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, “C” Coy. 9th Battalion
Died of wounds on 25 September 1915, aged 20
CWGC: “Son of Herbert John and Annie Wild, of 24 Halstead Street, Brixton, London.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

Brother of Herbert William Wild

Horace John Baker Whittingham

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H. J. Whittingham
Service no. 76274
Corporal, Tank Corps, 1st Battalion; formerly 3294, Royal Fusiliers
Died of wounds on 28 April 1918, aged 24
CWGC: “Son of John Baker Whittingham and Alice Louisa Whittingham, of 28 Angell Road, Brixton, London.”
Remembered at Marissel French National Cemetery (near Beauvais), Oise, France

Brother of Claude Lionel Whittingham

Ernest Frank Whiting

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E. F. Whiting
Service no. 25607
Private, East Surrey Regiment, 8th Battalion
Born in Dover, Kent; enlisted in Dorking, Surrey; lived in Clapham
Died of wounds on 14 October 1917, aged 26
CWGC: “Son of Edward Whiting, of 28 Durand Gardens, Clapham Road, London.”
Remembered at Dozinghem Military Cemetery, Belgium and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Ernest Frank Whiting, 20, a law clerk, lived at 25 Durand Gardens, Stockwell. His parents, Edward Whiting, 60, a joiner, and Susannah Whiting (née Kingsford), 57, were both from Dover. They had 11 children, but by 1911 only five survived. All born in Lambeth. Ernest, Lilian Kate Whiting, 24, a typist, and Mabel Ellen Whtiing, 22, a book keeper. Their married sister Winifred Maud Riley, 28, lived with the family with her husband William Riley, 30, a restaurant waiter from Liverpool and daughter Winifred Lotty Whiting, 9. George William Canham, 22, a bank clerk born in Lambeth boarded.

Henry Ingham White

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H. I. White
Service no. 550898
Rifleman, London Regiment, 12th Bn (Queen’s Westminster Rifles)
Died 15 August 1917, aged about 30
Remembered Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belguim
Son of William George and Emma White, of 11, Stirling Rd., Stockwell, London.

This identification was made by Chris Burge, who writes:

Henry Ingham White was born in 1887, the youngest of William George and Emma White’s two sons. He was baptised on 20 July 1887 at St Barnabas, Pimlico, where William and Emma had been married seven years before. The family lived at 3 Union Street, Pimlico Bridge. Henry’s father worked as a ‘shopman’.  Within a decade the White family had moved to 11 Stirling Street, off Clapham Road. Young Henry was still at school, this brother William John, then aged 17, assisted their father who managed a trunk shop.

In the 1911 census, the four members of the White family were living in relative comfort as occupants of the seven-room property at 11 Stirling Street. The census revealed that only two of William and Emma’s six children had survived into adulthood. William John, then 28, and Henry, then 22, were part of the family business. Henry’s father was the manager of a trunk and bag manufacturer, his brother William John was the secretary, while Henry was a ‘fancy leather worker’. The location of their premises and full extent of their business is not known.

The key surviving document in understanding the war service of Henry Ingham White is his entry in the Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects. A low service number of 3308 was added beneath the 550898 number and his war gratuity amounted to £13. The 3308 service number may not appear on Henry’s medal records, but the Soldiers’ Effects information indicates someone who joined in 1914.

When Henry Ingham White decided to volunteer, his links with Pimlico drew him to 58 Buckingham Gate, Westminster, home of the Queen’s Westminster Rifles, the 16th Battalion County of London Regiment. The QWR had departed for France on 1 November 1914 and were recruiting for their reserve. Perhaps Henry met Frederick Watson Haggett from Clapham as he stood in line on 7 November 1914. New recruits were posted to the battalion’s 2nd or 3rd reserve for training. Henry White became private 3308, and Frederick Haggett private 3309. Frederick Haggett and men with similar numbers were drafted in France at the end of June 1916, soon to be on the Somme. It is possible Henry was held in England for other duties. It is certain that Henry was in France by 19 April 1917, a replacement for men lost in the Arras offensive.

The QWR were in action in July and August 1917 near Ypres in what is commonly known as Passchendaele. Henry was wounded on, or shortly before, 15 August after trenches held by the QWR were heavily shelled. He was evacuated to the 3rd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station at Remy sidings, some five miles behind front lines. Hundreds of casualties passed through the Station between 14-16 August. Henry Ingham White was one of the five deaths noted on the 15 August 1917.

It was a bitter blow for Henry’s father who had lost both his wife Emma and sister Caroline in 1916. William George White passed away in 1924, aged 65. An image of Henry’s CWGC headstone and the White family grave may be found here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10778460/henry-ingham-white.

Clarence George Wheeler

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C. G. Wheeler
Service no. L/21895
Driver, Royal Field Artillery, “A” Bty. 162nd Bde.
Died of wounds on 4 April 1917, aged 24
CWGC: “Son of George Henry and Fannie Wheeler, of 35 Holland Street, Brixton, London.”
Remembered at Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Clarence George Wheeler, 18, was a grocer’s assistant. He lived with his parents, George Henry Wheeler, 46, a glass cutter from Sevenoaks, Kent, and Fanny Wheeler, 48, from Canterbury, Kent, in four rooms at 35 Holland Street (now Caldwell Street), Stockwell, as well as his four siblings: Albert Henry Wheeler, 15, a shop boy; Margaret Wheeler, 12; Hilda May Wheeler, 9, Edgar Ralph Wheeler, 4. An older sibling, Nina, who appears on the 1901 census, had died. Clarence was born in Stepney, east London, his siblings in Brixton.

Thomas Henry Wellings

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T. H. Wellings
Service no. 29546
Private, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), 1st Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Camberwell
Died of wounds on 1 October 1918, aged 19
Remembered at Grevillers British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France

Brother of Alfred George Wellings 

Information from the 1911 census and British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

In 1903, Thomas Henry Wellings , who was born on 20 May 1899, was enrolled in Walnut Tree Walk school. At the time his family lived at 8 St Olave’s House, a block of social housing in Walnut Tree Walk.

Pension records show that on 20 July 1915 he enlisted in the 21st Battalion of the London Regiment. Thomas gave his age as 19 and two months but he was only 16 and was discharged. The Army was impressed with his good military character. ‘Could have made a good soldier if of the required military age,’ was written in his file. 

Wellings’s discharge papers describe him as having a fresh complexion, grey eyes, light brown hair; he was 5ft 6in, with a 36in chest, and under 8st. His physical development was judged to be ‘Fair’. He gave his address as 2 Thorncroft Street, a few streets away from Camellia Street. He must have re-enlisted later.

In 1911 Thomas Wellings, aged 12, lived at 35 Camellia Street, South Lambeth with his widowed 43-year-old mother Elizabeth Martha (née McGoun), who worked as a cardboard box maker in a factory. Another son, George Wellings, 9, also lived there. The family had two rooms. Mrs. Wellings, who had two other children living elsewhere, was from Blackfriars. She did not give place of birth for her sons.

Wellings must have enlisted again when he was able or compelled.