Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

France

Henry William Penn

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H. W. Penn
Service no. 22577
Private, King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), 8th Battalion
Killed in action on 16 June 1917, aged 34
Born in Clapham; enlisted at Lambeth
CWGC: “Son of William and Lucy Penn, of 74 Hargwyne Street, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France, and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

Henry Penn enlisted in the Suffolk Regiment on 11 November 1915, and was later transferred to the Lancasters. Not much survives in his service file, but gives us an indication of how he looked (he was 5 feet tall and had a 34-inch chest, which he could expand by 2½ inches, and had a squint in his left eye).

In June 1916 he was wounded in the face and right arm. About a year later, he was killed in action. His effects were sent to his mother, Lucy Penn: photograph, a small bag, four identity discs, a notebook, a letter case, letters, safety razor and blades, a pipe and tobacco pouch, a silver cigarette case, a metal mirror, a regimental book cover, buttons, a farthing, a card and two cap badges.

Information from the censuses

Henry (or Harry) William Penn lived at 74 Hargwyne Street with his parents, William Kenward Penn, 62, a boiler stoker born in Clapham, and Lucy Mary Penn (née Harris), 57, from Marlow, Buckinghamshire. The family had three rooms. There were two other siblings. In 1901 the family lived at 121 Hargwyne Street.

Arthur Penn

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Arthur Penn
Arthur Penn

A. Penn
Service no 44243
Serjeant, Royal Engineers, 74th Field Coy.
Born in Clapham; enlisted in London; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 19 March 1917, aged 23
CWGC: “Son of John T. D. and Victoria Penn, of 73 Union Rd., Clapham, London.”
Remembered Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery, France

De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour 1914-1918

PENN, ARTHUR, Sergt., No 44243, 74th Coy., R.E., 2nd s. of John T. D. Penn, of 73 Union Road, Clapham, London, S.W., Employee at the G.P.O., London, by his wife, Victoria, dau. of Samson Goodland, of Ilton, a Somerset Farmer; b. Clapham, 14 Aug. 1893; educ. Gaskell Street L.C.C. School there, and afterwards entered the employ of Messrs. Shuttleworth & Co., Bermondsey; joined the R.E. in Aug, 1914, after the outbreak of war; served with the Expeditionary Force in France from 10 July 1915, and was killed in action at Arras, 19 March 1917. Buried in Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery there. His Commanding Officer wrote: “I had known your boy ever since he joined the company when it was formed in England, and for the last six months I had seen a great deal of him as he was my office Sergeant. I had grown to like him very much, and respected him for his manly and sterling good qualities. He was, I know, a general favourite with the other sergeants and greatly liked by the men under him. We buried him here in the Military Cemetery, and all the officers off duty and a large number of N.C.Os and men attended his funeral. Your boy has given his life in the great cause for which we are fighting, and you can be proud of him. He died a man’s death, doing his bit for his country.” By his coolness and presence of mind while as Corporal in the bombing-class at Noeux, France, he prevented a very serious accident to 130 men who were present, by throwing a bomb which was burning in his hand clear, and the General Officer Commanding the 44th Infantry Brigade directed that his appreciation of the action of Corpl. A. Penn, R.E., should be conveyed to him, which order was read to him on Parade 12 Sept. 1915; unm.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Arthur Penn, one of five children of John Thomas Doody Penn, a Post Office sorter, 53 from Chatham, Kent and Victoria Penn, 55, of Ilton, Somerset, was working as a chauffeur. Three children, all born in Clapham, lived at home in 5 rooms at 73 Union Road: Arthur; Daisy Penn, 26; Dora Victoria Penn, 20. A boarder, William Drowley, a single 21-year-old auctioneer’s clerk from Ringwould, Kent, boarded with the family. The family is found at the same address in 1901. In 1891 they lived at No 100 Union Road, and in 1881 they were at 6 Richard Street, Lambeth.

Percy William Pearce

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P. W. Pearce
Service no. 1432
Lance Corporal, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 11th Battalion
Born in Clapham; enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Clapham
Died of wounds on 17 July 1916, aged 20
CWGC: “Son of George Thomas and Marian Pearce, of 45 Tradescant Road, South Lambeth Road, London.”
Remembered at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, France

Information from the censuses

Percy William Pearce, 14 in 1911 and working in a wheelwright’s shop, lived with his family in 5 rooms at 28 Tradescant Road, South Lambeth. He was one of eight children (one had died by 1911) of George S. Pearce, 46, a railway police constable from Godalming, Surrey, and his wife Marian Pearce, 46, from South Lambeth. Six children were at home on the night of the census: Ethel E. Pearce, 19, a waitress; Alfred G. H. Pearce, 17, a junior clerk; Percy W. Pearce, 14, Charles J. Pearce, 12; Cecil E. H. Pearce, 9; Louis E. W. Peace, 6. All the children were born in South Lambeth. Augustus Chaddock, a 60-year-old retired man from Westminster, boarded with the family. The Pearces were evidently very attached to Tradescant Road – they were there in 1901, at Number 34.

Edwin Robert Gilbert Peacock

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E. R. G. Peacock
Service no. 3261
Serjeant, Machine Gun Corps, 17th Battalion, formerly 18320 Royal Fusiliers
Born at Southend, Essex; enlisted at Clapham
Died of wounds on 3 September 1918, at about age 27
CWGC: “Son of E. M. Peacock, 38 Gaskill Street, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Varennes Military Cemetery, France

Information from the censuses

Edwin Robert Gilbert Peacock, 20, was a stone mason. He boarded with the Smith family at 24 Lingham Street. Charles Smith, 50, was a stone mason from Portland, Dorset. His wife, Alice Selina, 53, was from Lambeth. They had two children: George Arthur, 19, a clerk, and Alice Mary Smith, 15. Alfred Dance, a 40-yea-old single painter, also boarded.

In 1901 Edwin Peacock was a 10-year-old and living at 13 Anns Road, Anns Terrace, Prittlewell in Essex. His 49-year-old father, Charles C. Peacock was a corporation dust inspector from Bethnal Green, east London, his mother, Ellen M. Peacock, 49, was born in St Pancras. Four sons were registered:
Walter S. Peacock, 19, was a furniture porter, born in Bermondsey
John H. Peacock, 15, was a bread baker, born in St Lukes, London
Albert E. Peacock, 13, worked for a fruiterer and greengrocer, born in Camberwell
Edwin R. G. Peacock, 10
Lottie Patrick, 4, described as granddaughter, also lived there, as did a boarder, Alfred Barfield, 70, born in Ipswich, Suffolk and “living on his own means”

Frederick John Payne

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F. J. Payne
Service no. 11440
Private, Dorsetshire Regiment, 6th Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted at Clifton Street, Surrey; lived in South Lambeth
Killed in action 4 July 1916, aged about 27
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

Frederick John Payne was born on 13 November 1888, the son of Samuel Payne, a general labourer from Stogumber, Somerset and Sarah Ann (née Stephenson), born in Surat, Gujarat, India.  He was baptised on 5 April 1889 at St Barnabas, South Lambeth.

In 1911 Frederick John Payne, 22, was a general labourer living at 6 Horace Street (now disappeared, this street was near Wilcox Road), Stockwell, where his family had four rooms. His father, Samuel Payne, 54, was a general labourer from Stogumber, Somerset; his mother Sarah Ann Payne, 50, was born in Surat, India. Frederick had five siblings (one had died), three of whom lived at home: Arthur Samuel Payne, 20, a brewer’s labourer; Ellen Kate Payne, 16, a scullery maid; Richard James Payne, 13. All were born in South Lambeth.

In the summer of 1911 Frederick married Selina Ann Brittle, who lived with her family at 16 Wheatsheaf Lane, very close to Horace Street. The first of their three children, Frederick John Brittle Payne, was born out of wedlock, in 1909 and at the time of the 1911 census had been put out to nurse in Reading with the family of Jane Brooks. In the Second World War he served in the East Surrey Regiment and died in action, aged 35, on 30 November 1944 in Netherlands. 

Selina married James Turk Johnson, a fishmonger,  in 1923. 

John Walter Patrick

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J. W. Patrick
Service no. 18989
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 12th Battalion
Born in Clapham; enlisted in Battersea; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 4 September 1916, aged 23
CWGC: “Son of William and Mary Jane Patrick, of 11, Union Street, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

Information from the 1911 census

John Walter Patrick, 17, a carman, lived with his parents and siblings at 11 Union Street, Clapham, where they had four rooms. His father, William Patrick, 56, was a general labourer from Farnham, Surrey; his mother, Mary Jane Patrick, 54, was from Newington Butts. near Elephant and Castle. They had had eight children, seven surviving. Six of these, all born in Clapham, were at home: Louisa Patrick, 21, a packer; Florence Jane Patrick, 20, a packer; John Patrick, 17, a carman; Rose Patrick, 15, a machinist’s helper; Lily Patrick, 13; Cyril Patrick, 9.