Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

France

Frank Sidney Minter

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F. S. Minter
Service no. 60899
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 22nd Battalion. Formerly 4542, East Surrey Regiment
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Clapham; lived in Upper Tooting
Killed in action 10 March 1917 aged about 35
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

Information from the 1911 census

Frank Sidney Minter was a 29-year-old commercial traveller selling herbs and seeds. He was born in South Lambeth, and was married to Ada Mary Minter, also 29, from Stockwell. They lived in three rooms at 49 Jeffreys Road, Stockwell, and had one child, Lilian Ada Minter, 5 months, born in South Lambeth. Mary Goldsmith, 63, Ada Mary’s mother, a laundress born in the City, lived with them.

William Arthur Alfred Mills

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W. A. Mills
Service no. 30986
Private, Devonshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in Lambeth
Died on 30 May 1918 aged 19
CWGC: “Son of William Hugh and Laura Ellen Mills, of 8, Tradescant Rd, South Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Chambrecy British Cemetery, France

Information from the 1911 census

William Arthur Alfred Mills was 12 in 1911. He lived with his parents and sisters at 8 Tradescant Road, South Lambeth, where they occupied four rooms. William Hugh Mills, 49, was a railway porter from Islington, north London. Laura Mills, 46, was from Bermondsey. They had three children: Maude Mills, 16, a book folder born in Bethnal Green; William Mills, 12, born in South Lambeth; Alice Mills, 7, born in South Lambeth.

John Charles Miller

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J. C. Miller
Service no. 7267
Private, Australian Infantry, A.I.F., 21st Battalion
Died of wounds 19 May 1918 aged 21
CWGC: “Son of Amy Miller, of 296, Clapham Rd., London. Native of Middlesex, England.”
Remembered at Querrieu British Cemetery, Somme, France

Information from the Australian National Archives

John Charles Miller, a single man earning his living as a clerk, lived at 300 Queens Street, Melbourne, Australia when he signed up for service in the Infantry on 12 December 1916. Within days he was on the troop ship Ballarat heading for Devonport, England, where he arrived in late April 1917.

Miller was 5 feet 10 inches and 148 pounds (10½ stone), his chest measured 36 inches and he could expand it by an impressive 5 inches. He had a scar on his right knee. He had blue eyes, brown hair and his complexion was described as “mid”, whatever that means. His father was deceased, but his mother lived at 296 Clapham Road.

The journey was not without events. Miller was hauled up twice – once for failing to report for duty when warned and once for going absent without leave, for which he was punished with 24 hours detention. He was also made to forfeit two days’ pay (10 shillings).

By September 1917 he had joined his battalion. We know he had a period of leave to England between 16 January and 16 February 1918, and on 19 May he suffered a shell wound to his left leg, which shattered. He died of wounds in the 5th Australian Field Ambulance.

Before he died, Miller wrote a will leaving all his possessions to his mother, Amy Miller. This was dated 4 August 1917, that is before he went to France. It was witnessed by Laura Miller of 35 St Stephens Terrace, South Lambeth, who stated that she was involved in “war work at the Admiralty” and by a police constable, Stephen Staughton, who lived in the same house as Amy.

Ernest John Milborrow

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E. J. Milborrow
Service no. 93005
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, 17th Bty. 83rd Bde
Enlisted in Brixton; lived in Stockwell
Died on 11 July 1918 aged 28
CWGC: “Son of Mr and Mrs E. Milborrow, of 83, Hargwyne Street, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at St Souplet British Cemetery, Nord, France

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

In 1911, Ernest John Milborrow, 20, was an unemployed laundry warehouseman, living with his parents and six of his seven siblings in four rooms at 83 Hargwyne Street, Stockwell.  His father, Ernest Alfred, 43, a silk tie cutter, and his mother, 45, were both born in Lambeth.

Ernest Milborrow’s service history has not survived but those for his brothers William and Arthur Milborrow have. They both joined the Royal Field Artillery, 162nd (Howitzer) Brigade in Camberwell on the same day, 27 March 1916, and were given adjacent Service numbers.

William (L13105), aged 23 and working as a butcher when he enlisted, rose through the ranks and was demobbed in 1920 as a Serjeant. His career included two disciplinary issues. He was reprimanded in October 1915 for insubordinate conduct to an officer and again in July 1918 for absence from parade. His medical history included having his infected teeth removed (November 1915) and inoculations against typhoid. He caught flu in March 1919, just at the start of the pandemic. He was 5 feet 5¾ inches tall.

Arthur Thomas (L13106) described himself as a bank messenger, and was 19 when he enlisted. He was demobbed as a driver in 1919. He was disciplined in February 1917 for being absent from parade, and in March 1918 for going absent from leave for one day. He was hospitalised for two days with diarrhoea and for eight with a sprained foot (“nothing found,” said the doctors). He was 5 feet 3 inches tall.

Information from the censuses

In 1911, Ernest John Milborrow, 20, was an unemployed laundry warehouseman, living in four rooms at 83 Hargwyne Street, Stockwell (where they had been since at least 1901), with his parents and siblings. All nine children (eight of whom are on the census) and the parents were Lambeth-born:
Ernest Alfred Milborrow, 43, a silk tie cutter
Ellen Milborrow, 45
Ernest John Milborrow, 20
Willie (William) Milborrow, 19, a butcher’s roundsman (employed to make rounds or deliveries)
Nellie Elizabeth Milborrow, 14
Arthur Thomas Milborrow, 12, at school and working as a newsboy
Elsie Phoebe Milborrow, 11
Edith Milborrow, 9
Edward Milborrow, 6
George Milborrow, 2