Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

France

John Barber

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J. Barber
Service no 551983
Driver, Royal Engineers, 47th Signal Coy.
Killed in action on 24 March 1918, age 24
Son of John and Lydia Barber, of Stockwell, London.
Remembered at Beaulencourt British Cemetery, Ligny-Thilloy, France, and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Information from the 1911 census

The Barber family lived at 92 Landor Road, SW9. John Barber (senior), 52, was born in Brighton and worked as a butcher. Lydia Barber, 46, was born in Dymchurch, Kent. Six of their 10 children survived, including John, who is on the census as Jack:
Lydia Barber, 21, an artist working in dressmaking
Jessie Barber, 20, “at home in business” – no further details
Ethel Barber, 19, “at home in business”
Jack Barber, 17, “at home in business”
Hilda Barber, 12
Earnest Barber, 10

Arthur Edward Ball

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A. E. Ball
Service no. 10231
Serjeant, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, 1st Battalion
Killed in action on 23 July 1916, aged 23
Son of Charles and Sarah Ball, of 58 Tasman Road, Stockwell, London.
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Arthur Edward Ball, then 17, was working as a compositor’s apprentice and living at 58 Tasman Road, Stockwell with his father, Charles Ball, 47, a stone mason born in Isleworth, and his father’s second wife, Sarah Ball, 42, born in Chelsworth, Suffolk. Other members of the household were
William Ball, 21, a compositor, born in Kennington
Fredrick Ball, 16, a bag carrier for a gas company, born in Kennington
Frank Ball, 3, born in Stockwell

William George Bacon

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W. G. Bacon
Service no 242252
Private, South Staffordshire Regiment, 2nd/6th Battalion
Died on 21 March 1918, aged 33
Husband of Alice Rachel Bacon, of 37 Kimberley Road, Stockwell, London.
Remembered at Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

In 1911 Bacon was a tobacconist living with his brother and his wife at 86 St John’s Hill, Clapham Junction. He married Alice Rachel Potts and left a daughter Vera Alice.

Frederick Avis

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F. Avis
Service no 46278
Corporal, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 4th Battalion
Died age 22 on 9 June 1918
CWGC: “Son of Mrs. R. Avis, of 37 Thorncroft Street, Wandsworth Road, South Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Franvillers Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Information from 1911 Census
In 1911 Frederick Avis was 16 and working as an errand boy. He lived in 2 rooms at 59 Lambeth High Street, SE1 with his father George Avis, 38, a compositor, and mother Rhoda Avis, 44, and his brothers: Joseph Avis, 14, and Charles Avis, 9. All were born in Lambeth.

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920
Frederick Avis, a 19-year-old single brewer, joined up barely a month after war was declared on 4 August 1914. Many assumed that the war would be short in duration (“home by Christmas”) and not particularly arduous. It would be like one big party – not to be missed. Avis must have been aware of the bitter irony of these hopes: he survived, possibly exhausted by stress and trauma, nearly to the end of the conflict, and his service included at least one major period of illness.

Initially Avis joined the Wiltshire Regiment but he was transferred to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in May 1916. He rose from Private to unpaid Lance Corporal and Corporal (attracting proper pay). Avis’s only transgression on record is a failure to comply with an order in November 1915 for which he forfeited 4 days pay.

Avis stood 5 feet 4½ inches, with a chest of 35½ (expandable by 2½ inches), and weighed 118 pounds. His hair was brown and his eyes blue. On enlistment he was described as fit, but after three years of gruelling warfare he was returned to England and spent at least 60 days in hospital. In September 1917 was receiving treatment at the Birmingham War Hospital for kidney stones, and he was also diagnosed with muscular rheumatism. He spent 38 days there, and a further 22 days in the Convalescent Hospital at Plymouth.

And then, on 31 March 1918, he was back at the front.

He died at the Somme after serving for 3 years and 275 days, on 9 June 1918.

His widowed mother, Ada, received his effects: letters, photos, a wallet, two religious books, a watch and watchstrap. And later, in 1919, with the help of the Rev Helm, the vicar at St. Anne’s Church, South Lambeth Road, she filled in the Army form declaring next of kin who may have a claim for pension: Charles, 17; Joseph, 22 (now living in Balfour Street, Nine Elms), and Edward, 24.

Robert Atkins

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R. Atkins
Service no S/23067
Rifleman, Rifle Brigade, 8th Battalion
Died of wounds on 16 September 1917, aged about 30
Remembered at Trois Arbres Cemetery, Steenwerck, France and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9
British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920
Printer Robert Atkins married Emily Louisa Umpelby in June 1913 at All Saints Church, Lambeth. The couple lived at 14 Horace Road and their sons Robert Thomas and Thomas John Atkins were born in 1913 and 1915.

In December 1915 Robert joined the Reserve at Lambeth, and in June the following year he joined the regular Army. He was described as 29 years, 5 feet 8¼ inches, 38 inches around the chest (with 3 inches expansion), and 10 stone.

Atkins’ file records just one misdemeanour: In November 1916 “when on active service [he was] absent without leave from tatto, 9.30pm until 8.30pm,” for which he forfeited 3 days pay.

When Atkins died of gunshot wounds to the neck, legs and left arm at the 2nd Australian Casualty station he had served 1 year and 280 days. In January 1918 his effects were sent to his widow: “2 playing cards, 1 pipe, 1 knife, 1 cig box, 1 pr scissors, 2 Rifle Brigade numerals”.

In May 1919 Emily Louisa, 29, married Henry Edward Powell, 30 . She lived 14 Luscombe Street, Lambeth.
Information from the 1911 census
Robert Atkins and his two brothers were printers’ labourers in 1911, living with their sister and widowed mother, Mary Jane Atkins, 53, at 43 Neptune Street, Lambeth (near Spring Gardens). Mary Jane was from Cullum, Devon.
Robert Atkins, 24
Charles Atkins, 22
Thomas Atkins, 20
Elizabeth Atkins, 26, a domestic worker
All were born in “Wandworth Road.”
Mary Jane signed the form with her mark.

George Harry Allen

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George Harry Allen
George Harry Allen is shown with his mother Marcelina Rachel Allen and (probably) brother Sidney. Photo © Jennifer Blaber and Heather Drislane

G. H. Allen
Service no. G/52892
Private, Middlesex Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Born in Wandsworth, enlisted in Camberwell, lived in Lambeth
Killed in action on 25 March 1918, aged 20
“Son of George and Lena [Marcelina] Allen, of 2A, Wheatsheaf Lane, Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Pozières Memorial, Somme, France

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the Allen family lived at 18 Riverhall Street, Lambeth. George Henry Allen (senior), 37, was a engineer working in cold stores. He was born at Marchington, Staffordshire. His wife, Marcelina, 35, was from Kirtling, Cambridge. Five sons are registered (one child had died):
George Henry Allen, then 12, born in Clapham
Sidney Alwen Allen, 10, born in Battersea
Edward Albert Allen, 7, born in Battersea
Earnest Cyril Allen, 4, born in Kennington
Frederick James Allen, 5 months, born in Kennington
The family lived in 2 rooms.