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Harold Percy Tozer

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H. P. Tozer
Second Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps/Durham Light Infantry, 9th Battalion
Died in a flying accident on 16 December 1916, aged 25
CWGC: “Son of Henry James and Agnes Emma Tozer, of 31, Lansdowne Gardens, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at East Harnham (All Saints) Churchyard, Wiltshire

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Harold Percy Tozer, 19, a clerk for a timber merchants, lived with his parents and sister at 31 Lansdowne Gardens, Stockwell. His father, Henry James Tozer, 43, was a solicitor’s clerk from Shadwell, east London; his mother, Agnes Emma Tozer, 43, was from Ipswich. Lilian Elizabeth Tozer, Harold’s sister, was 16 and working as a clerk for a philatelist (stamp collector/dealer). Both Harold and Lilian were born in South Lambeth. The Child family lodged with the Tozers: Arthur Ernest Child, 32, a cook from Portsmouth; his wife Ethel, 32, from Egham, Surrey, and their son Leslie Eric, 8. The Tozers had been at the same address since at least 1901.

British Army WW1 Service Records 1914-1920 (Officers)

Tozer enlisted in the 4th Battalion of the Cameron Highlanders on 11 September 1914 and served for 347 days with them. He was described as 5 feet 9 inches, with a 36½ inch chest which he could expand by 3½ inches. He embarked from Southampton on 19 February 1915 and was wounded in action the following month (gunshot wound to the elbow). He was invalided back to England, to the Fairfield Hospital, Broadstairs on 18 June.

Later that year he was granted a temporary commission – 2nd Lieutenant in the Durham Light Infantry (he was gazetted on 20 August 1915). Tozer’s service from then until the accident that killed him in 1918 is not known.

Walter Albert Ridout

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W. A. Ridout
Service no. 119029
Canadian
Private, Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion
Died on 16 June 1916, aged 30
CWGC: “Son of Mrs A. L. Ridout, of 2 Eythorne Road, Brixton, London, England, and the late Mr W. Y. Ridout. Enlisted Nov.”
Remembered at Nunhead (All Saints) Cemetery, London

Streatham-born shoemaker Walter Albert Ridout volunteered early in the war. On 12 November 1914 he presented himself to the attesting officer at Brighton and was signed up to the Royal Sussex Regiment, 8th Reserve Cyclists Battalion. His form states that he had lived outside the UK – in Vancouver, Canada – for more than three years.

Ridout, 28 years and 8 months, stood 5 feet 5 inches tall, with dark hair and a dark complexion, with grey eyes. His chest was 34 inches, with 2 inches expansion. He gave his religion as Baptist.

By 17 February 1915 he was appointed acting Lance Corporal; then promoted to acting Corporal on 11 March. By 20 April he had reverted to Private. However, on 25 June he was discharged from the Royal Sussex Regiment to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Southwold, Suffolk.

Information from the censuses

Walter Albert Ridout was one of five surviving children of Walter Young Ridout, a 60-year-old bootmaker and repairer from Dorset, an Alice Lydia (née Plater), 49, “assisting in the business”, born in the City of London. In 1911 there were three children at home, Frederick Ridout, 15, an apprentice bootmaker; Dora Ridout, 13; and Eveline Ridout, 11. All were born in Lambeth. The family lived in five rooms at 14 Robsart Street, where they had been since at least 1901.

Thomas Albert Pilgrim

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T. A. Pilgrim
Service no. 8761
Company Quartermaster Serjeant, Cheshire Regiment, 86th Bty.
Born in Battersea; enlisted in London
Died of pneumonia on 19 May 1918, aged 35
CWGC: “Son of Mrs. S. Silk (formerly Pilgrim), of 3, Stockwell Grove, Stockwell, London, and the late H. Pilgrim. Served in the South African Campaign. Alternative Commemoration – buried in Hartlepool North Cemetery.”
Remembered at Hartlepool (Stranton) Cemetery

British Army WW Service Records 1914-1920

Thomas Albert Pilgrim’s Army career lasted 17 years – he signed up just shy of his 18th birthday. During this time he learned about Army discipline, rose through the ranks to be Company Quartermaster Serjeant, grew nearly 4 inches and acquired medals and multiple tattoos, not to mention a wife. But he died, despite the best efforts of the medical staff, of severe pneumonia in West Hartlepool. The King and Queen wrote of their sorrow at his passing to his widow.

In November 1901 Pilgrim, a general labourer, enlisted in the Royal Sussex Regiment. He was 17 years and 10 months, 5 feet 5¼ inches tall, blue-eyed with brown hair; he had a scar next to his left eye and tattoos on his left arm. At camp in Chichester, he was almost immediately in trouble: irregular conduct (seven days confined to barracks); absent from parade (three days); quitting coal fatigue without permission (three days); not complying with an order (five days), and at Jamestown, Ireland, making an improper reply.

More trouble followed. While serving in South Africa he made an improper reply to an N.C.O. for which he was confined to barracks for 14 days. Back in England, at Shorncliffe camp, he was absent from reveille. And it was there, on 4 April 1903 that Pilgrim left the regiment, having been “Discharged by Purchase.”. It was an expensive decision. The £18 he paid out equates to £7,500 in today’s money.

In November 1907, aged 24, he was back at the recruitment office, enlisting in the Cheshire Regiment. By now he had grown to 5 feet 9 inches, and was a solid 11½ stone, with a 38½-inch chest. He had also acquired an impressive set of tattoos: a flower head on his left arm, a female figure, a head, flags and flowers on his left forearm; a hand with two cards and a crescent on the back of his left hand; a snake, palm tree and “an Indian” on his right forearm; a heart on his left knee.

There were only two black marks against him in this period. On 10 March 1909 he bought a pair of boots from a private soldier “contrary to regulations,” for which he was severely reprimanded; on 27 November he was found drunk and disorderly in Belfast for which he was reprimanded again. However, he had evidently calmed down somewhat. Possibly his marriage in 1908 to a 29-year-old widow, Maud Kate Nurse, at Lambeth Register Office had an influence. He was now responsible for a wife and young stepchild. In this period, Pilgrim acquired some qualifications. In 1908 he gained a 3rd class certificate of education, rising to 2nd class in 1910. He qualified as an assistant instructor in signalling in 1911.

Life was changing for Pilgrim. He started to gain promotions, making Serjeant in 1913, and on 9 July 1914, shortly after he had suffered a bout of bronchopneumonia that had put him in hospital in Londonderry, he signed up for extended service. His military character was now judged to be excellent, his superior officers describing him as “very hard working and efficient,” “reliable,” and “trustworthy.”

Soon he was off to France, but he served only three months there (between August and November 1914). Most of the war was served on the Home front. He was appointed acting Company Serjeant in June 1915 and promoted six weeks later. All the signs were that Pilgrim would have survived the war had he not been brought down by a very severe case of pneumonia while at West Hartlepool.

The doctor treating Pilgrim at the No. 8 Durham V.A.D. (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Hospital, where he was admitted on 14 May 1918, described him as “practically moribund” (meaning approaching death). They fed him carefully with fluids him every half hour, administered strychnine (this was used as a stimulant if the patient collapsed suddenly) and surrounded him with hot water bottles. But there was no antibiotic treatment and he succumbed five days later. He was 35 and had served over 10 years.

Pilgrim’s widow Maud Kate received a pension of 24 shillings and twopence for herself and her child. She received a message from the Army Council: “The Army Council having heard with regret of the death of your husband, No. 8761, C.Q.M.S. Thomas Albert Pilgrim, Cheshire Regiment, of which you have already been informed. I am instructed to send you herewith the enclosed message of Sympathy in your bereavement from the King and Queen.” Unfortunately, Pilgrim’s file does not include a copy of the letter itself.

Although Pilgrim does not appear on the 1911 census for Lambeth or Wandsworth, his mother, Susannah Silk, 56, and sister, Daisy May Pilgrim, 22, are found at 3 Stockwell Grove, where they had two rooms. In 1901, before he signed up with the Royal Sussex Regiment, the 17-year-old Pilgrim was living with his mother, stepfather Tom Silk (a 39-year-old scaffolder from Battersea) and three siblings at the same address.

Information from the censuses

Although Thomas Albert Pilgrim from Clapham does not appear on the 1911 census for Lambeth or Wandsworth, his mother, Susannah Silk, 56, and sister, Daisy May Pilgrim, 22, are found at 3 Stockwell Grove, where they had two rooms. In 1901, before he signed up with the Royal Sussex Regiment, the 17-year-old Pilgrim was living with his mother, stepfather Tom Silk (a 39-year-old scaffolder from Battersea) and siblings at 3 Stockwell Grove.
Henry Pilgrim, 21, a carman, born in Battersea
Bertie Pilgrim, 16, a shop assistant born in Battersea
Diasy M. Pilgrim, 12, born in Battersea

George Albert Pelling

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G. A. Pelling
Service no. C/3505
Rifleman (served as batman), King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 17th Battalion
Born in Wandsworth, enlisted in London
Died 1920, aged 26 (not listed in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database)

Medals

Silver war badge no. 169847 (War Office and Air Ministry: Service Medal and Award Rolls, First World War. Silver War Badge. RG WO 329, 2958–3255. The National Archives.)

Data from British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920 (The National Archives)

Joined 28 May 1915 in London. Occupation given as “wood machinist”. Address 60 Union Grove, Clapham.

Height 5 ft 7¾in. Chest 36½in (expansion 2½in). Middle finger of right hand missing.

Posted 26 January 1916; posted home 11 February 1917 – “Discharged. No longer physically fit for service”

Born in March 1894. Baptised 4 February 1898 at All Saints, Lambeth. Parents given as George Pelling, a cab driver, and Miriam Mary Ann, of 99 Thorparch Road.

1911 Census

In 1911 George Albert Pelling, aged 17, was working as a painter and living with his parents and two of sisters at Thorparch Road.

Family tree information on Ancestry.co.uk

Miriam Mary Ann née Hirst, died 1936.

George Pearcey

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G. Pearcey
Service no. 202274
Private, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), 1st Battalion
Enlisted at Handel Street
Died on 19 January 1919 (theatre of war is given as “home”), aged 34
CWGC: “Son of Mrs Ada Pearcey, of 104 Stockwell Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Lambeth Cemetery, Blackshaw Road, London SW17

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 George’s mother Ada, 54, a charwoman, lived in two rooms at 2 Tachbrook Street, Pimlico with two of her daughters: Roseline, 14, a dressmaker’s apprentice, and Dorothy Pearcey, 12. Both were born in Pimlico. Ada had six children, five of whom survived. George Pearcey does not appear to be on the census. In 1901 the family, including George’s father William Pearcey, lived at at 36 Aylesford Street, near Hanover Square. George, then 14, was working as an errand boy.