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Joseph Charles Murray

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Joseph Charles Murray
Joseph Charles Murray

J. C. Murray

Royal West Kent Regiment
Died 7 May 1920, aged about 34
Remembered at Stockwell War Memorial
Steve Wright has sent some information about his great-uncle Joseph Charles Murray.
Joseph Charles Murray, a porter in civilian life, was born in St Giles parish, London, in about 1886. His father was Charles Murray. He had seven sisters: Anges, Lizzy, Gracie, Maude, Ivy, Bess and Lucy.
He was married first to Emily Abigail Harris, with whom he had a daughter, Winifred. After Emily died, he married Florence Rogers, with whom he had a son, Joseph Edwin.
Joseph joined the Royal West Kent Regiment Army in 1903. The medical officer noted down his height – 5 feet 4.5 inches – and weight – 112 pounds (8 stone). His chest measured 31 inches, and 33.5 when expanded. He had a fresh complexion with brown hair and grey eyes. There was a tattoo on his right forearm, and scars on both knees, the left thigh, back of the neck and head and right eyebrow. However, by 1907 he was having trouble with his ears. He was diagnosed with double ottorhea, from which he recovered. He served in Malta, and after a spell in the Army reserve after 1906, he was mobilised on 5 August 1914, almost immediately the war started.
By 30 June 1915 he was discharged as no longer physically fit for war service. He was suffering from chronic inflammation of the middle ear, which led to loss of balance and headache. He was 29. The documentation states that his character was “very good” and that he had been awarded two badges. However, the medical board decided that this was not the result of active service, climate or ordinary military service, and although it was permanent he was not entitled to incapacity payments. Later, the Army adjusted the assessment and decided that it was a quarter due to his service.
By 1917 Murray was described in Army medical reports as “very deaf.” Murray, then living in Kibworth Street, Kennington, died on 7 May 1920 from otitis media and cerebrospinal meningitis (pneumococcal).
Postscript: Joseph’s grandson Edwin (Joseph Edwin’s son) was killed in 1961 in the Lanfranc air disaster. 34 boys and two teachers from Lanfranc Secondary Modern School in Croydon, as well as three crew, were lost when their plane crashed in Norway.

Harry George Mead

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H. G. Mead
Service no. 37888
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 37th Battalion, transferred to 63909, Labour Corps
Died on 4 November 1920 at about age 42
CWGC: “Husband of Ada Mead, of 40, Wilcox Rd., South Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Lambeth Cemetery, Tooting, London SW17

British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920

In 1919, when the pension board assessed Harry George Mead, they found him 100 per cent disabled. His symptoms included shortness of breath, expectoration, anaemia and haemoptysis (coughing up blood). His general condition was poor. Mead had contracted pulmonary tuberculosis, and this was attributed to his war service. He had been posted for duty in July 1916 and had served 2 years and 217 days in France.

It was clear that Mead would be unable to return to work (he had been a painter). There was a note in the file to investigate the status of their adopted son, Robert, then 12. The pension board awarded him 27s 6d a week for six months, and 40s for 64 weeks thereafter, with 10s for his wife, Ada.

Information from the 1911 census

Harry George Mead, 33, and born in Lambeth, was a house painter. In 1911 he was married and living with his wife, Ada Mead, 34, who was from Brislington, Bristol, in 2 rooms at 12 Paradise Road, Stockwell. They had been married for 5 years and had no children.

Alfred Hine

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A. Hine
Driver, Royal Field Artillery, “A” Bty. 280th Bde.
Service no. 925397
Died of wounds on 7 September 1917
“Son of Thomas George and Frances Hine, of 24, Union St., Clapham, London.”
Brother of William Frederick Hine
Remembered at Nunhead (All Saints) Cemetery, south-east London

Information from the 1911 census

Alfred and William F. Hine were sons of licensed victuallers Thomas Hine, 51, born in St. Pancras, north London and Frances Hine, 46, born in Bethnal Green, east London. There were six children:
Florence Hine, 21, assisting in the business, born in St. Pancras
Thomas Hine, 19, an upholsterer, born in St. Pancras
William F. Hine, 17, a shop assistant, born in Bethnal Green
Alfred Hine, 15, an engineer’s assistant, born in Bethnal Green
Ellen Hine, 13, born in Stockwell
A daughter, Elizabeth Hine, 22, lived elsewhere.
In 1911 the family was living in nine rooms at 36 Grove Road, Upper Holloway. In 1901, however, they were living at 15 Wilcox Road, South Lambeth.

Herbert Thomas Head

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H.T. Head.
Private, 3rd Reserve Cavalry Regiment
Service no. 7211
Died on 26 December 1916, aged 37, after discharge

Chris Burge writes:

Herbert Thomas Head was born in 1879 to parents William and Sarah. He was baptised Herbert Thomas William Head, at St Stephen’s, Villa Street, Walworth Common, Southwark, on 21 August 1879. His father William was a hackney carriage driver.

On 7 October 1897, at the age of 19, Herbert joined the 3rd Dragoon Guards. He was described as 5ft 6in tall, 115lbs with a fresh complexion, grey eyes and dark brown hair. He served in the South African War before being discharged on 1 September 1902 as medically unfit. After returning to ‘civvie street’, Herbert found work as a coachman  and married widow Caroline Applegate (née Pettit) on 30 July 1905 at St Jude’s in Brixton. The couple lived at 269 Shakespeare Road, opposite the extensive Herne Hill railway sidings. Caroline was originally from Norfolk. 

Herbert and Caroline’s first child William Herbert George was born on 24 April 1906 and baptised at St Jude’s on 17 June. Herbert was now described as a carman and the couple had moved close to 69 Saltoun Road, a turning off Atlantic Road in the centre of Brixton. 

The 1911 census shows that Herbert, Caroline and William had moved to the ground floor of 91 Hargywne Street, Stockwell, where they rented three unfurnished rooms on the ground floor of 91 Hargywne Street from Sarah Neighbour, a widowed domestic cook, who lived at the same address. Herbert was now earning a living as an ‘acetylene generator’. 

At the outbreak of war, Herbert left the family home to volunteer, enlisting in Lambeth on 31 August 1914. Three days later Herbert Head was in Canterbury, as a private in the 3rd Reserve Cavalry. He was now 37 years old. Outwardly his physical appearance was little changed but he was no longer fit and was discharged on 6 June 1915. The Dragoon records show he was issued with a silver war badge by October 1916. 

Herbert and Caroline’s second child, Lilian Winifred Head, was born on 16 September 1916 and baptised on 1 November at St Andrew’s, Stockwell Green. The family were still living at Hargywne Street. Herbert’s health deteriorated and he died on Boxing Day 1916, leaving his widow and children with no means of support. 

At the end of the war Caroline received a £3 war gratuity, but the war pension ledgers imply that Herbert’s married sister Elsie May Gazzard had become the guardian of William and Lilian. Caroline married Walter Hill in 1921 and they lived in Santley Street in Clapham until 1925. 

Caroline died in Wandsworth in 1964, aged 87. William was living in Cato Road, Clapham when he passed away on 6 September 1979, aged 73.

Harry Frank Handel

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H. F. Handel
Service no. 16005
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, 20th Reserve Bty.
Died age 34 on 9 March 1915
Handel died at home on 9 March 1915 from pneumonia, mitral disease (disease of the heart valves) and heart failure.
CWGC: “Husband of A. H. Handel, of 2 Arlington Mansions, 18A Morat Street, Brixton, London. Served in the South African Campaign.”
Remembered at Lambeth Cemetery, London and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

See also George Frederick Billingsley and Sydney Walter Billingsley (stepsons).
There is also a thread about Harry Frank Handel on The Great War Forum.

Information from the 1911 census

Harry Frank Handel, 29, had been married to Ada Harriet Billingsley, 42, for 1 year when he completed the 1911 census. The family was then living in 3 rooms at 101 Cornwallis Road, Upper Holloway, north London. The couple had one son, Robert Harry Handel, 11 months, born in Highgate, north London (their daughter, Ida Helen Handel, was born in in 1915). The household included Harry’s stepsons: Sydney and George Billingsley, both remembered on the Stockwell War Memorial, and a stepdaughter, Winifred Kate Billingsley, 9. Harry Handel was an army pensioner, now working as a cook.

Information from the 1891 census

In 1891 Harry Handel was 9, living with his 6 siblings and parents in Camberwell (111 Crofton Road). His father, Harry Robert Handel, 36, was a pipe importer, born in Lambeth. His mother, Elizabeth Ann Handel, also 36, was born in Heytesbury, Wiltshire. The children on the 1891 census were
Elizabeth Kate Handel, 12, born in Lambeth
Nellie Eliza Handel, 10, born in Newington
Harry Frank Handel, 9, born in Newington
Amy Louise Handel, 7, born in Newington
Arthur E. L. Handel, 6, born in Newington
Ida Gertrude Handel, 1, born in Camberwell
Robert William Handel, 1 month, born in Camberwell
Annie Harriet Lawrence, 13 and born in Heytesbury, Wiltshire lived in as a general servant.