Stockwell War Memorial

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KIA

George Hand Porter

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Service no. 290873
Serjeant, Royal Garrison Artillery, 126th Heavy Bty.
Born in Brixton; enlisted in Camberwell; lived in Brixton
Killed in action on 12 September 1918, aged about 26
Remembered at Queant Communal Cemetery British Extension, France
British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920
In civilian life George Hand Porter was a copperplate engraver. His job was to incise a design on the surface of a copper plate.
The job is highly skilled and the process demanded sureness of touch combined with a light, delicate artistry. That work could not be more different to Porter’s role in the 126th (Camberwell) Heavy Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery.

Porter’s three-year Army career was a series of appointments and promotions. Before he had even left England, on 29 May 1915 he was appointed acting Bombardier and within two weeks he was promoted to Bombardier; in less than a month he was made a Corporal. On 29 April 1916 he proceeded to France. There, on 15 August 1916, he reverted to Gunner at his own request, but by November he was again acting Bombardier. Less than two months later he was a paid Bombardier. By September 1917 he had reverted to acting Bombardier, immediately becoming a paid Corporal, but by March 1918 he was an acting Serjeant, and then confirmed in this rank. In April 1918 he was wounded, but managed to remain on duty. Five months later he was killed in action.

What was the reason for so many promotions? Was Porter stepping into the breach left by the death of his fellow soldiers? The records do not say. Heavy batteries, however, attracted a lot of attention from the enemy. The attrition rate was high.

Porter’s Army service started when he was 24. On 12 May 1915 he signed up at Camberwell. The form shows that he opted to allot sixpence a day from his pay for his family – just as well because his wife, Daisy Porter (nee Kennett), was pregnant with their first and only child. It is likely that Porter was able to see his baby, Iris Georgina Porter, who was born in November 1915, as he did not leave England until April the following year.

Porter, blue-eyed with brown hair and a fresh complexion, was 5 feet 8¼ inches tall – a good height for the time – and weighed 138 pounds (getting on for 10 stone). His chest was 35 inches, which he could increase by 2 inches. His physical development was judged “fair”.

George and Daisy Porter lived at 66 Kellett Road, Daisy and Iris later moved to 61 Hinton Road, Herne Hill. From that address she sent a pained note to the Army:
“Dear Sir,” she wrote on 2 January 1919, “Could you inform me the reason why my late husband George Hand Porter No. 290873. 126 Heavy Battery R.G.A.’s effects have not been sent to me as it is nearly four months since he was killed.”

These effects, when they reached her (“Effects sent” is written across the letter) included: two wallets, photos, calendar, metal mirror, watch, pen, guard and chain, collapsible cup, pocket knife, scissors, gold ring, rosary, cap badge, belt, match box cover, whistle, safety razor and case, cap badge, belt, tobacco pouch, cigarette case, celluloid whistle, letters, spectacles in case, magnifying class and three lenses, five compasses, watch protector, razor strap, newspaper cuttings, fob watch, chevrons, brass crown. These objects together speak of a careful, sensitive man used to close work, ideal for work in copperplate engraving.

Information from the 1911 census
Before he married in 1914, George Hand Porter lived with his family at 111 Loughborough Road, Brixton. His widowed mother Martha Porter, 55, was from Walworth. There were four children: George, then 19 and working as a copperplate engraver; John Porter, 24, a machine minder (L.P); Fred Porter, 23, a corrector of the press; Henrietta Porter, 16, a dressmaker. All were born in Lambeth. The 1901 census shows that George’s father, “J. Porter,” was a printer.

Percy William Arthur Philcox

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P. W. A. Philcox
Service no. 3252
Rifleman, London Regiment (The Rangers), “C” Coy. 1st/12th Battalion
Killed in action on 8 May 1915, aged 24
CWGC: “Son of Alice E. Philcox, of 15 Palace Rd., Streatham Hill, London, and the late Alfred James Philcox.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium, on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA, and on a family memorial at West Norwood Cemetery

In 1911 19-year-old Percy William Arthur Philcox was living with his family at 255 South Lambeth Road and working as a clerk in his father’s timber business.

Brother of Cecil Ernest Philcox

Arthur Edward Perry

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A. E. Perry
Service no. 8367
Private, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, 7th Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 14 July 1916, aged 28
CWGC: “Son of William James and Selina Perry, of 45 Edithna Street, Landor Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Arthur Edward Perry’s parents and brother were living in four rooms at 45 Edithna Street, Stockwell. (I could not find Arthur Edward Perry on this census; the 1901 census shows him working, aged 14, as an errand boy.) William James Perry, 57, was a coach painter born in Lambeth; Selina Perry, 62, was from Bothamsall, Nottinghamshire. They had had six children; three survived: Arthur Edward; William John Perry, 36, a poulterer born in Lambeth; one other (name unknown).

William George Percy

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W. G. Percy
Service no. 3950
Lance Corporal, London Regiment (London Irish Rifles), 18th Battalion
Killed in action on 22 May 1916, aged 34
CWGC: “Son of William Percy, of 11 Grantham Road, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 William George Percy, 29, worked as an optician’s assistant. Born in Kennington, he lived with his wife, Nellie Ethel, 24 and from Leeds, in five rooms at 52 Hearnville Road, Balham. His parents, meanwhile, lived at 11 Grantham Road, Stockwell; William Percy, 52, was an optician, and while Etheldreda Percy, 49, from Portland, Dorset, does not give an occupation in the 1911 census, she was described as a teacher-assistant mistress in the 1901 census.  Percy’s sister, called Etheldreda like her mother and grandmother, was 17 and at school. Lucy Howard, a 29-year-old single live-in servant from Holbeach, Lincolnshire, is also on the 1911 census.

Benjamin Charles Peploe

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B. C. Peploe
Service no. 453135
Rifleman, London Regiment (Finsbury Rifles), 1st/11th Battalion, formerly 6329, 9th London Regiment
Born in Stockwell; enlisted in London; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 2 November 1917, aged 25
CWGC: “Husband of Josephine Elsie Peploe, of 30 Lingham Street, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Gaza War Memorial, Israel and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

At the end of March 1917, Gaza was attacked and surrounded by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the First Battle of Gaza, but the attack was broken off when Turkish reinforcements appeared. The Second Battle of Gaza, 17-19 April, left the Turks in possession and the Third Battle of Gaza, begun on 27 October, ended with the capture of the ruined and deserted city on 7 November.

Information from censuses

Stockwell-born Benjamin Charles Peploe, 19 in 1911, lived at 70 Lingham Street, Stockwell, where his family had four rooms. His widowed mother, Mildred Elizabeth Peploe, 54, was a greengrocer from Euston, north London. He had four siblings, two of whom lived at home: Violet Daisy Peploe, 16, who is described as “assisting in the business”; Milly Rebecca Savill, 30, a restaurant manageress born in Clapham. The household included Milly’s husband, George Alfred Savill, 31, a meat carver born in Stockwell.

The family at lived at 70 Lingham Street for at least 20 years (they are there on the 1901 and 1891 censuses).  In 1881 the family were at 14 The Polygon, Clapham. The census gives Benjamin’s father Charles Peploe’s occupation as fishmonger and states that he was born in Bermondsey.

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.