Stockwell War Memorial

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KIA

George Ormond

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G. Ormond
Service no. G/37729
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 11th Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 30 September 1918, aged 22
CWGC: “Son of Mrs H. Ormond, of 56, Larkhall Lane, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Unicorn Cemetery, Vend’huil, France, and at Waterloo Station, London

Information from Shani Wheatley

George Ormond was born in 1896. Before joining the Army, he was a van shifter working on the railway.

George’s father was William Ormond (born 1850 in Tolpuddle, Dorset. His mother was Harriet Norris (born 1858 at Fordington, Dorset). William and Harriet married in lambeth in 1877. William worked on the railway as a porter.

William’s grandfather was James Orman (born 1822 born the Hampreston or possibly the Horton area of Dorset) and his grandmother was Mary Wey (born 1830, Dorset). She is listed as Orman on the Births, Marriages and Deaths index but was buried as Mary Wey Ormond on 19 June 1851. As spelling was sometimes a hit-or-miss affair, these changes of spelling were not unusual.

Members of the Ormand family have traced their tree back to 1556, mainly from to parish records and visiting the area.

Ernest Frederick Oehring

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E. F. Oehring
Service no. 71553
Private, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), 142nd Coy.
Enlisted at Camberwell; lived in Brixton
Killed in action at age 21 on 11 January 1918
CWGC: “Son of Frederick Ambrose and Alice Hannah Oehring, of 85, Ferndale Rd., Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 14-year-old Ernest Frederick Oehring was working an engraver’s errand boy. He lived at 85 Ferndale Road, Clapham, where his family had 7 rooms.  His father, Frederick Oehring, 44, was a bookbinder’s finisher, born in Lambeth. Alice Oehring, Ernest’s mother, 38, was also from Lambeth. The couple had two children, Ernest, who was born in Walworth, and Winifred Oehring, 10, born in Lambeth.

In 1901 the Oehring family lived at 29 Knowle Road.

Frederick A. Oehring’s father was also called Frederick A. Oehring. Frederick senior was a tailor born in Leipzig, Saxony and was described in the 1891 census as a “naturalised British subject”. He was 63. His wife, Caroline Oehring, was 54 and born in Lambeth. The family lived at 4 Pownall Terrace, off Kennington Road.

Leonard William Oakes

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L. W. Oakes
Service no. 50044
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 26th Battalion
Assumed dead 2 April 1918, aged 19

Leonard William Oakes was baptised at All Saints, Devonshire Road, South Lambeth on 26 August 1898, the son of John Thomas Oakes and Mary (née Spearing).

The service medals and awards rolls show that Leonard William Oakes first joined the 10th Battalion, was moved to the 23rd and then the 26th. For unknown reasons, his name is not included in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Leonard William Oakes, 12, lived at 64 Paradise Road, Clapham with his widowed father, John Thomas Oakes, 56, a platelayer for the railway from Burton-on-Trent, and four of his five siblings. Lillie Anna Oakes, 28, born in Wilton, kept house. Alfred John Oakes, 22, was a welder in a wheel works. Allan Henry Oakes, 21, railway porter. Leonard Gosmay, a single 24-year-old carpet salesman from Kidderminster, boarded. The latter three were born in London.

In 1901 Oakes lived with his family at 10 Riverhall Street, South Lambeth. His mother, Mary Oakes, 47, was from Stowell, Somersetshire.  In 1891 the family lived at 170 Wandsworth Road with two lodgers: James Gillard, 23, a fitter’s assistant from Drayton, Somerset, and Ernest H. Stenning, 21, an engine cleaner born in Lambeth.

The household also included Maurice G. Spearing, a 14-year-old engine cleaner described as “stepson” (ie Mary’s son from a previous marriage) born in Hambridge, Somerset. The 1881 census reveals that at the age of four, Maurice was with his step-grandparents, carpet weaver Samuel and Ann Oaks, and their two sons, William and John, in Burcombe, Wiltshire.

Herbert Charles Nuthall

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Herbert Charles Nuthall in uniform
Herbert Charles Nuthall. By kind permission of Brian Denny

H. C. Nuthall
Service no. 7498
Private, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 1st Battalion
Born in Camberwell; enlisted in London; lived in Brixton
Killed in action on 25 April 1915, age 31
CWGC: “Son of Henry and Jane Nuthall, of Lambeth, London; husband of Gertrude Beatrice Nuthall, of 12, Lingham Street, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Seaforth Cemetery, Cheddar Villa, Belgium

Herbert Charles Nuthall.
Herbert Charles Nuthall. Photo © Marietta Crichton Stuart. The headstone has the following inscription: “From strife to the peace and love of God” Marietta Crichton Stuart writes: “The cemetery is a fairly rare instance of a battlefield cemetery, originally called Cheddar Village, the Commanding Officer of the 2nd Bn Seaforth Highlanders later asked if the name could be changed to Seaforth as 100 of the 127 burials belonged to that Battalion. Herbert’s headstone was very clear and so must have been recently cut.”

Brian Denny, Herbert Charles Nuttall’s great-grandson, says he may have been a witness to the Christmas truce of 1914 and the first gas attack in April 1915, as his regiment was in the vicinity of both. Brian has written this beautiful song in memory of Nuthall.
http://youtu.be/4slLT8aC3sA

 

Harry Albert Nixon

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H. A. Nixon
Service no. L/12127
Private, Middlesex Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Died 1 July 1916, aged around 27
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, France

Roll of Honour of the Great War 1914-1918

NIXON, H.A., Private, 2nd Middlesex Regiment.
He enlisted in 1906, and was drafted to the Western Front shortly after the commencement of hostilities. He fought in many important engagements, including those at Ypres, Loos, and Albert and did good work. He was unfortunately killed in action on the Somme on July 1st, 1916, and was entitled to the 1914 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.
“His memory is cherished with pride.”
31, Priory Grove, Lansdowne Road, S.W.8.

Army Service records

Nixon’s Army Service records are extensive, as you would expect with such a long service history (8 years and 128 days) and they throw up some interesting aspects of life in the military in the early 20th century:

  • Nixon’s travels across the globe in the service of Empire – to Aden, India, Malta, and when the Great War, with the British Expeditionary Force to France, where he died.
  • his health – inoculations against typhoid, treatment for repeated bouts of syphilis
  • his regular problems with discipline

Sadly, like so many other Service Records, Harry Nixon’s are in a very bad state and difficult to read. However, I have been able to establish that Nixon joined the Middlesex Regiment at Winchester, the city of his birth, on 24 February 1908, aged 19 and 5 months. He abandoned his previous life as a “van guard” (train guard) and became a career soldier.

Nixon’s general health was good. He stood taller than average at 5 feet 6½ inches (169cm) and weighed 134lbs (just over 9½ stone or 61kg). His chest measured  37½ inches (95cm), which he could expand by 3½ inches (9cm). With a fresh complexion, grey eyes and fair hair, the British Army was happy to sign him up. He was pronounced fit to serve.

However, Nixon proved to be something of a difficult character. He remained a private throughout his long army career and possibly his poor conduct record accounted for his lack of advancement.

The following list is what I have been able to interpret from the record. No doubt, if I understood the abbreviations I would be able to pull out more details.

  • In January 1910 he was pulled up for inattention on the range.
  • At Dum Dum (West Bengal) he was absent from parade.
  • Using improper language towards an NCO.
  • At Malta he was punished for “improper conduct – walking arm in arm with other soldiers” and “using obscene language”.
  • On 11 September 1913 in Aden he was punished for “using improper language towards a NCO” and promptly shipped out of the 1st Battalion to the 2nd.
  • On a date I cannot decipher, in Valletta, he was disciplined for “interfering with the military police”

Venereal disease was a common hazard for career soldiers. Nixon became infected with syphilis, according to his Syphilis Case Sheet on around 31 August 1911 at Darjeeling. He sought treatment less than two weeks later on 9 September 1911 and by 1912 the Army doctors at Dum Dum were treating him regularly. His appointments were weekly, although he is often marked as “absent”, presumably because he was on operations.

Nixon was treated with mercury and iodides – neither of them very effective. Better, more modern medications were available (the German Nobel prize-winning physician Paul Erlich developed Salvarsan 606 and Neosalvarsan 614 in 1906).

When the Great War started, Nixon was sent to France with the British Expeditionary Force. On 1 July 1916 he was listed as “missing’, but his next of kin were not notified until 15 August. He was eventually classed as killed in action. His effects were sent to his younger sister, Mrs Alice Maude Weaver, who lived at 42 Margate Road, Lyham Road, SW2, rather to his mother Alice/Rebecca. “I recive [sic] the photos quite safe,” she wrote in reply, “thanking you very much for sending them.”

When sent Harry’s medals in 1919, she wrote in her careful handwriting: “Recive [sic] with thanks. Thank you very much for sending me the 1914 Star, I am very proud of my Poor Brother.”

On Army form W. 5080, in which relatives give the names and addresses of living family of the deceased, Father is listed as “None” (presumably his father, Frederick C. Nixon, a general labourer, was by then deceased) and mother as “Alice Nixon” (there is some confusion over her name: she is listed on the 1901 and 1891 censuses as “Rebecca” and on the 1911 as “Alice”), 59. Two siblings were declared: Daisy Dorithey [sic] and Fredrick. All three were living at 31 Priory Grove, South Lambeth, SW8. In reality, there were or had been at least 11 siblings (of 18 born alive in 29 years of marriage), although some of them may not have survived. The form was signed by G. Robinson Lees, the vicar of St Saviour’s, Brixton Hill.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Harry’s family lived at 31 Priory Grove, SW8, where they occupied 4 rooms. The household consisted of his parents Frederick C. Nixon, 55, a general labourer born in Stepney, and Alice Nixon, 49, born in Dorset. The couple had 12 surviving children (of 18). These 6 are on the census:
Alice Maud Nixon, 18, born in South Lambeth (as were all the children listed on this census) and whose occupation is given as “oatmeal stores manufactures” for a brewery
Kate Nixon, 15
Rose Helen Nixon, 11
Tom Owen Nixon, 9
Daisy Dorothy Nixon, 8
Fredrick Joseph Nixon, 6 

Information from 1901 census

In 1901 Harry was living at 22 Conroy Street with his mother, Rebecca A. Nixon, 39, who worked as a bottler in the vinegar works*, and who was born in Pullin, Dorsetshire. The children registered on the census were
Fannnie Nixon, 13, born in Winchester, Hampshire, working as a greengrocer’s assistant
Charles Nixon, 14
Harry Nixon, 12
Alice Nixon, 8
Kate Nixon, 5
Rose Nixon, 1
There is no mention of Harry’s father Frederick. There were two lodgers: widower Harry Wimble, 45, a casement maker from Ileywhite, Hampshire, and Laura Wimble, 13, born in Paddington (presumably his daughter).
* Possibly the Beaufoy Vinegar Works (later taken over by Sarsons), now Regents Bridge Gardens

James Henry Newman

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J. H. Newman
Service no. 3409
Private, London Regiment, 1st/24th Battalion
Enlisted at Kennington, resided at South Lambeth
Killed in action on 17 September 1916, aged about 18
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

Information from the 1911 census

James H. Newman was a 13-year-old schoolchild in 1911. He lived with his parents and 6 of his 11 siblings in four rooms at 39 Horace Street, Stockwell. His father, James, 51, was a railway guard from Sturminster Newton, Dorset. His mother, Mary Jane, 51, was from Holt, near Wimbourne in Dorset. James’s sisters Maud and Violet, 19 and 15, were domestic servants.

Information from the 1901 census

James Henry Newman was 3 in 1901 and living at 39 Horace Street with his family. His parents were from Dorsetshire – father, also called James, was a 41-year-old railway breaksman from Sturminster Newton and his mother, Mary J. Newman and also 41, was from Wimbourne. The 5 children registered on the census were:
George W. Newman, 13, a milkman’s assistant
Annie Newman, 12
Maud M. Newman, 9
Bessie Newman, 6
Violet Newman, 5
James H. Newman, 3, named on the memorial

Information from the 1891 census

In 1891 the family were living at 35 Horace Street. James Newman senior is described as a railway porter. The census shows that there were two older children:
Elizabeth Newman, 7
Florence Newman, 5
George Newman, 3, and Annie Newman, 2, appear in the 1901 census
There was a lodger, James Cunningham, a 22-year-old cab driver born in Lambeth, and a visitor from Sturminster, 21-year-old Elizabeth A. Bleathman.

Information from the 1861 census

James Newman senior appears on the 1861 census as a one-year-old living in Sturminster. His father, George Newman, 25, was an agricultural labourer, married to 28-year-old Mary A. Newman, who like George was born in Sturminster. At that point they had two children, James and his two-year-old sister Ann. They lived at Church Street, Sturminster.