Stockwell War Memorial

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KIA

Alfred William Newcombe

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Alfred William Newcombe
Alfred William Newcombe. Photo © Richard Jones

A. W. Newcombe
Service no. 33465
Private, Bedfordshire Regiment, 8th Battalion
Born at Marylebone; enlisted at Bedford; lived at Watford, Hertfordshire
Killed in action on 27 June 1917, aged 23
Son of William Newcombe, of 96 Southville, Clapham Common, London.
Remembered at Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, France

Information from the 1911 census
Alfred Newcombe, 17, worked as a grocer’s assistant and lived at 89 Priory Grove, where his family occupied four rooms. William Newcombe, his 42-year-old father, was a labourer from Wembworthy, North Devon; his mother, Betsy Eady, 43, was from Peterborough. Alfred’s sister, Maud Newcombe, 16, born in Clapham, worked in a factory.

Information from the William Alfred Newcombe’s family
Newcombe was born on 14 September 1893 at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, Marylebone Road to Betsy Eady, a night light maker of 98 South Ville, off Wandsworth Road. Newcombe was born William Alfred Eady. His mother married William Newcombe on Christmas Day 1893 and he appears to have taken that name.
Newcombe was always known as ‘Alf’.

Walter Henry Nethercott

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W. H. Nethercott
Service no. Z/2766
Company Quartermaster Serjeant, Rifle Brigade, 3th Battalion
Born in Battersea; enlisted in London; lived in Lambeth
Killed in action on 10 October 1917, aged around 26
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium

Walter Henry Nethercott, 23, a clerk, enlisted on 12 September 1914. The medical officer described him as having a healthy complexion with brown eyes and auburn hair. He had a mole on the tip of his left shoulder. He stood 5 feet 7half inches, weighed just over 9half stone and his chest measured 33 inches.

The Army recognised Nethercott’s talents early. He rose through the ranks and was promoted to Serjeant in the field in July 1916 and made Company Quartermast Serjeant three months later.

In March 1915 Netherott married Majorie Ballance, of 15 Walberswick Street, South Lambeth. She gave birth to a daughter, Margarette Phyllis, a year later.  Nethercott’s parents were deceased and he had no siblings.

In February 1918, four months after Nethercott was killed, the Army sent his effects to Marjorie: a fountain pen, a disc and chain, diary, Kitchener’s message, a copy of A Rifleman Should Know, a lock of hair. However, a Mr. John Mayo, received his medals, sent to him at 93 Larkhall Rise. The file does not tell us why, and when Marjorie, still living at Walberswick Street, wrote to request to send them to her, the Army replied that they had already been sent to Mr. Mayo.

Marjorie was given a weekly pension of 22s 6d for herself and Margarette.

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901 Walter Nethercott, who was 10 (born in 1891), was living with his widowed grandmother Mary A. Nethercott, 60, at 31 Wheatsheaf Lane. Mary was born in Godstone, Surrey, Walter in Battersea. There are no other members of the household listed.

Frank Naish

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F. Naish
Service no. 37514
Private, Wiltshire Regiment, 1st Battalion, formerly 7371, Royal Berkshire Yeomanry
Born in Lambeth; lived in Clapham
Killed in action 18 September 1918, aged about 24
Remembered at Targelle Ravine British Cemetery, Villers-Guislain, France

Information from the 1911 census

A tentative identification. This Frank Naish is the only one listed for Lambeth. In 1911 17-year-old Frank Naish lived at 3 Belgrave Terrace, Brixton. He was one of five children of Francis Naish, 46, who worked in a carriers department and was born in Castle Cary, Somerset, and Clara Naish, 45, from Jersey. The children were John Naish, 21, a leather cutter; Frank Naish; Dorothy Naish, 18, a milliner; Robert Naish, 15, a messenger; Evelyn Naish, 11. All were born in Brixton. There were two lodgers: Emily Payne, 44, a single cook, and Beatrice Payne, 43, a single nurse, both from Rotherhithe, south-east London.

Henry Louis Frederick Bonnetaut Nadaud

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H. L. F. B. Nadaud
Major, London Regiment, 24th (County of London) Battalion (The Queen’s)
Killed in action at age 39 on 21 March 1918
Son of the late Mr L. B. Nadaud and of Mrs L. B. Nadaud, of 100 Lansdowne Road, London, SW8.
Remembered at Fins New British Cemetery, Sorel-Le-Grand, France; at Westminster Cathedral; at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Clapham

Henry Nadaud is remembered on the memorial at the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral, London

Information from 47 Division, 142 Infantry Brigade war diaries: 24th Battalion London Regiment (The Queens), 1915 Mar. – 1919 May (available from National Archives)
Thursday 21st [March, 1918]
Heavy enemy bombardment and many gas shells – opens about 3a.m.  6a.m. Battalion to [?].  7a.m. move up through barrage to 2nd Defence System (about Q. 17. a and c.) “A” and “B” font line – “C” and “D” support. In position about noon.
Casualties in METZ and moving up :- Lt. Col. G. E. Millner, D.S.O., M.C., Wounded – Major Nadaud, Killed – Lieut H. S. Mitchell, Killed. – 2/Lieut G. B. Poland, Killed. R.S.M., H.W. Norris D.C.M., Killed. Major T.O. Bury assumes command.
Remainder of day we work on trenches. Raids reported on our Divisional Front but attacks on flanks to north and south.

nadaud-2
nadaud2

Friday 22nd [March, 1918]
Fairly quiet day. Consolidating our positions. 2/Lieut H. Whitehead to Depot for course.
2/Lieut D/O’Kell to Depot as T.O. 2/Lieut A. C. Bean from Depot reports for duty.
Transport at EQUANCOURT. Bodies of Major. H.L.F.B. Nadaud and 2/Lieut G. B. Poland buried in civilian cemetery.
Midnight. – Front lines retire through us.

Information from the 1911 census
In 1911 Henry Nadaud, then aged 32, lived at 100 Lansdowne Road with his parents, Louis Nadaud, 59, a retired civil servant, born in Soho, and Marie Nadaud, 53, whose birthplace is described as “France Resident”, his brother Charles Nadaud, 28, an electrical engineer, and aunt, Theresa Nadaud, 57, born in Soho. Henry is described as a bank clerk for the London Joint Stock company and he and his brother were born in “London, Surrey”, which may mean Lambeth. Maud Gough, a 22-year-old single domestic servant from Portsmouth, lived in.
Information from the 1901 census
Henry (listed as Henri) Louis Nadaud is listed on the census at Dover as a 22-year-old single passenger on the  Empress Mail Steamer, a banker’s clerk born in London.

William Lawrence Murray

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W. L. Murray
Service no. 2251
Rifleman, London Regiment (City of London Rifles), 6th Battalion
Killed in action on 25 September 1915 at age 21
CWGC: “Son of Alec and Elizabeth Alice Murray, of 37, Kay Rd., Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Maroc British Cemetery, Grenay, France

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 William Lawrence Murray was a junior clerk working for the Amalgamated Press and living in a three-roomed apartment at 15 Rhodesia Road, Stockwell. The census return included William and his mother, Elizabeth Alice Murray, 44, born in St Giles in the Fields, London. Alec Murray is not on the return.

George Thomas Mullett

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G. T. Mullett
Service no. 8760
Serjeant, Dorsetshire Regiment, 1st Battalion
Born at Pimlico; enlisted at Dorchester, Dorset; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 21 May 1918, aged about 28
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Brother of Arthur Joseph Mullett

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

George Thomas Mullett signed up with the Dorsetshire Regiment in Dorchester on 15 November 1909, ending his civilian role of barman. Perhaps he didn’t completely leave his old life behind. In 1911 he was severely reprimanded for allowing a man to smoke cigarettes on parade.

Evidently, Mullett learned from his mistake – there are no other misdemeanours on his conduct record. Rather, the files detail his steady rise through the ranks. He was promoted to Corporal in October 1913 and to Serjeant in September the following year.

Mullett married Lucy Emma Cane at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell on 16 April 1916. Emma had a six-year-old son – Lewis George Cane, whom Mullett lists as “illegitimate.”

On 1 July 1916, his brother Frederick James was killed. George Thomas survived until five months before the Armistice. A note in the file says that he was wounded on 31 May 1918. Two weeks later this was amended to “wounded and missing” and then again in late August to “to be regarded for official purposes as having died.”

Mullett was 5 feet 7⅞ inches, weighed a little under 10 stone and had a 36-inch chest. He had hazel eyes and brown hair. There was a a scar on his right cheek.