Stockwell War Memorial

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KIA

William Keys

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W. Keys
Service no. 2009
Lance Serjeant, Seaforth Highlanders, 4th Battalion
Enlisted in London
Killed in action age 34 on 9 May 1915
CWGC: “Son of William Keys, of 18, Mandalay Road, Clapham, London, and the late Nancy Kelly Keys.”
Remembered at Le Touret Memorial, France

Information from the 1911 censusIn 1911 William Keys was 29 and working as an assistant schoolmaster at a London County Council school. He lived at home with his parents and siblings at 5 Grantham Road, Stockwell, where the family occupied 7 rooms. His father, William Keys, 59, described himself as a miller at a grain drying works. He was born at Glenavy in County Antrim, in Ireland. His mother, Agnes Keys (who may also have been known as Nancy) was 55 and came from Ballynahinch in County Down. They had had 9 children, of whom 8 survived in 1911 and 7 lived at Grantham Road:
Sarah Keys, 31, a telephone supervisor for the National Telephone Company, born at Riverstown Killucan, County Westmeath
William Keys, 29, assistant schoolmaster, born at Riverstown Killucan, County Westmeath
Emily Ann Keys, 27, a clerk at the Post Office, born at Riverstown Killucan, County Westmeath
Agnes Dorothea Keys, 25, no occupation given, born in Leixlip, County Kildare
David Keys, 22, a clerk at a glass merchants, born in Lambeth
Francis Herbert Keys, 20, a student, born in Lambeth
Edith Mary Keys, 18, a “civil service student”, born in Lambeth

Sydney Frank Kemp

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S. F. Kemp
Second Lieutenant, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, Bucks Batallion
Killed in action age 34 on 16 April 1918

Awarded Military Cross

See Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry for an account of the attack in which Kemp died.
CWGC: “Eldest son of Frank John and Ellen Kemp, of 40 Lansdowne Gardens, London; husband of Eva Kemp (formerly Wisdom), of 10 Ross Street, Rochester.”
Remembered at St. Venant-Robecq Road Cemetery, Robecq, Pas de Calais, France

Brother of Hugh John Kemp.

At the time he enlisted on 26 August 1914, Sydney Frank Kemp worked as a prison warder. His paperwork includes the information that he had served in the 7th Hussars of the Line and had been discharged in 1905, having served his term.
It is therefore a little surprising to see the number of transgressions on Kemp’s conduct sheets. His crimes were all committed while he was serving in the ranks of the 11th Hussars of the Line; that is, before he was given a commission. Kemp’s crimes included absence from reveille, absence from billet, drunkenness, leaving the ranks without permission, neglecting to obey an order, making an improper remark to a warrant officer and ditto to a commanding officer. However, someone must have spotted his military talent, as in April 1917, after serving 3 years and 29 days, he was transferred to England, where he joined the 3rd Reserve Cavalry Regiment, moved to the Officer Cadet Battalion at Berkhamsted in June, and joining the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

This may have given Kemp the confidence and motivation he needed. Kemp and his fellow officers were described by Major G. K. Rose writing in The Story of the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (1920) as “an infusion of new blood and vigour,” and he and the officer who was killed with him in the attack of 17 April 1918 were “capital officers.”
Sydney Kemp, 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 8 stone, blue-eyed and fair-haired, married Eva Wisdom at St. Barnabas church on 3 February 1916.  He was the eldest of 11 children of Frank John and Ellen Kemp of 40 Lansdowne Gardens, Stockwell. Eva later moved to Rochester.

John Strachan Kelly

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J. S. Kelly
Service no. 45038
Private, Surrey Yeomanry (Queen Mary’s Regiment), “A” Sqdn.
Born in Aberdeen; enlisted in Clapham; lived in Brixton
Killed in action aged 31 on 22 October 1917
Son of Timothy and Agnes Kelly; husband of Laura M. Kelly, of 6 Benedict Road, Brixton, London.
Remembered at Struma Military Cemetery, Greece)

Information from the 1911 census

John Strachan Kelly, 25 in 1911, lived with his parents and siblings at 13 Dunbar Road, Forest Gate, West Ham. His father, Timothy Kelly, 50, was a customs and excise officer from County Roscommon, Ireland. His mother, Agnes Kelly, 49, was from Aberdeen, Scotland. Of their 10 children, 7 survived (5 of them are on the census return):
John Strachan Kelly, 25, an assistant clerk at the Board of Trade, born in Aberdeen
Mary Kelly, 23, an assistant teacher, born in Aberdeen
Agnes Kelly, 21, a student teacher, born in Aberdeen
Edith Kelly, 19, no occupation, born in North Shields, Northumberland
Charles Edward Kelly, 7, born in Edinburgh

Information from 1901 Scottish census on the BERR website (which lists employees of the Board of Trade who died in the First World War).

John S. Kelly, who at the time of his death worked for the Board of Trade Seamen’s Registry, lived with his family at 4 Admiralty Street, Leith, Midlothian. Nellie Kelly, 8, and Alice Kelly, 9 months, are on this census (and not on the 1911 census).

Frederick Ernest Joslin

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soldiers in world war one: albert, george and frederick joslin
The Joslin brothers: Albert, George and Frederick

F. Joslin
Service no. L/30147
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, “A” Bty. 38th Bde.
Enlisted at Camberwell; lived in Brixton
Killed in action age 24 on 11 May 1918
CWGC: “Son of Albert and Agnes Joslin (nee Sqirkell), of 3 Hargwyne Street, Brixton, London. Born at Brixton.”
Remembered at Cinq Rues British Cemetery, Hazebrouck, France

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Frederick Joslin, a 16-year-old shop assistant, was living with his family in 4 rooms at 51 Stockwell Green. Albert Joslin, 43 and from Rotherhithe, south-east London, was a general labourer in a granary (he was described as a granary foreman in the 1901 census); Agnes Joslin, 43, was from Needham, Suffolk. There were 5 children:
Albert Joslin, 20, a carter, born in Lambeth (pictured on the left)
George Joslin, 18, a shop assistant, born in Newington (middle)
Frederick Joslin, 16, a shop assistant, born in Lambeth (right)
May Joslin, 13, born in Lambeth
Florence Joslin, 11, born in Lambeth

In 1901 the Joslin family 19 Nealdon Street, Stockwell. 10 years previously, the family were living at 10 Burgoyne Road, Brixton and Albert Joslin was describing himself as a corn porter.

Albert Edward Jordan

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A. E. Jordan
Service no. 17330
Private, Grenadier Guards, 2nd Battalion
Killed in action age 21 on 19 October 1915
CWGC: “Son of George Thomas and Mary Jordan, of 19 Broomgrove Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Vermelles British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France

Brother of Frank Andrew Jordan

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Albert Edward Jordan lived in 3 rooms at 4 Nealdon Street, Stockwell with his widowed mother and 5 of his 8 siblings. Mary Jordan, 49, was from Islington. Her son Alf Jordan, 26, was a fishmonger; Frank Andrew Jordan, 19, a private in the 6th Rifle Brigade (Army Reserves); Albert, 17, a carman; Letty, 13; and Violet, 11.