Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

KIA

Arthur Edward Ball

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A. E. Ball
Service no. 10231
Serjeant, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, 1st Battalion
Killed in action on 23 July 1916, aged 23
Son of Charles and Sarah Ball, of 58 Tasman Road, Stockwell, London.
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Arthur Edward Ball, then 17, was working as a compositor’s apprentice and living at 58 Tasman Road, Stockwell with his father, Charles Ball, 47, a stone mason born in Isleworth, and his father’s second wife, Sarah Ball, 42, born in Chelsworth, Suffolk. Other members of the household were
William Ball, 21, a compositor, born in Kennington
Fredrick Ball, 16, a bag carrier for a gas company, born in Kennington
Frank Ball, 3, born in Stockwell

Frederick Alfred Ansell

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F. A. Ansell
Service no. S/16820
Rifleman, Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort’s Own), 1st Battalion
Born in Stockwell, lived in Balham
Killed in action on 21 August 1916, aged 24
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the Ansell family was living at 39 Willington Road, Stockwell. Frederick William Ansell, 51, was a printer’s compositor, born in Westminster; Clara Ansell, 48, was also born in Westminster. Of her 7 children born alive, 6 survived. All were born in Stockwell.
Frederick Alfred Ansell, 19, was an apprentice compositor
Amy Ansell, 18, was a dressmaker
Sidney Edwin Ansell, 16, umbrella maker
Florence Victoria Ansell, 14
Arthur Charles Ansell, 10
Harold Irvin Ansell, 2

Information from the 1901 census

In 1901 the Ansell family lived at 30 Arlesford Road.

James Albert Andrews

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J. A. Andrews
Service no 6703
Private, 1st (Royal) Dragoons
Formerly 6703, 2nd Dragoons (Scots Greys)
Killed in action on 12 November 1914, aged 22
Son of James and Rose Rebecca Andrews, of 60 Wilcox Road, South Lambeth, London.
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, Belgium and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

Claude Cecil Andrews

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C. C. Andrews
Service no G/11433
Private, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), 7th Battalion
Killed in action 21 October 1917, aged 23
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium and at St John’s Church, Clapham Road, London SW9

Information from the 1911 census

This is a somewhat tentative identification – the best fit of the data available. The 1911 census includes an entry for the Andrews family at 30 Haselrigge Road, Clapham. Charles Thomas Andrews, 63, was a schoolkeeper from Shaftesbury, Dorset. His wife Emma Andrews, 59, was from Rendlesham, Suffolk. They lived in 6 rooms with their 21-year-old daughter Gracie, who was a school cleaner, born in Chelsea. The couple had had 13 children, 6 of whom had died.

On the night of the census, their son, Claude Andrews, 17, a clerk for a builder’s merchant, was visiting, along with a daughter, Chelsea-born Maud Price, a widow at 23 and working as a schoolkeeper, and her two-year-old son George Price, who was born in Brixton.

Haselrigge School closed in 2001.

George Harry Allen

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George Harry Allen
George Harry Allen is shown with his mother Marcelina Rachel Allen and (probably) brother Sidney. Photo © Jennifer Blaber and Heather Drislane

G. H. Allen
Service no. G/52892
Private, Middlesex Regiment, 2nd Battalion
Born in Wandsworth, enlisted in Camberwell, lived in Lambeth
Killed in action on 25 March 1918, aged 20
“Son of George and Lena [Marcelina] Allen, of 2A, Wheatsheaf Lane, Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Pozières Memorial, Somme, France

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 the Allen family lived at 18 Riverhall Street, Lambeth. George Henry Allen (senior), 37, was a engineer working in cold stores. He was born at Marchington, Staffordshire. His wife, Marcelina, 35, was from Kirtling, Cambridge. Five sons are registered (one child had died):
George Henry Allen, then 12, born in Clapham
Sidney Alwen Allen, 10, born in Battersea
Edward Albert Allen, 7, born in Battersea
Earnest Cyril Allen, 4, born in Kennington
Frederick James Allen, 5 months, born in Kennington
The family lived in 2 rooms.

Walter Alexander

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W. Alexander
Royal Navy, Stoker 1st Class, HMS ‘Fandango’
Service no. 311118
Died on 3 July 1919, aged 28
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent

Chris Burge writes:

Walter Alexander was born on 5 December 1888 in Camberwellin southeast London. In the 1891 census he is recorded as one of four siblings living at Faraday Street, Walworth:  Maud, aged 8; Phoebe, 3; Walter, 2; and James, 5 months.  His parents William and Ellen were 63 and 52 respectively. Although it was not unknown for women to have children late in life, especially if they had many births, there is a question mark over the accuracy of the children’s recorded ages and their true relationship with the parents. 

The family home was a three-storey property housing two other families totalling 16 people, close to the Michael Faraday Board School, St Stephen’s Church, the Newington Workhouse and the ‘Mineral Water Works’ in nearby Albany Street. William Alexander worked as a ‘traveller in mineral waters’. Walter’s infant brother James died in 1892 and his father William died in 1898. The family group is not found in the 1901 census. 

On 31 January 1907 Walter, previously a grocer’s assistant, joined the Navy as a stoker, signing for 12 years’ service. He was described as 5ft 3in tall, with light brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.  Advancement was slow, not least as Walter found himself in the cells more than once and in 1912 was given 30 days’ detention for insubordination. A more serious incident occurred on the very day Britain declared war on 5 August 1914. Walter was accused of inciting insubordination and attempting to strike. The nature of any grievance was not recorded.  Walter was threatened with 90 days’ imprisonment and dismissal from the service, an order that was cancelled on 4 November. After this date, Walter’s conduct was good to very good and he served on HMS Virago in the China seas until July 1915 when he was shore-based for a few months.  

Walter was a witness at the wedding of his sister Maud to George Thomas Dalton in Tooting on 17 October 1915.  The couple lived in Leigh on Sea briefly before George Dalton volunteered under Lord Derby’s Group Scheme on 1 December 1915, and joined the Army. George was called up on 1 June 1916 and Maud moved to 244 South Lambeth Road, Stockwell.  

The battle of Jutland took place on 1 June 1916 when Walter Alexander was on board the destroyer HMS Menace, part of the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla which screened the Grand Fleet in the battle.  Walter was transferred to another destroyer, HMS Prince, in October 1916.  

In 1917,  Walter was given leave to marry Beatrice Alice Selina Dalton, a younger sister of his brother-in-law George.  The wedding took place on 3 June at St Andrew’s, Stockwell, and was witnessed by Walter’s mother Ellen and Beatrice’s father.The couple’s address was recorded as 40 Sidney Street, Stockwell.  Walter returned to HMS Prince but his service extended beyond the war’s end when he served on the armed minesweeper HMS Fandango from April 1919. Walter was killed on 3 July 1919 when his ship struck an enemy mine and was wrecked during operations in the Dvina River in north Russia. 

On 3 September 1919 Walter’s widow Beatrice gave birth to Winifred Elizabeth Alexander, who was baptised on 28 September. Walter was recorded as ‘killed in action’ in the Parish register. Beatrice was married for a second time in 1920 to Edmund Arthur Hartshorn and died in 1987 in Devon, aged 92. Walter’s married daughter Winifred passed way in London in 2002, aged 83. 

Walter Alexander, the son of Ellen and William Alexander, was born on 5 December 1888 in Camberwell, southeast London. He joined the Navy in 1907 and married Beatrice Alice Selina Dalton at St Andrew’s Church, Stockwell Green, ten years later. Their daughter Winifred Elizabeth was born on 3 September 1919 and baptised at the same church. 

Walter was killed when his ship, the HMS Fandango, struck a mine during operations in the Dvina River North Russia.

In 1920 Beatrice married Edmund Hartshorn, and lived at 40 Sidney Road, Stockwell.