Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

KIA

Leonard Hastings Teakle

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L. H. Teakle
Service no. 157
Lance Corporal, London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade), “D” Coy. 1st/5th Battalion
Born in Lambeth; enlisted in London; lived in Clapham
Killed in action on 2 May 1915, aged 25
CWGC: “Son of Elizabeth Mary Ann Teakle, of 10 Rhodesia Road, Clapham, London, and the late Hastings Charles Teakle.”
Remembered at Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium and St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9

Information from the censuses

Leonard Teakle, 21 in 1911, was a bank clerk. He lived with is widowed mother, Elizabeth Teakle, 47, from Hackney, and at 26 Finchley Road, Walworth. There were four siblings: Henry Teakle, 23, was an insurance clerk; Wilfrid Teakle, 19, was a bank clerk; John Teakle, 11, Ethel Teakle. Harry Collis, 48, a married printer’s warehouseman from Southwark, boarded with the family, who shared six rooms. Leonard’s deceased father Hastings C. Teakle was a wheelwright from Avening, Gloucestershire.

Oscar Albert Taylor

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Family group photographed in the garden of 41 Landor Road, Stockwell, where the family lived. Back row, left to right: Mabel, Oscar, Henry and Eric. Seated in front: Alf and Rose. Approximate date 1911. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Mackay)
Family group photographed in the garden of 41 Landor Road, Stockwell, where the family lived. Back row, left to right: Mabel, Oscar, Henry and Eric. Seated in front: Alf and Rose. Approximate date 1911. Photo courtesy of Sarah Mackay

O. A. Taylor
Service no 397794
Rifleman, London Regiment (Queen Victoria’s Rifles), 2nd/9th Battalion
Killed in action on 27 September 1917, aged about 28
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium

Information from the censuses

In 1911, Lambeth-born 22-year-old clerk Oscar Albert Taylor lived at 41 Landor Road, Stockwell with his parents, Albert WIliam Taylor, 52, a joiner from Hockering, Norfolk, and Rose Taylor, 47, from Hackney. There were four surviving children (of six): Mabel Maud Taylor, 26, a milliner; Eric William Taylor, 24, a joiner; Oscar; Henry Oswald Taylor, 18, a clerical assistant. Albert’s father William Taylor, 79, a widowed retired gamekeeper from Hockering, lived with the family as did Maud Mary Gladman, 29, a single shop assistant from Brighton. The household had six rooms, and the family had lived at that address since at least 1901.

Sarah Mackay has kindly shared her information about her great-uncle.

Oscar Albert Taylor, born 21 September 1889, was the third child of Rose and Albert (known as Alfred) Taylor. At the time of his birth, his sister Mabel Maud was four years old and his brother Eric William was two. A fourth child, Henry Oswald, was born in 1893. Oscar’s father signed his name ‘Alfred W. Taylor, Atheist and Socialist.’ He was a cabinetmaker who made musical instruments and grew dahlias in his spare time. Rose had been in domestic service before her marriage to Alf.
 
In the 1911 census, Oscar’s occupation is given as Clerk and Turf Accountant Worker. Henry was working as a clerk for London County Council, Eric was a joiner and building worker and Mabel was a milliner. Also living with the family was Alf’s father, William Taylor, a retired head gamekeeper. There was also a boarder, Maud Mary Gladman who was a shop assistant and drapery worker. Oscar joined up in 1914 and married his sweetheart, Ethel Andrews, while on leave in 1915, returning to duty with no time for a honeymoon. In 1911, Ethel was living at 129 Blackshaw Road, Tooting with her older sister, Emily (Em) and Emily’s husband, Ernest Hargreaves. Emily and Ernest had a daughter, Doris. Ethel worked as a shop assistant in a laundry. In the earlier 1901 census, although Ethel was not then living with her sister, the Hargreaves were living at 41 Landor Road with the Taylors which is presumably how the families got to know each other.
 
Postscript: Oscar’s sister Mabel died in the 1919 Spanish flu epidemic. Alf encouraged Oscar’s widow Ethel and Mabel’s widower Harry to marry, which they did in 1920. I remember as a child asking Granny (Ethel) what Oscar was like – her face lit up with a smile and she said ‘Oh, he was lovely’. By Sarah Mackay, daughter of Hilda Mackay nee Archer, born 1915 (Oscar’s niece and the daughter of Harry and Mabel), with grateful thanks to Rosalind Gold for her invaluable assistance

George Steven Strange

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G. S. Strange
Service no. 39606
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion
Born in Stockwell; enlisted in Lambeth
Killed in action on 11 May 1917
Remembered at Wancourt British Cemetery, France

George Steven (sometimes Stephen) Strange was born in 1893 in Stockwell and enlisted at Lambeth. In 1911 he lived at 33 Cobbett Street, off Dorset Road, with his stepfather William Barrett, 45, and mother Sarah Barrett, 47, from Stepney, east London, and 13-year-old sister Alice. George, then 17, worked as a kitchen porter in a hotel. George’s father had been a brewer’s labourer.

Herbert Malcolm Stockton

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H. M. Stockton
Service no. 49206
Gunner, Royal Field Artillery, “B” Bty.
Killed in action on 11 April 1917, aged about 21
Remembered at Feuchy Chapel British Cemetery, Wancourt, Pas de Calais, France

Brother of Harold P. Stockton

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918

STOCKTON, H[arold]., Gunner, R.F.A.
He volunteered in February 1915, and in the same year was drafted to France, where he did excellent work as a gunner in the Armentières sector. He was severely wounded in action during an engagement, and subsequently succumbed to his injuries in 1915, and was burried at Bailleul. He was entitled to the 1914-1915 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.
“He joined the great white company of valiant souls.”
20, Rumsey Road, Stockwell, S.W.9.

STOCKTON, H[erbert]. M. S., Gunner, R.F.A.
He volunteered in February 1915, and in the same year was drafted to France. During his service overseas he did good work as a gunner in many engagements, including that at Armentières. He gave his life for King and Country early in 1916, and was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.
“The path of duty was the way to glory.”
20, Rumsey Road, Stockwell, S.W.9.
British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920
Three Stockton brothers, Alfred, Herbert and Harold, signed up for the war effort, but only Alfred survived. His records are in the archive (those for Herbert and Harold were destroyed).

Alfred Leonard Stockton, a gas fitter, was 22 when he enlisted on 3 September 1914. He was just over 6 feet, weighed over 11 stone, with a fair complexion, grey eyes and light brown hair. He wore a moustache. We know this fact because, after returning to London after the death of his mother in 1916, he failed to return to his battalion on time. The police were contacted and issued a description.

Information from the censuses

In 1911 the Stockton brothers were living in four rooms at 39 Electric Avenue, Brixton (they moved to Rumsey Road later). Harold P. Stockton, 24, was a butcher shop assistant, born in Finchley, north London. Alfred Leonard Stockton, 18, was a gas engineer, born in Stockwell. Herbert Malcolm Stockton, 16, was an apprentice brass finisher, born in Brixton. Their parents, Arthur Stockton, 57, a stationer from St. Luke’s, and Clara F. Stockton, 54, from Thornby, Northamptonshire, had six children, the others being Gladys R. D. Stockton, 21, a typist born in Stockwell, Frank J. E. Stockton, 10. An older son had left home. In 1901 the family lived at 68, Solon Road.

Horace Stillwell

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H. Stillwell
Service no. G/6781
Private, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 2nd Battalion
Born in 1890 in Bethnal Green
Killed in action on 28 September 1915, aged about 25
Remembered at Loos Memorial, France

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

The file for Horace Stillwell is very damaged, with ripped pages and what looks like water damage. A few details emerge. He joined at Lambeth on 5 September 1914, weighing a little over 8½ stone. He was 5 feet 5 inches tall. Unmarried.

Information from Stillwell family member Glynis Park

“Horace was the youngest of eight children. His father’s first wife, Eliza Charlotte, died of TB in 1873 aged just 36. In 1911the family were living at 93 Old South Lambeth Road. Thomas aged 76 was a beer retailer, wife Emma was 63. Edwin Ernest, aged 23, and Horace, 21, were both assistant retailers in the business.”
Information from the censuses
Horace Stillwell, 21 in 1911, was an assistant retailer of beer, as was his older brother Edwin Ernest Stillwell, 23. They lived in 4 rooms with their parents, Thomas Stillwell, 76, a beer retailer born in Bethnal Green, east London, and Emma Stillwell, 63, from Birmingham. There were three other children.

John William Stevenson

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J. W. Stevenson
Service no. R/15974
Lance Corporal, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 12th Battalion
Born in Chelsea, west London; enlisted in London; lived in Vauxhall
Killed in action on 18 September 1916, aged about 23
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

A tentative identification.

Information from the 1911 census

John Stevenson, 18, was an assistant in a butcher shop. He was one of seven children of John Ernest Stevenson, 41, a butcher shop assistant himself, from Pimlico, and Annie Stevenson, 36, from Westminster (one child had died). All the children lived at home, including:
Henry Stevenson, 16, another butcher shop assistant
William Stevenson, 14, an errand boy and shop assistant
Annie Stevenson, 11
Ernest Stevenson, 9
Lily Stevenson, 6
Walter Stevenson, 2
All but John (Pimlico) and Walter (South Lambeth) were born in Chelsea. The family lived at 27 Thorne Street, Wandsworth Road (I am not sure of the exact location of Thorne Street and am wondering if Thorne Road is meant) Stockwell, where they had 7 rooms.