Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

naval

Stanley Franklin Whiting

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S. F. Whiting
Service no. F/13871
Aircraftman 1st Class, Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. President II
Died of illness on 27 January 1918, aged 20
CWGC: “Son of Benjamin F. and Augusta Whiting, of 85 Lark Hall Lane, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Wandsworth (Streatham) Cemetery, Garratt Lane, London SW17

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Clapham-born Stanley Franklin Whiting was 13 and living in a six-roomed house at 85 Lark Hall Lane, Clapham, where his family had lived since at least 1901. His father, Benjamin Franklin Whiting, 40, was a corn and coal merchant, born in Battersea; his mother, Augusta Whiting (née Burkitt), was from Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. Stanley had a brother, Eric Whiting, 8, born in Clapham. An older brother had died some time after the 1901 census. Clara Banham, a 26-year-old domestic servant from Kentish Town, lived in.

Robert William Trussler

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R.W. Trussler
Aviation Boatswain’s Mate, Royal Navy, HMS Russell
Died on 27 April 1916
Remembered at Portsmouth Naval Memorial

National Roll of the Great War 1914-1918
TRUSSLER, R. W., A.B., Royal Navy.
Serving at the outbreak of hostilities, having joined in 1913, he was with the H.M.S. “Russell” in the Mediterranean station in August 1914. He was engaged on important duties with his ship until he lost his life, when she was sunk on April 27th, 1916. He was entitled to the 1914-1915 Star, and the General Service and Victory Medals.
“Whilst we remember, the Sacrifice is not in vain.”
29, Crimsworth Road, Wandsworth Road, S.W.8.

HMS Russell joined the Channel Fleet in November 1914 when at Portland and after bombarding the coast of Belgium was sent to the Dardanelles. She stayed at Mudros as support alongside HMS Hibernia in November 1915 but eventually took part in the evacuation on 7 January 1916. HMS Russell was mined on 27 April 1916 just off the coast of  Malta with the loss of over 100 lives.

William Charles Tidnam

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W. C. Tidnam
Service no. 227258
Able Seaman, Royal Navy, H.M.S. “Vanguard”
Died on 9 July 1917, aged 30
CWGC: “Son of William Tidnam, of Harleston, Norfolk; husband of Kathleen Mary Tidnam, of 2 Burnley Road, Stockwell, London.”
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

Information from the parish register

On 11 December 1916, William Charles Tidnam married Kathleen Mary Roberts at St. Michael’s Church, Stockwell. Kathleen’s address was 15 St. Martin’s Road, Stockwell. She gave her father’s occupation as carpenter and joiner. William gave his father’s as coachman.

Information from the censuses and other sources

In 1911 William Charles Tidnam, 23, was staying at the Union Jack club in Waterloo Road, Lambeth. He was listed as a  “Navy able seaman” from Reddenham, Norfolk. In 1901 he was a 14-year-old errand boy, living at “Mendham Lane, Redenhall With Harleston” in Norfolk. His 45-year-old father, also called William, was a “groom (domestic)”; his mother, Emma Tidnam, 44, was born at Reddenham. Besides William the couple’s children included
Ellen Tidnam, 11
Alice Tidnam, 10
Percy Tidnam, 7
Fred Tidnam and Herbert Tidnam, 5
Winifred Tidnam, 11 months
Ernest Singleton, a 22-year-old Irish-born “motor car driver”, boarded with the family.

William Thomas Snelling

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W.T. Snelling
Service no. R/2283
Able Seaman, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Howe Bn. R.N. Div.
Died on 26 October 1917 (missing, assumed killed in action), aged 23
Remembered at Tyne Cot Memorial, Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium

Brother of Frederick William Snelling and cousin of Harold Measday Snelling 

William Thomas Snelling, born in Limehouse, east London on 5 May 1894, the third son of Charles Henry and Emily Jane Snelling, and baptised at St Anne’s, Limehouse on 30 May (see Frederick William Snelling for family details). Formerly of the 2/1st Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry, enlisted in the Territorial Force on 30 August 1916, transferring to the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 16 June 1917. He joined the British Expeditionary Force on 4 July 1917 and Howe Battalion on 1 September. 

William’s father Charles Henry Snelling of 260 South Lambeth Road, Stockwell, was named as his next of kin. 

Ex-315900 Private 2/1st Westmorland & Cumberland Yeomanry, enlisted Territorial Force 30 August 1916, transferred to RNVR for RND 16 June 1917 ; Draft for BEF 4 July 1917, joined Howe Bn. 1 September 1917 to 26 October 1917 DD (declared dead).
Born 5 May 1894
Next-of-kin: Father, Charles Henry Snelling, 260 South Lambeth Road, Stockwell, London SW9.

Thomas Edward Ross

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T. E. Ross
Service no. R/6733
Able Seaman, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Hood Battalion R.N. Div.
Died on 29 September 1918, aged 24 (missing, later reported killed in action or died of wounds)
Next-of-kin & home address: Wife, Emily [née Brown], 56 South Island Place, Clapham Road, Clapham, London SW9.
Service history: Army Reserve 24 June 1916
Entered 29 April 1918
Draft for BEF (British Expeditionary Force) 3 September 1918; joined Hood Battalion 8 September 1918-29 September 1918; Discharged Dead
Remembered at Anneux British Cemetery, France

Horace Thomas Pelling

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H. T. Pelling
Service no. CH1/8111
Private, Royal Marine Light Infantry, H.M.S. “Bulwark.”
Died on 26 November 1914, aged 18
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial

Information from Royal Naval Division

Horace Pelling was born on 9 December 1895 in Clapham. He enlisted on 3 July 1913, embarked on H.M.S. “Bulwark” on 22 October 1914, but, as the service record says bluntly, “discharged dead” on 26 November 1914, killed by an internal explosion of his vessel, off Sheerness. His father, Horace John Pelling of 174 Wandsworth Road, received a Star medal issued on 27 July 1919.

The explosion left all of the Bulwark’s officers dead, and out of her complement of 750, only 14 sailors survived; two of these men subsequently died of their injuries in hospital, and almost all of the remaining survivors were seriously injured. There is a good account at www.nhcra-online.org

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 Horace Thomas Pelling, 15, was a labourer working in the manufacture of ammonia. He was born in Clapham. His father, Horace John Pelling, 40, as a general gas fitter from Steyning, Sussex; his mother, Hanna Elizabeth, 41, was from Walworth. Horace had one sibling: Albert Edward Pelling, 7, born in Battersea. Three other siblings had died. The family lived in two rooms at 3 Garnies Street (now gone, although there is a Garnies Close off Sumner Road), Camberwell.