Stockwell War Memorial

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Thomas Henry Mizen

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natal
The Natal

T. H. Mizen
Service no. 202018
Able Seaman, Royal Navy, H.M.S. “Natal”
Died 30 December 1915 aged around 32
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial and at Stockwell War Memorial, London SW9

The Natal was a Duke of Edinburgh class armoured cruiser, built by Vickers Maxim of Barrow and launched on 30 September 1905. She was sunk by an internal explosion near Cromarty on 30 December 1915.

Information from Wikipedia:

On the 30th December 1915 Natal was lying in the Cromarty Firth with her squadron, under the command of Captain Eric Back RN. Shortly after 3.20pm, and without warning, a series of violent explosions tore through the ship. She capsized five minutes later. The most probable explanation was that a fire had broken out, possibly due to faulty cordite, that ignited a magazine. The exact number of casualties is still debated, and ranges from 390, up to 421. Some were killed in the immediate explosions, others drowned as the ship capsized, or succumbed to the freezing water of the Cromarty Firth. Most of the bodies which were recovered from the sea were interred in Rosskeen Churchyard, Invergordon. A small number of casualties were interred in the Gaelic Chapel graveyard in Cromarty.
The picture shows her upturned hull, visible at low water.
There is an interesting thread about the explosion at www.black-isle.info

Thomas Henry Mizen was born on 25 January 1883 in Brixton to Albert Duncan Mizen and Emma Amelia Turner. Thomas is listed on the 1891 census as visiting with his father, a carman, and younger sister at 38 Ingleton Street, Stockwell. In 1904, at St Paul’s, Lorrimore Square, Walworth (Southwark) Thomas married his first cousin Edith Miriam Payne.

The couple had six daughters (five surviving):

Doris Hetty, born 1905
Elsie, born 1906
Edith Miriam, born 1908
Alice Frances, born 1909
Helen Elizabeth, born 1912
Grace Henrietta, born 1912, died 1913

At the time of Thomas Mizen’s death his family address was recorded as 7 Moat Place, Stockwell Road. Edith died in 1929.

James William Gilbert

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J. W. Gilbert
Service no. K/42535
Stoker Second Class, Royal Navy, H.M.S. “Cornwall”
Died age 19 on 10 January 1918
CWGC: “Son of W. Gilbert, of 139 Hartington Road, South Lambeth, London.”
Remembered at Plymouth Naval Memorial

Information from the Royal Navy website

The fourth HMS Cornwall (1902-1920) was a 9000 ton armoured cruiser launched at Pembroke in 1902. On the outbreak of war in 1914 she was despatched to West Africa to intercept German merchant shipping. She proceeded to the Falklands and on 8 December 1914 engaged German light cruisers, sinking theLeipzig. Returning to West Africa until June 1915 she was sent to support the Gallipoli campaign. The following October she went back to the East Indies and China Stations to protect Allied shipping from surface raiders. Returning to the UK in 1917 she was refitted and escorted convoys between Canada and the UK. She paid off early in 1919.

Information from the 1911 census

In 1911 James William Gilbert, then aged 12, lived at 74 Thorparch Road, Stockwell. His father, William Gilbert, 52, was a railway guard from Frampton, Dorset. His mother, Annie Gilbert, 48, was born in London. They had had 7 children, 6 of them surviving in 1911. Five lived at home:
Ellen Lucy Gilbert, 17, was a machinist
Lilian Frances Gilbert, 14, was a domestic servant
James William Gilbert, 12
Florence Louisa Gilbert, 10
Alice May Gilbert, 7
All the children were born in London.

Frederick Eversfield

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F. Eversfield
Service no. J/12826
Able Seaman, Royal Navy, H.M. S/M “D6.”
Died age 24 on June 1918
Husband of Kathleen Christina Eversfield, of 19, St. James Rd., Carshalton, Surrey.
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial

Information from the censuses

In 1911 Frederick Eversfield, a 16-year-old stores porter lived at 6 Emily Mansions, Landor Road, SW9 with his family: parents Harry Eversfield, 46, a stone maston born in Wrotham, Kent and Mary Eversfield, 45, from Dover; and siblings   Eliza Eversfield, 25, a restaurant counter hand, and Hilda Eversfield, 12. All three children were born in Dover.
In 1901 Frederick Eversfield was 6 and living at 1 Alexandra Cottages, Tower Street, in Dover, Kent, with his mother and siblings. Mary J. Eversfield was 34 and born in Dover. The children on the census were
Harry Eversfield, 16, foundry labourer
Elizabeth Eversfield, 12
Alfred Eversfield, 9
Frederick Eversfield, 6
Hilda Eversfield, 2
Winifred Eversfield, 1
Sarah A. Burbridge, 84, a widow living on her own means and born in Alkham, Kent, lived with the family.

George Daniel Talbot Drewery

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G. D. T. Drewery
Service no. L/5032
Officer’s Steward 2nd Class, Royal Navy, H.M.S. “Partridge”
Died age 21 on 12 December 1917
Son of George Talbot Drewery and Louisa Emma Drewery, of 25 Lansdowne Road
Remembered at Portsmouth Naval Memorial

The Partridge was sunk by four German destroyers in the North Sea while escorting a convoy. 74 men were lost. See naval-history.net for a list of casualties.

Information from the 1911 Census

In 1911 George Drewery, then a 15-year-old office boy, was living with his aunt Mary Ann Elizabeth White, 53, and uncle Robert White, 53, and their family at 62 Landor Road. Robert White was a housepainter born in Hackney. His wife was born in Lambeth. Their children, George Drewery’s cousins, all born in Clapham, were
Sydney Cope White, 26, a “warehouseman in ribbons”
Louis Sherley White, 25, a dental mechanic
Ella Annie White, 22, a fancy goods designer
Blanche Ethel White, 20, a shorthand typist

Arthur Stephen Crumpler

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A. S. Crumpler
Service no. SS/112057
Leading Stoker, Royal Navy, H.M.S. Cornwallis
Died on 9 January 1917, aged 22
Remembered at Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent
Crumpler was one of 15 men who died when the Cornwallis was torpedoed by the German U-boat (U-32) off Malta. He had previously survived the sinking of the Cressy, which went down in the North Sea in less than 30 minutes on 22 September 1914, after an atttack by the U-boat U-9.

Information from the 1911 census

In civilian life, Crumpler was a plumber’s mate working in the building trade. One of five children, he was born in Charminster, Dorset. In 1911, he lived with his family in five rooms at 41 Dorset Road, Stockwell. Crumpler’s widowed mother, Mary Ann, was a newsagent and tobacconist, from Martinstown, Dorset.