Stockwell War Memorial

Friends of Stockwell War Memorial & Gardens

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Frederick H. S. Caiger

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frederick howard stewart caiger
Frederick Howard Stewart Caiger, from The War Illustrated Album De Luxe: The Story of the Great European War told by camera, pen and pencil (1915)

F. H. S. Caiger
Second Lieutenant, Royal Field Artillery, 92nd Bty. 17th Bde.
Killed in action on 11 November 1916, aged 19
CWGC: “Son of Frederick Foord Caiger, M.D., and Madeline Caiger, of South Western Hospital [now Lambeth Hospital, Landor Road], Stockwell”
Remembered at Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval, Somme, France

Frederick Howard Stewart Caiger was born on 23 September 1896, the only child of Dr Foord Caiger and his wife Madeline Orr Caiger. He was educated at Winchester and went up to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge on 1 October 1915 where he resided for one term. His father, superintendent at South Western Hospital for 39 years, died on 5 September 1929. His obituary is available at the BMJ Archives. There is at least one branch of the Caiger family still living in Stockwell.

Dr Foord Caiger donated the clock to the Stockwell War Memorial fund.

Caiger was born in 1896 and educated at Winchester (he was in the Officer Training Corps); he later went up to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge on 1 October 1915 where he resided for one term.

He was gazetted in December 1915 (meaning that his Army commission was announced in the Gazette), embarked for France on 23 April the following year and was attached to the 36q Battery. Caiger was admitted to the 87th Field Ambulance with a hydrocele (fluid in the scrotum) and later to the General Hospital suffering from scabies. This highly infectious skin disease was caused by infection by the mange mite. He was discharged on 24 June and posted to the 92th Battery in September.

Caiger was killed by a high explosive shell near Flers on 11 November 1916 and was buried at McCormick’s Post. In 1920 the War Office wrote to his father: “I am to inform you that … it has been found necessary to exhume the bodies buried in certain areas. The body of Second Lieutenant F.H.S. Caiger has therefore been removed from McCormick’s Post Cemetery and re-buried in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval.”

caiger headstoneIn 1922 Dr Foord Caiger donated the four-faced clock to the Stockwell War Memorial fund in memory of his son. “I… shall be very pleased to give it as a tribute to the memory of my only son, who fell in the battle of the Somme at the early age of 19.” he wrote to Samuel Bowller, secretary of the Memorial Committee. “The idea of placing a clock … struck me as such a ‘live’ and appropriate tribute to one who was born and always lived in Stockwell, and who entertained a warm affection for his home.”

University of London Officers Training Corps, Roll of War Service 1914-1919 (published 1921)

Frederick Howard Stewart Caiger
Second Lieutenant Royal Field Artillery – St. Thomas’s Hospital – Son of Dr. and Mrs. Foord Caiger of Stockwell – killed by a high explosive shell near Flers on 11th November 1916 – buried at McCormick’s Post.

Frederick Howard Stewart Caiger, a medical student at St. Thomas’s Hospital, London, was born on 23 September 1896, the only child of Dr. Frederick Foord Caiger and his wife Madeline Orr Caiger. The family lived on the premises of South Western Hospital (now Lambeth Hospital) on Landor Road, where Dr. Caiger was Superintendent for 39 years.

Frederick John Allen

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F. J. Allen
Second Lieutenant, Devonshire Regiment, “C” Coy. 9th Battalion
Died age 22 on 27 September 1915
CWGC: “Son of Frederick Herbert and Alice Allen, of 79 Union Road, Clapham, London.”
Remembered at Lapugnoy Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, at St John’s Church, Clapham Road, London SW9

Frederick John Allen

Information from the Royal Bank of Scotland archives:

Frederick John Allen joined the London County and Westminster Bank on 6 October 1910 at the Victoria Street branch in London SW1. He remained there until he joined the Army. The bank was later incorporated into Royal Bank of Scotland. The following is an extract from the County & Westminster staff magazine of November 1915:
A photograph also appears of Second Lieut. J. F. Allen, of the Victoria Street Branch. He was educated at the Westminster City School, and received his earliest military training in their cadet corps. He joined the Artists and was a first rate shot, being in the eight that won the Daily Telegraph Cup for H Company, and later in the sixteen which ran second in the Inter-Battalion Cup. He was the first volunteer to mount guard at the outer gate of the Tower of London. After receiving his commission in the 9th Devons he became Signalling Officer and was selected for a special job by the Brigadier.

Information from the 1911 census
Frederick John Allen, then 17, is registered on the 1911 census as the only surviving child of 43-year-old schoolmaster Frederick Herbert Allen, an assistant elementary schoolmaster for London County Council born in Newington, and his wife Alice Minta Varney Allen, also 43 and born in Norwood. Frederick was working as a bank clerk for London County and Westminster Bank. They lived in 6 rooms at 47 Mayflower Road, SW9.
The family is also on the 1901 living at the same address.

Henry Eustace Adams

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H.E. Adams
Rifleman, Rifle Brigade, 13th Bn.
Service No. S/2950
Died 25 October 1916, aged 38
Remembered at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France, at St Mark’s Church, Kennington and on the war shrine at St Michael’s Church, Stockwell Park Road, London SW9 0DA

Henry Eustace Adams, from De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, 1914-1924

Chris Burge writes:

Henry Eustace Adams, born in Southwark in 1878, was the youngest son of Robert Adams and Ann (née Lee), who were married at St Martin in the Fields Church in Trafalgar Square in 1863. At the time of Henry’s birth his father was already established as a successful mechanical engineer.  By the time of the 1891 census his widowed father Robert lived at 162 Brixton Road (still standing and Grade II listed), with Sidney James, 21; Emily Martha, 17; Fanny, 14; Henry Eustace, 12; and Annie, 10. The family employed a single domestic servant. The house, which is still standing, is a double-fronted Regency villa dating from around 1823, with, at that time, 13 rooms, a basement, attic and coach house.

At the age of 50, Robert Adams was married for a second time, to Louisa Mary Pearce, who was ten years younger. A decade later, the family were still living at 162 Brixton Road, which they had named Victor Lodge.  

Henry went to  West Cliff School, Ramsgate and City of London School, and matriculated at the University of London in 1900. After qualifying as an architect in 1904 he joined his father’s engineering business and later became a partner.

Henry was educated at West Cliff School, Ramsgate and City of London School, matriculated at the University of London in 1900 and qualified as an architect four years later. He worked in his father’s 30-year-old business at 3 and 5 Emerald Street, near Holborn along with his older brother Sidney James; the brothers later became partners. When Henry’s 70-year-old father completed the 1911 census the household consisted of himself, his wife Louisa Mary, and his children, now all in their 30s: Sidney, Emily, Henry and a domestic servant Annie Dickenson. 

On the outbreak of war Henry felt compelled to volunteer. On 9 September 1914, after failing to get into the Royal Engineers, Henry had gone to 32 St Paul’s Churchyard, where he joined the Rifle Brigade. He was 35 years old, 5ft 9½in in height and weighed almost 10½st with a 36in chest. His hair and eyes were brown and he had a fresh complexion and no distinguishing marks other than two moles on his back.  

Henry’s father died on 11 September 1914, aged 74.  With Henry in the Army, Sidney was left to run the family business.

The part he played in the War and his own fate is described in detail in an entry in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, based on information provided most likely by his older brother Sidney James Adams.

Henry served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 29 July, 1915. He took part in operations along the British front from Armentieres to Albert and was selected for special duties with the Royal Engineers. in the winter of 1915–16, and was attached to the 147th Army Troop Company, when he was entrusted with the survey of important works connected with the 7th Corps line, which included those in front of the villages of Souastre and St Armand, and prepared the plans which were submitted to Headquarters, and for these services he was highly commended.

He took part in the Battle of the Somme, and died in No. 14 Stationary Hospital, Wimereux, 25 October from complications arising from exposure in the field, after being wounded in action between Contalmaison and Pozières on 10 July. 

A comrade wrote:

We had been carrying bombs, etc., up to the front line, a small party of about eight, and we succeeded in getting through a terrible barrage to our destination safely. We were told to take shelter in the front line for a time. It was then he [Adams] got hit by a piece of shrapnel. As things did not get better, we were told to make our way back, and, of course, take Mr. Adams with us; but he absolutely refused to let us do so, saying he did not want to jeapardize [sic] our young lives in attempting to save his. We were all so sorry to leave him, for he was highly respected by us all, and he was always looked upon as our adviser owing to his superior knowledge on almost everything possible to think of. 

Henry had left a will in favour of Sidney and probate was granted on 23 October 1917, amounting to £3171 12s 6d.  At the end of the war Henry’s brother had preferred to deal with the Army’s officialdom via his family solicitor.  In 1920, there was confusion over a communication printed with the words ‘army service effects’, containing the sum of £9. This was a war gratuity payment and not the personal effects that Sidney still longed to have, as his solicitor pointed out: ‘Our client is very anxious to have his brother’s effects, and we would be obliged if you will have a special enquiry made about them…’ There is no record that any of Henry’s personal belongings were ever returned to his brother. 

Mr S.J. Adams was listed among those who made an additional subscription to the Stockwell Memorial fund when it was officially unveiled in 1922, as reported in The Brixton Free Press on 5 May 1922. In 1927, aged 57, Sidney married Dorothy Winifred Passmore. The couple, along with Sidney’s sister Emily, lived at 162 Brixton Road until 1937 when Sidney passed away at the age of 67.

The full entry for Henry Eustace Adams in De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, probably based on information provided by Adams’ older brother Sidney James Adams.