Stockwell War Memorial

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Russia

Henry Langford

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H. Langford
Private, Royal Sussex Regiment, 11th Bn.
Service no. 36921
Died on 8 May 1919, aged about 39
Remembered at Murmansk New British Cemetery, Russia 

Chris Burge writes:

Henry Langford was born in 1879 in the village of Midgham, Berkshire, the second child of Jemima Hannah Hunt and master brewer Alfred Langford, who had married four years earlier. Henry’s sister Emma was born in 1877. Alfred died in the winter of 1881 and Jemima married Charles Goodman the following year.

By 1891, Emma was 14 and in service, while schoolboy Henry was living with his parents and stepsiblings in Three Chimneys Lane, Thatcham. By the time of the 1902 census, aged 22, he was a serving soldier. 

Henry joined the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment Militia on 3 December 1895, aged 17, when he was described as 5ft 2in tall, 103lbs, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. He served in the militia until 3 February 1897, transferring to a regular battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment. He served in both Boer Wars and Egypt for two years and was decorated before extending his home service from 1905 to 1909. 

Shortly after leaving the Army, Henry moved to London. In 1910, he married Louisa Elizabeth Eyles in Lambeth. In the 1911 census, they were living in two rooms at 83 Jeffreys Road, off Clapham Road. Louisa was expecting their first child and Henry worked as a cook. The property was shared by two other families, with 11 other people occupying the eight remaining rooms. Phyllis Louisa Langford was born on 3 November 1911. 

Henry Langford appears to have been conscripted late in 1917 or early 1918. Records show that he enlisted in Battersea but not how he came to be in the 11th Sussex. The battalion he joined had returned from France to England in June 1918 after suffering heavy losses during the enemy’s spring offensive. After many compulsory transfers to the battalion, the 11th Sussex departed from Leith, sailing to north Russia on 19 September to support the White Russian forces against the Bolshevik Red Army in the Russian Civil War. We can speculate that Henry may have experienced the novelty of skiing lessons during the winter months, before the weather permitted them to move to Murmansk in March 1919. On 8 May it was reported that ‘36921 L. Cpl H. Langford had died from burns at Murmansk’. No details of his accidental death were given. Henry was buried in the English sector of the Russian cemetery at Murmansk on 10 May 1919.

Henry’s widow Louisa started a new life when she married William Henry Hunt on Christmas Day 1920 at St Jude’s, Kensal Green in north London. William was Henry’s second cousin, and the marriage was witnessed by Henry’s sister Emma Hider. Tragedy struck in the 1940 Blitz when a high explosive bomb dropped near Louisa and William’s home in Marmion Road, Battersea. Louisa died in the Bolingbroke Hospital on 12 September 1940. Henry’s married daughter Phyllis Turner passed away in Wandsworth in 1985, aged 73. 

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.