Sadly, no public commemoration was possible this year at Herne Hill Station for Remembrance Day.
But the Herne Hill Society and Helen Hayes MP laid wreaths at the memorial in honour of our war dead.
Commemorating Herne Hill’s war dead
Category Archives: World War I Armistice Centenary
The Fawnbrake dead of the First World War
This is of course the season when each year we remember those who died in last century’s World Wars.
It’s quite a shock to be reminded of those men and their families who – had we been living at the time – would have been our neighbours and perhaps friends here on Fawnbrake Avenue during the First World War. We might have seen them leave; we would have witnessed and often shared the distress that the dreaded telegram brought to their families.
History, yes – but not that long ago, and still on our doorsteps.
We can understand this more easily these days because of the moving and detailed research conducted in recent years by members of the Herne Hill Society with help from the students of the Charter School North Dulwich and other local volunteers.
The result is an impressive memorial website which now contains over 550 full records of men (and two women) from Herne Hill who served and died in the First World War. The Remembering Herne Hill website captures not just the names but important background details about those who died, bringing them to life in our minds. The website also has an interactive map that lets us view local casualties from individual roads in Herne Hill and neighbouring streets.
The research, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund is largely complete. It establishes that there were at least seven of our then neighbours on this street alone who lost their lives in this war.
Alongside that online catalogue of names and personal details, there is now of course a physical memorial displayed prominently in our station.
Fawnbrake residents who died in the Great War
A list follows, with links to the more complete descriptions which can be accessed via the map on the memorial website.
12 Fawnbrake Avenue ~ Second Lieutenant Harold James Cryer, died 13 October 1917
Harold Cryer was born in Brixton in 1898. The family attended St Saviour’s Church, Herne Hill Road, where Harold became a choir boy.
He was killed on 13 October 1917, at the age of just 19, piloting his Sopwith Camel single-seat fighter at an airfield in England. (Accidents were common.)
His funeral service was held at St Saviour’s on 18 October 1917 and he was buried at West Norwood Cemetery on the same day (his address being recorded as 12 Fawnbrake Avenue, although the CWGC website gives his parents’ address as 24 Ferndene Road Herne Hill). Harold’s brother Leonard survived the war, married Clarice Brett in 1922 and died in 1961.
Full details about Lieutenant Cryer at https://tinyurl.com/y5ou35kh
20 Fawnbrake Avenue ~ Private James MacGregor, died 13 February 1916
James MacGregor was born on 3 February 1896, the second son of Frank MacGregor from Kinfauns, Perthshire, and Mary MacGregor from Wallacetown, Ayrshire. The first family home was at 57 Lowden Road. On 29 March 1896 he was baptised at Camberwell Presbyterian Church.
By the time of the 1901 Census the MacGregors had moved to 20 Fawnbrake Avenue. On 8 August 1905 James entered Jessop Road School, going on to study at Alleyn’s in Dulwich.
James MacGregor joined the 20th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment). They landed in France in November 1915 and were transferred to 19th Brigade, 33rd Division.
Private MacGregor was killed in action near Cambrin on 13 February 1916 and is buried at Cambrin Churchyard Cemetery, about 24 kilometres north of Arras and eight kilometres east of Bethune.
Full details about Private MacGregor at https://tinyurl.com/y45rf36c
40 Fawnbrake Avenue ~ Lance Corporal Sidney Giles, died 1 July 1916
Sidney Giles lived at 40 Fawnbrake Avenue, the youngest of the five children of Herbert and Martha Giles.
Sidney was a Lance Corporal in the 14th Battalion (London Scottish) of the London Regiment. He fought in the war from January 1916 and was killed in action on the first day of Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916, aged just 22.
Having no known grave, he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, and his name is also on the St Paul’s Memorial Screen in Herne Hill.
Full details about Lance Corporal Giles at https://tinyurl.com/yxwadqz5
90 Fawnbrake Avenue ~ Lieutenant Reginald Dell, died 8 May 1918
Reginald Dell was born in Wells, Somerset in 1887. At some point he became a resident of Herne Hill. He married Hilda Margaret Fox in Wells in early 1918, but he was killed in May of the same year, serving in the Machine Gun Corps.
His military records cite his address as 90 Fawnbrake Avenue.
The 20th Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps was formed in March 1918 and fought at the Battle of St. Quentin and suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Rosieres. In April the troops were withdrawn while they waited for new drafts. However, by this time, Reginald had clearly suffered fatal wounds and died on 8 May. He is buried in the Communal Cemetery of Avesnes-Sur-Helpe.
Full details about Lieutenant Dell at https://tinyurl.com/y2cxyano
107 Fawnbrake Avenue ~ Rifleman Herbert Walter Irons, died 12 February 1917
Herbert Walter Irons was born in Camberwell 1884 to William, a clerk, and Louisa. He was the eldest of their four children. The family lived at various addresses in Peckham but at some point they moved to 107 Fawnbrake Avenue.
Herbert enlisted as a rifleman with the London Regiment, 1/21st Country of London (First Surrey Rifles) but contracted nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys) whilst on active service in Belgium and he died on 12 February 1917 at the age of 33 years old. He is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, in the West Flanders region.
Full details about Rifleman Irons at https://tinyurl.com/y6kwwntq
114 Fawnbrake Avenue ~ Driver Harry Cruse died 27 October 1918
Harry Leonard Cruse was born in Camberwell in April 1896. In 1901 the Cruse family was living at 90 Denmark Road, Camberwell but by 1911 the family had moved to 114 Fawnbrake Avenue. Harry, an only child, was a pupil at Alleyn’s School, which he left in 1912.
During the war Harry Cruse served in the Honourable Artillery Company as a driver. His unit saw active service at Aden and in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign from 1915 onwards.
Harry contracted malaria and died on 27 October 1918. He is remembered at the Damascus Memorial in Syria.
Full details about Driver Harry Cruse at https://tinyurl.com/y4owvh5n
129 Fawnbrake Avenue ~ Private Thomas Evans, died 16 September 1916
He was 30 years old when he was called up on 10 December 1915, joining the 23rd (County of London) Battalion of The London Regiment.
The second son and youngest child of Thomas (a King’s Messenger) and Ellen Augusta Evans, he and his older brother and two older sisters were all born near Morecambe Bay in Lancashire. An Architect’s Assistant, he married Eleanor Barber at St Leonard’s, Streatham, on 27 May 1916 and was listed as living at his parents’ house, 129 Fawnbrake Avenue. But with his battalion he was soon posted to France, and was killed in action on 16 September 1916 – one of many thousands killed in the heavy fighting during the Battles of the Somme in Summer/Autumn 1916.
His grave lies in the Warlencourt British Cemetery, near Bapaume in Northern France (Pas de Calais).
Private Thomas Evans’s details have not yet been entered on the database.
Photo by Geraint Lewis, for The Times
Herne Hill’s Great War: Dan Hill
A major event for our diaries: next Wednesday, 13 February, 7:45 – 9:15pm
Dan Hill is a full-time military historian who works as a battlefield guide across Europe and a historical consultant and researcher for some of the UK’s leading military charities, broadcasters and commemorative organisations.
British solders in a trench at the Somme, 1916
In this illustrated talk, the final event in the Herne Hill Society’s “Remembering Herne Hill 1914-18” research project, Dan looks in detail at just six of Herne Hill’s war casualties, each of whom took part in one of the six key battles of the war.
Free, all welcome, no tickets required
United Church Hall, junction of Red Post Hill and Herne Hill, London SE24 9PW
Remembering Herne Hill … tonight
Who lived in your #HerneHill street 100 years ago?
Remembering Herne Hill 1914-18 is a major project to research and map hundreds of casualties of #WWI. All welcome at Herne Hill Baptist Church tonight, Wednesday 12 December, at 7:45pm @TCSDulwich@Hernehill_WW1@hernehillforum
Read more here.
Remembering Herne Hill 1914 – 18: Public Meeting, 12 December
The Herne Hill Society is hosting an important event on the evening of Wednesday 12 December to update residents on the progress of the Remembering Herne Hill 1914–18 Project, and introducing the newly published memoirs – Grace’s Story – of a young Herne Hill lady who lived through that war and in the difficult years that followed.
Please note that the venue for this event will be the Herne Hill Baptist Church in Half Moon Lane, which is the large red brick building only five minutes’ walk from the station, just a little way beyond The Half Moon pub. No tickets are required. Timings are 7:45 – 9:15pm
Meanwhile the memorial website (see earlier post below) is live. Volunteer researchers have unearthed and filed information about over 370 casualties on the database, with hundreds more still to add. The Society has also created two online maps to indicate where our First World War casualties lived, and also where they are buried or remembered today.
Fawnbrake casualties: Lieutenant Reginald Dell
Reginald Dell is one of at least four Fawnbrake Avenue residents – more may be discovered as the research continues – who were killed during World War I. His military records cite his address as 90 Fawnbrake Avenue.
Reginald Dell was born in Wells, Somerset in 1887. But at some subsequent point he became a resident of Herne Hill. He married Hilda Fox in Wells in early 1918. Tragically, however, he was killed in May of the same year.
Hilda remained at this address for the next 9 years, when she moved to Deepdene Road.
Reginald fought in what was known as the Spring Offensive of 1918. The 20th Battalion of the Machine Gun Corps was formed in March 1918 and fought at the Battle of St. Quentin and suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Rosieres. In April the troops were withdrawn while they waited for new drafts. However, by this time, Reginald had clearly suffered fatal wounds and died on 5 May. He is buried in the cemetery of Avesnes-sur-Helpe with the inscription “Here is some corner of a foreign field that is forever England”.
[Extract from the World War I records being assembled by the Remembering Herne Hill 1914 – 1918 Project]
Grace’s Story
This is the latest publication by the Herne Hill Society.
In this charming, very readable, expertly edited and generously produced book, Grace MacFarquhar, née Lucas (1906-2001), describes her life in Herne Hill and the surrounding area during and shortly after the First World War. Grace was an intelligent and imaginative child, the eldest of five children. Her 80-page account, written many decades later, has an exceptionally vivid quality.
Grace’s father Fred was killed in France in 1916 at the Battle of the Somme. How the family dealt with this blow, everyday life in London, escapes to the countryside while London was under attack from the air, Grace’s thwarted hopes of going to art college – these and many other events are described with compassion and humour.
This memoir offers a rare insight into the life of a London family 100 years ago. It will be available at the Society’s next event on Wednesday 12 December (see our next post), or can be bought from Herne Hill Books or online through the Herne Hill Society website.
Remembering Herne Hill 1914-18 : Fawnbrake Avenue residents
The outstanding Herne Hill memorial website was formally made publicly available just this weekend.
It is a volunteer-led project telling the story of those from Herne Hill who served and died in the First World War, as well as other residents who suffered.
There is no traditional memorial to all Herne Hill’s World War I dead.
The database, which currently contains about 350 records (though more names are emerging all the time), has been compiled and edited by the Herne Hill Society with help from the students of the Charter School, North Dulwich, and other local people.
The 100th anniversary of the Armistice was commemorated at a short, well-attended and moving Armistice 2018 ceremony at Herne Hill Station on Sunday morning. Our local Councillors were present.
Colin Wight (HHS), Cllr Becca Thackray, Cllr Jim Dickson, David Statham (MD, SE Trains)
This project is Heritage Lottery funded, thanks to money raised by National Lottery players.
The website can be searched in many ways, including by name and by actual street. This has revealed at least five soldiers from our own street who were killed.
Fawnbrake residents killed in World War I
Lieutenant Reginald Dell
90 Fawnbrake Avenue
Rifleman Herbert Walter Irons
107 Fawnbrake Avenue
Driver Harry Leonard Cruse
114 Fawnbrake Avenue
Lieutenant Fred Philip Hirst
6 Fawnbrake Avenue
Private Thomas Evans
129 Fawnbrake Avenue
Another name, just researched and not yet entered on the dataset, is Private Thomas Evans.
Thomas Evans was 30 years old when he was called up on 10 December 1915, showing his occupation as Architect’s Assistant. The second son and youngest child of Thomas (a King’s Messenger) and Ellen Augusta Evans, he and his older brother and two older sisters were all born in the village of Cark-in-Cartmel near Morecambe Bay in Lancashire. [1911 Census] He married Eleanor Barber at St Leonard’s, Streatham, on 27 May 1916 and was listed as living at his parents’ house, 129 Fawnbrake Avenue, Herne Hill. With his battalion he was posted to France, but was killed in action on 16 September 1916 – one of many thousands killed in the heavy fighting during the Battles of the Somme in Summer/Autumn 1916.
His grave lies in the Warlencourt British Cemetery, near Bapaume in Northern France (Pas de Calais).
More names may emerge as research continues, of course.
Herne Hill’s World War I Research in the press
Further to our last post … the major project to research, record and map all Herne Hill’s WWI dead is already the subject of an excellent illustrated article in Southwark News this week, which can be read in the newspaper or online.
Armistice Centenary at Herne Hill, Sunday 11 November
There will only ever be one Centenary of the First World War Armistice.
On Sunday 11 November 2018 — exactly 100 years after the guns fell silent and the slaughter stopped — local people and visitors are invited to come together at 10:45 am for a brief commemoration at Herne Hill’s popular Sunday market.
In consensus with communities throughout the British Isles and overseas, Herne Hill will mark this unique and significant anniversary with a minute’s silence at 11:00 am at Herne Hill station.
Online Memorial to Herne Hill’s Fallen
Many British towns and villages have a civic war memorial where the names of the men who never returned are inscribed. But there is no civic war memorial in Herne Hill — although there are several church-based and small community memorials. Until recently, in fact, the true scale of our community’s losses in the First World War was not known.
Accordingly, the Herne Hill Society, in partnership with The Charter School North Dulwich and local volunteers, has been working on a Heritage Lottery-funded project to identify all Herne Hill’s First World War casualties.
Coinciding with the Armistice Centenary, this significant online memorial will be launched on 11 November. The names, with many other details, are being recorded on a major new website. After the public launch, this database will allow searches by street address, name, age of death, place of death, regiment etc.
Volunteers have already unearthed and recorded the lives and deaths of 350 servicemen and civilians who came from or had strong family links to Herne Hill. But new research suggests there may be very many more — the figure may even be as high as 700.
WWI Information Panels
In another token of the Armistice Centenary, and with the kind support of Southeastern Railway who operate Herne Hill station, information panels have been installed in the ticket hall of Herne Hill Station.
There will also be similar panels at The Charter School North Dulwich and the Carnegie Library in Herne Hill Road.