My Stocking great grandparents had over 127 direct descendents, so it is no surprise that many of their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren were affected by the two world wars. The children of their fifth child, Robert Matthew Stocking (1859-1945) and his wife Martha Silverlock were no exception. The parents’ story is told in this post. Read on for how the war impacted some of their children.

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Robert Matthew Stocking, the oldest boy and clearly named for his father, was born on 5 April 1896, when the family were living at Bakery Street, Bermondsey. His army service records at FindMyPast comprise many documents and are a treasure trove of information about his health and character. He initially joined the Territorial Force aged 18 in 1914, as war broke out. His attestation gives his home address as Bevington Street (where he lived with brother James) and his next of kin as his father, of 44 Vienna Road, Bermondsey. Robert had not followed his father into the leather trade: his civilian occupation is shown as Trellis Maker.

His army service must have shown him a very different side of life (and death). He embarked from Southampton for France on 24 June 1916 to join the British Expeditionary Force with the 60th (2/2nd) Battalion London Regiment. The Regiment saw fierce fighting in the trenches, then embarked from Marseilles for Salonika (Thessaloniki in Greece) on 10 December 1916. After six months, he embarked from Salonika for Alexandria in Egypt on 17 June 1917. Shortly afterwards, he was admitted to a field hospital suffering from Malaria (for which he would later receive a pension as it affected his ability to work in civilian life). He served as a Rifleman and Stretcher Bearer, and later stayed in Egypt as part of the Army of Occupation until being demobilised in 1919. He had a few more spells in field hospitals while there, for Diarrhoea, ‘debility’ and scabies. On demobilisation, his character was described as ‘Exemplary’.

Early in 1921, he wrote to the authorities requesting his war medals and ribbons, as he hadn’t received them. His letter – the faintly written pages still just legible – include a copy of a declaration from his commanding officer:

“On the morning of Oct 31st and Nov 7th Pte R Stocking took part in the attacks on Hill 1070 and El Sheria respectively and distinguished himself for his coolness and bravery under very trying circumstances”.

Wo 363 – First World War Service Records ‘Burnt Documents’ at FindMyPast

Robert returned home after the war, working as a General Labourer for a Grain Merchants by the 1921 census. In 1923 he married Rose Lillian Jones at Christ Church, Bermondsey. He was 27, she was a 19 year old ‘Chemical Finisher’, possibly a friend of one of his sisters, who also worked in nearby factories. By 1939 he is living at Spa Road Bermondsey, working as a Dustman, but also a volunteer with Bermondsey Council’s Red Cross – perhaps putting his experiences in the first conflict to good use. He died on 5 January 1984, aged 87.

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His younger brother, James J Stocking, joined up a month shy of his 19th birthday, on 26 July 1918, his address given as Bevington Street (named after another Bermondsey Leather Manufacturing family). His baptism record oddly shows him as James James Stocking. His fitness was described as BII (not the best) and he was appointed to the 25th Battalion Distribution Training Reserve, although the following year he was transferred to the Suffolk Regiment ‘to retain former rate of pay/more advantageous’. James’ records show that he was admonished or fined for having a dirty rifle or uniform on parade, and overstaying his Christmas Leave. Overall, though, his character is recorded as ‘good’. After discharge, he returned to General Labouring, although at the time of the 1921 census he was out of work, last employed by Bennett & Cox, Grain Merchants, Bermondsey Wall. He married Elizabeth Jones when he was 34, and by the time of the 1939 Register, the couple and their two children are living at 55 Riley Road, Bermondsey. He is still a General Labourer, but also volunteering with the ARP. They had four children between 1934-1945, including Fred Stocking, my 2nd cousin 2x removed, with whom I have been in touch over the years about our shared family. James James Stocking was long-lived, dying in 1985, aged 86.

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Older sister Eliza Elizabeth Stocking (born in 1885) had married Drum Maker Frederick James Atkins on 7 April 1912. They had two children, a son and a daughter, before WW1 broke out and their father joined up to fight. He enlisted with the 6th Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment in April 1915. This grainy image of him was uploaded to Ancestry by another family historian. The 6th Battalion was initially selected for home defense according to the Wartime Memories Project, but in July 1915 they embarked for France.

His time with the British Expeditionary Force was short: Private 13067 was killed in action aged 28 on 5 November 1915 in Flanders and buried at the Birr Crossroads Cemetery in Ypres. His widow, left with two children under three years, received his medals and his effects – including “disc, 4 letters, razor, sh.brush, razor strap, box of cigs., gospel, pipe, purse, pair scissors, mirror, pocket book, hairbrush, holdall, ‘housewife'”, and was in receipt of a pension with regard to her children, but was herself deemed ‘not eligible’.

The 1921 census finds her living at 64 Bevington Street, not far from her father and brothers, with son Frederick (8) and daughter Martha (7). Elizabeth is working as a bottler for Chemical Manufacturers Bell, Hill and Lucas of Tower Bridge Road. She continued to live in Bermondsey, settling at Grange Road by the late 1930s (and still there at the time of the 1939 Register). She died, aged 67, in 1953.

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Their youngest sibling, Emily Louisa Stocking, was born on 17 May 1894. By the outbreak of WW1 she would have been 19 years old. It is possible that she was engaged to a young man who went to war and never returned or, perhaps, she preferred to stay single. In any case, she never married. At the time of the 1921 census she was still living at home with her widowed father and two brothers, working as a bottle washer. By 1939, she is still at home with her elderly father, still working as a bottle washer in a factory. She died at the relatively young age of 52 on 29 July 1946, at Park Farm Road in Bromley Kent. Her home address, given in her probate record, was 18 B Block, Creasy Estate, Tower Bridge Road, Bermondsey. Probate was granted to her widowed sister, Eliza Elizabeth Atkins. Her estate amounted to just under £100.