It was a letter from Archie’s son Ron that sparked my search for my 2xgreat-grandparents’ children. Archie turned out to be the fourteenth of 19. He was a driver in the Howitzer Brigade in WW1 before returning to work on London’s trams. Amongst his six grandchildren are a well-known journalist and author, and a mountain climber who was killed in the Alps.

Heating Engineer, WW1 and LCC Tram Driver, later Carpenter

In the early 2000s, my Dad received a letter posted on behalf of Ron Stocking, son of Archibald David Stocking, who was born 22 March 1894 in Camberwell. The letter suggested that Ron’s grandparents (my 2xgreat grandparents) had had 21 children. That letter led me to research their lives and look into their children’s births and deaths in more detail, and their stories are told in other posts on this site.

Archie made his first census appearance in 1901 at the family home at 44 Herman Road and probably attended Rolls Road School, although I haven’t found any school records for him at Ancestry. In 1901, he was one of 12 children still living at home with their parents, quite a crowd. By 1911, aged 17, he was lodging at 155 Walton Road, Woking, Surrey, working for a Heating and Ventilation Engineer (unnamed). Perhaps this was an apprenticeship and was a temporary move as, by the outbreak of WW1, his army attestation papers at Ancestry suggest that his usual residence was at the family home at 18 Beechfield Road, Catford. Several of his brothers and brothers-in-law also served during WW1.

On 17 September 1914, he joined the 4^th London Howitzer Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery as a Driver, regimental number 1042. He was 5’ 4” and weighed 9 stone 10 lbs. He served a period of training ‘at home’ before being recommended for discharge because of suppurative inflammation of his inner ear (not caused by active service).

His grandson, Roy Greenslade, was recently (October 2025) in touch and shared an anecdote about ‘Arch’ (as he was known in his family): after being discharged as medically unfit, he was ‘white feathered’ – given a symbol of cowardice – on a bus, and this spurred him on to rejoin the forces.

A few months later he rejoined the Army (no 947563) again giving his address as 18 Beechfield Road. He was first sent to France (Le Havre) on 2 June 1916. He served as a Driver until 1918 when his rank changed to Gunner.

The service record shows that, on 9 August 1917, a few months before his brother Aaron Archibald Stocking was killed in action, he married Jane Louisa Isabella Crofts in Lewisham. He was expected back in the regiment from leave shortly afterwards, but did not report. Catford’s Chief Constable of Police was asked to ascertain his whereabouts.

Extract from Archibald David Stocking’s service record WW1 (Ancestry)

It seems that a few weeks later he was admitted to Bermondsey Military Hospital and on discharge was deemed unfit to be posted overseas. However, by 21 January 1918, he was back in action, posted to Italy, where he remained until after the War. In 1919, he was posted to Alexandria, Egypt and on 1 February 1919, he agreed to extend his service in the Army of Occupation.

He was later posted to El Kantara, Egypt, a key strategic position in the defence of Suez and site of a major distribution centre and hospital, as well as a major military cemetery. He was attached to the Military Police. In May 1920 he embarked for Port Said en route back to the UK for demobilisation.  

The previous month, he wrote to the Army requesting that they forward his ‘character’ (a reference) as he was waiting to start a new job with LCC Trams. He was entitled to the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

(Left, Extract from service records at Ancestry for Archibald David Stocking, 1920)

His grandson suggests that ‘Arch’ was persuaded to break ties with his large family of siblings by his wife, possibly because she thought them a class below hers, but also possibly because she felt they were a bad influence on his drinking. It is said that he stopped drinking after their marriage.

Throughout the 1920s he is registered to vote at 86 Crystal Palace Road, Camberwell. At the time of the 1921 census, he is indeed working for LCC Trams at the New Cross Depot, as a Tramway Conductor. With him are his wife ‘Louise’ and daughter Gladys Stocking, under one month old.

Various records show that two more children followed: Ronald in 1923 and Olive Jean Stocking in 1924.

Life during and after WW2

I don’t know what happened to them between the wars, but by the outbreak of WW2, the family is still living at 86 Crystal Palace Road. He is now working as a Builder’s Carpenter, keeping in the family building trade. With him are his wife Jane and their daughter Gladys, who is now working as a Transport Clerk. One other record is redacted at Ancestry, but has been opened on FindMyPast: it is for Joan Olive Stocking, born 17 May 1924, who was working as Junior Office Clerk for a Paper Maker. Her brother Ron would have been 16, but I have not found an unredacted record for him in The Register.

In September 1942, eldest daughter Gladys Stocking married George Rickman Gregson in Camberwell. In 1939, he had been working as a Consignment Pricing Clerk and was also ‘enrolled in the Fire Brigade’. I believe they had two children: David George Gregson, born in 1946 and Jean Gregson, born in 1948 (FreeBMD).

Their younger daughter Joan Olive Stocking, born in 1924, married Ernest Frederick William Greenslade in Camberwell in 1945. They had two sons, Roy Greenslade, who went on to become a well-known journalist for UK newspapers and author of several books, and John Greenslade. They were born in 1946 and 1948 respectively.

Roy’s memory of his grandfather is that “he was a gentle, genial man who worked for a joinery firm, where he made cabinets. He also made furniture for his family too, having turned one tiny room at 86 Crystal Palace Road into a workroom”.

Roy was also kind enough to share and give permission for me to publish these photos of Arch, the first (below left) in ‘his beloved garden’ and the second (below right) in his later years, not long before he died:

Archibald David Stocking died, aged 67, on 23 March 1961 and was cremated at Honor Oak Crematorium on 5 April that year. Archie’s widow Jane Louisa Isabella Stocking died on 28 September 1973, her probate record showing that her usual address was 6 Haven Lane, Ealing. She left an estate worth £324 which took some six months to settle, as she left no will. The photo below is of Jane – known as Jenny and Ginny – also shared by Roy.

Other family trees on Ancestry suggest that the middle child, Ronald Stocking, married Hazel Alice Shaw in Norwich in 1950. She was born there in 1929. It is possible that they had two children, both born in Wiltshire in the 1950s and that their son moved to the US in the late 1980s, but I have been unable to verify that. I did have some email correspondence in 2003 with Ron Stocking after he sent ‘the letter’ to my Dad. Ron said he was by then in his 80s and was living in Sandhurst, Berkshire, but didn’t provide any other detail of his family.

Ron Stocking died a couple of years after sending his letter searching for clues to his family. His death index entry at the GRO gives his date of birth as 24 January 1923 and date of death as 7 October 2005.

The next generation

Archie and Jane Stocking had five grandchildren, as far as I know. Their grandson Roy Greenslade’s career as journalist and author is well-documented elsewhere (eg see Wikipedia), but I was pleased when he made contact – originally in 2010 via my original Blogger site and again via this blog in October 2025. He shared the photos and memories above as well as this photo of himself outside the family home at 86 Crystal Palace Road, taken in 2023.

I have only partial knowledge of the couple’s four other grandchildren.

David George Gregson, the eldest son of Archie’s daughter Gladys Stocking and her husband George Rickman Gregson, was born in 1946. He was killed in a climbing accident on the Eiger in Switzerland on 2 August 1971. He was just 25 years old. He was a member of the Harrow Mountaineering Club and was an experienced climber. Three others in the party he was climbing with were injured. It must have been a great blow for the family and his friends.

The Harrow Observer of 6 August 1971 was just one of local and national newspapers to cover the accident (left).

His sister Jean Gregson married Brian R E Wilkinson in High Wycombe in the last quarter of 1973. It is possible that he, too, was a member of the Harrow Mountaineering Club; the newspaper article includes quotes from David’s climbing partner Brian Wilkinson. He is described as a 24 year old technical assistant with a firm in Stanmore. It is possible that they moved to Devon and had two children, both born in Exeter.