Men of the parish lost in the First World War
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As part of the commemorations in 2014 of the centenary of the outbreak of WW1 Chris Davies of our Verger team researched the names on the First World War Memorial, which is by the font at the back of the church (see image to the right and its inscription beneath the image).
Listed here are the names of the men of the Parish of St James Piccadilly who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-18 The Parish war memorial, which can be found on the west wall of the church, in the north-west corner, bears the names of 31 soldiers who were worshipping members of the church congregation or lived in the parish. 17 were officers and 14 were non-commissioned officers (N.C.O’s) or other ranks; the list also includes 3 pairs of brothers. The oldest casualty was 47 years old and the youngest, just 19. Many of those included were awarded medals or citations for their actions. Here is a list of those mentioned:
The Men of St James’s Church Edward William Bailey – Q.M. (Quartermaster) Sergeant, Otago Regiment, New Zealand Expeditionary Force Killed in action 5th August 1917, aged 29. A chef by profession, Son of Thomas and Jessie Bailey of 103 Jermyn Street John Pengelley Bibby – Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards Killed in action 12th October 1917 aged 27. Son of Herbert and Julia Bibby of 7 Hyde Park St, London W2 George Biggerstaff (Beggerstaff) – Private, 2nd/5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers Listed under the name Beggerstaff by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Killed 20th September 1917; age unknown. George is listed on the Tyne Cot Memorial Wall near Ypres along with a further 33,782 British soldiers, plus 1,176 New Zealanders who have no known grave Charles James Bird - Private, 15th Battalion London Regiment (Prince of Wales’s Own Civil Service Rifles) A member of the numerous volunteer and territorial units used by the British Army during the first world war, Charles died of wounds received in action on 22nd October 1916 aged 21 he was the son of James and Mary Bird of Hammersmith, West London Eric Leon Boiling – Private, 8th Battalion East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) Killed in action on 26th September 1915, on the second day of the Battle of Loos, Aged 22. One of 20,610 soldiers killed in the area during and around the time of the Battle of Loos who have no known grave. Prior to enlistment, Eric had been living in Wealdstone with his uncle and working as a dental mechanic The Hon. George Edward Boscawen D.S.O - Major, 116th Battery, Royal Field Artillery Recipient of the Distinguished Service Order, George died as a prisoner of war near Liesse on 7th June 1918, aged 29. He had been severely wounded in action at Craonelle near Laon, northern France on 26 May 1918 when his unit was attacked and overrun by German Cavalry. Before the war he had served as A.D.C. to HRH the Duke of Connaught, while he was Governor General of Canada. Son of Major-General Evelyn Edward Thomas Boscawen, 7th Viscount Falmouth and Viscountess Falmouth of Connaught Square, London. During the Second World War, on 20 May 1940, his nephew, Lieutenant The Hon. Evelyn Frederick Vere Boscawen, 2nd Coldstream Guards was killed, aged 23. He is buried about 25km to the south-east from where his uncle died George’s younger brother: The Hon. Vere Douglas Boscawen – Lieutenant, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards Killed in Action on 29th October 1914 at the age of 24. Vere’s body was never identified and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres in Belgium along with 54,896 officers and men of the British and Commonwealth armies who lost their lives in the Ypres Salient and have no known graves Lord Alfred Eden Browne – Lt. Colonel, Officer Commanding 186th Brigade Royal Field Artillery Killed in action on 27th August 1918, aged 39. Awarded the Distinguished Service Order which was gazetted after his death in September 1918. Killed whilst in command of his Brigade and supporting a Canadian advance near Vis-en Artois. Youngest of 10 children of Henry Ulick Browne, 5th Marquess of Sligo, and Catherine Henrietta Dicken. Alfred’s wife Cicely died just a couple of weeks before her husband on 10th August 1918. Their home, Sheepwell House, near Potters Bar, was sold and in 1925 the 113-acre estate became the new home of the Queenswood School for Girls Horace Jerden Cook – Private, Royal Marine Light Infantry Details unknown Ernest William Coster M.C. – Captain, 2nd Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers Recipient of the Military Cross for gallantry. Killed in action during the 3rd Battle of Ypres (the Battle of Passchendaele) on 26th September 1917 while leading his company in an attack near Chalk Farm. Age 35. He is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, near Passchendaele, along with 11,954 other soldiers who have no known grave. Second son of Edwin and Mary Ann Coster of Marylebone. Ernest’s younger brother, Albert, died of wounds in East Africa just 1 week later, on 3rd October 1917, aged 34 John Deal – Private, 19th Battalion, London Regiment Killed in action 15th September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, aged 19. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in Northern France dedicated to the 72,195 men killed on the Somme whose grave is unknown. His parents were G. W. And Kate Deal of St John’s Terrace, Kingston Vale, London Frederick Joseph Dilley – 2nd Air Mechanic, Royal Flying Corps Drowned at sea 30th December 1917 when the SS Aragon was torpedoed outside Alexandria Harbour by the German submarine and minelayer UC-34. She was carrying 2,700 troops of British and Commonwealth Forces headed for conflicts in Palestine. She had arrived in a convoy but had anchored 10 miles offshore awaiting an escort. After being torpedoed the ship sank quickly with the loss of 610 lives. The destroyer HMS attack was also torpedoed as she rescued survivors from the water and sank with the loss of a further 10 lives. The following day HMS Osmanieh was concluding the search for survivors when she struck a sea mine laid by UC-34 and sank with the loss of a further 209 lives including the Commanding Officer and 8 nurses from Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service Albert Edward Drury M.M. – Company Sergeant Major, 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment Recipient of the Military Medal, killed in action on 15th November 1916, aged 36. Albert’s award, is not shown on the memorial in St James’s. the only one not to be shown, perhaps as the only non-officer on the memorial to be the recipient of such a medal William Curry Godson – Lieutenant, 46th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery Killed in Action 1st May 1917 aged 25, son of Mr R.J. and Mrs J.A. Godson, of 47 Duke Street, St James, London. Initially buried in a cemetery near Arras. William’s grave and the graves of 137 other soldiers, divided over four cemeteries, were destroyed in later battles and their remains lost. His name is now included on a memorial wall in the London Cemetery, Neuville-Vitasse near Arras Arthur Frederick Gray – 2nd Lieutenant, Suffolk Yeomanry Arthur drowned on 10th October 1918 when RMS Leinster, en-route to Holyhead, was torpedoed in the Irish Sea 16 miles east of Dublin by German submarine UB-123. Of 694 passengers and 77 crew on board, 501 perished. Arthur’s body was never recovered Leonard Alloway Groves – Lieutenant, 11th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment Killed in action on 3rd September 1916, aged 38. Son of Aubrey Groves of Ramsgate, he joined the stock exchange in 1904. When war broke out he joined the Inns Court Officer’s Training Corps eventually being commissioned into the Sussex Regiment. Leonard was initially listed as missing in action after leading his men in the assault on Beaumont Hamel. He was later identified as killed in action. Leonard is buried in the same grave as 20-year-old Captain Cyril Powys Penruddocke Commanding “B” Company of 11th Battalion. It is possible that Leonard and Cyril died together and their remains could not be differentiated and so were buried in the same grave Charles Herbert Hazell – Gunner, 106th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery Killed in Action 23rd October 1916 aged 20, son of Mr G.W. Hazell, a widower, of 72 Campbell Buildings, Westminster Bridge Road, London Paul Holman – Private, 1st Battalion, Honourable Artillery Company Killed by a stray shot while on sentry duty 15th February 1915 aged 22, son of Herbert and Sophia Hawkes Holman of 4, Whitehall Court, London. Paul was a Law graduate from Jesus College, Cambridge, who had enlisted in the H.A.C. as a Private as soon as war broke out, rather than waiting for a commission as an officer Albert Heyward Jackson M.M. – Lieutenant, 10th Battalion Australian Infantry (Australian Imperial Force) Recipient of the Military Medal, Killed in Action on 24th April 1918 aged 26. Son of Mrs Ida Mary Jackson, a widow, of 6 St Alban’s Place, Haymarket. Albert is one of 106 men by the name of Albert Jackson commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Albert’s older brother: Henry Medland Jackson – 2nd Lieutenant, Army Service Corps Attached to 1st/10 Battalion London Regiment. Died of wounds in Palestine on 19th September 1918 aged 30. Henry was the second of Ida Jackson’s sons to be killed in less than six months. He is buried along with 3501 other casualties in the Ramleh War Cemetery in Israel/Palestine The Hon. Arthur Middleton Kinnaird M.C.– Lieutenant 1st Battalion Scots Guards Recipient of the Military Cross. Killed in Action on 27th November 1917 aged 32. Arthur worked for Barclays bank in their Pall Mall East branch Arthur’s older brother: Hon Douglas Arthur Master of Kinnaird – Captain 1st Battalion Scots Guards Killed in action on 24th October 1914 aged 35. Both were the sons of Mary Alma Victoria Agnew and Arthur Fitzgerald 11th Baron of Kinnaird from Perthshire who was President of the Football Association James Virtue McEntire – 2nd Lieutenant, 14th Battalion, London Regiment (London Scottish) Killed on 3rd August 1915 aged 36. Son of James and Charlotte McEntire of 47, Inverna Court, Kensington. Born in Edinburgh, James was a veteran of the Boer War who had served with the elite cavalry unit “Paget’s Horse” who made up the 19th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. Paget’s Horse troopers were public-school educated young men who were recruited through advertisements in gentlemen’s clubs Albert Ernest Oldring – Rifleman, 8th Battalion Rifle Brigade Age unknown, killed in action during the Battle of the Somme on 15th September 1916, the same day as Private John Deal also listed on this memorial. Both men commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial dedicated to the 72,195 men killed on the Somme whose grave is unknown Edward Pinnock – Private, 1st Battalion, East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) Killed on 24th June 1917 aged 30. Husband of Mabel Jane Pinnock of 5 York Street, St James’s Square, London. One of 20,616 casualties identified on the Loos Memorial in the Pas-De-Calais, Northern France Harry Robert Sauve Pulman – Captain, 3rd Battalion, City of London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) Captain Pulman was a member of Westminster City Council initially for Regent’s Park but, after 1912, for the Pall Mall Ward. He was killed on 10th February 1915 at the age of 47 leaving his wife of less than a year, Rose, a widow. Harry was a long serving territorial soldier with 25 years’ service when he arrived in France in January 1915. On 10th March 1915 Captain Pulman was ordered to lead ‘A’ company to secure a house on the corner of the village which was thought to contain twelve Germans. He led his men towards it but soon discovered a well-armed company (around 150 men). Harry led his men forward and died alongside twelve of his men. The remaining Fusiliers managed drive the Germans out of their position and capture the house. Captain Harry Pulman was posthumously Mentioned in Dispatches for gallant and distinguished service in the field. Two weeks after his death, on the morning of the 25th March 1915, a memorial service for Harry was held at St James’s. A fellow officer wrote home about his heroics: “In the afternoon we had three bayonet charges. In the first one, poor old Harry died like a hero. Shot in the shoulder he grabbed a rifle and continued to charge. Shot again in the forearm, he went on until a third stopped him for good. The bravest man I ever saw!” Pte James P Stephenson, who was killed during the same attack had been part of the Westminster Council Highways Department that Harry had once controlled as councillor Herbert Benjamin Pratley - Private, 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards Killed in action on 28th March 1918 aged 28. One of 34,774 names on the Arras Memorial to men from the UK, New Zealand and South Africa killed in the Arras Sector between spring 1916 and 7th August 1918 who have no known grave. His parents lived in Oxfordshire John William Stancer – 2nd Lieutenant, 23rd (Tyneside Scottish) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers The son of J.H. Stancer of 11, Claremont Grove, Woodford Green, Essex. John Died on 17th April 1918 aged 24 Arthur Edward Stehn – Captain, Royal Warwickshire Regiment Killed in action while leading his company against a machine gun nest at Malplaquert just three days before the end of the war on 8Th November 1918, aged 24. Only son of George and Helenora Stehn of 25 Hornton Street, Kensington. Arthur had suffered with poor health in his younger years and in the spring of 1914, he had gone to live in Lausanne, Switzerland. He returned to England for a short vacation at the end July and, on the outbreak of war, enlisted immediately in the 6th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Within a week he had been offered a commission as an officer in 4th Battalion. Arthur, entered the trenches on the Western Front on New Year’s Day 1915 and fought in several battles until May 1915 when he was wounded in action at Festubert. Arthur was mentioned in Dispatches for his service at Festubert when the Battalion was under constant shell-fire for three days and three nights. Arthur returned to the front on 29th April 1918 and served for the remaining months of the war with the 15th and then 10th Battalion. After his death he was posthumously Mentioned in Dispatches for a second time M E Toms – Private, 15th Battalion (1st Central Ontario Regt.) Canadian Expeditionary Force (Inc. Gordon Highlanders) Identity uncertain A Canadian national, Toms was killed on 21st May 1915 and is commemorated on the Vimy Ridge Memorial in near Arras in Northern France which is dedicated to the memory of the Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed in the First World War Stanley Muir Toms – Lieutenant 2nd/18th Battalion London Regiment (London Irish Rifles) Killed in Palestine on 8th December 1917 age unknown. His Widow was Mrs Dorothy Toms of Chiswick. Stanley was killed in the battle to capture Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire the day before the surrender of the city after Ottoman Forces withdrew. He is buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery at the north end of the Mount of Olives 4.5KM from the walled city of Jerusalem. The 2,515 British and Commonwealth casualties buried there were brought from a number of battlefields from the Holy Land including Bethlehem, Jericho, Jerusalem and Ram Allah. On 11th December 1917 the Commander of the British Empire’s Egyptian Expeditionary Force, General Allenby famously entered the Old City on foot through the Jaffa Gate to show respect for the city. This was deliberately in contrast to the perceived arrogance of the Kaiser's entry into Jerusalem on horseback in 1898 which had not been well received by local citizens. General Allenby was the first Christian in many centuries to control Jerusalem last updated 13.08.2018 |
After posting these names we were contacted by the Museum Development Manager at the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Museum at Caernarfon Castle. She was curious as to whether we had any archival pictures or information concerning the men on our first world war memorial, particularly Captain E.W. Coster of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Unfortunately we didn't. Later a colleague of hers sent us this photograph. It shows a group of four officers from the Royal Welsh Fusiliers on an evening out in Amiens, Northern France in 1916.
Back row, left, Lt Ralph Greaves, an accomplished piano player who lost an arm in the war; Middle, Captain Ernest William Coster MC one of the men named on our memorial; Right, War poet and critic of the war Siegfried Sassoon. Front Holding the 'goat' is Lt Thomas Conning (killed in action) 
St James’s Church, Piccadilly War Memorial (above)
This Tablet Is Erected In Thankful Remembrance Of All Those Who Went Forth From Among Us To The Great War And To Preserve In Honour The Names Of The Members Of This Parish And Congregation Whose Lives Were Given In Our Cause 1914-1918 
Arthur Middleton Kinnaird/IWM
Arthur Edward Stehn / IWM
Leonard Alloway Groves
Albert Heyward Jackson
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