Edward Parker Gudgin
This name is on the war memorial inside St Andrew's Church, Landor Road, Stockwell, London SW9
(Gudgin, Edward P.)
Service no 485039
Rifleman, London Regiment (The Rangers)
Died age 39 on 2 December 1917
Husband of Nellie Gudgin, of 63, Hubert Grove, Stockwell, London.
Remembered at Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, France and at St Andrew's
British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920 at the National Archives, available at ancestry.co.uk
Edward Parker described himself as a "brewery stores and off licence manager" when he signed up on 15 December 1915, age 37, in Canterbury, Kent. He was at that time living with his wife Nellie and daughter Edith in Folkestone. He had been a professional soldier, serving with the London Regiment in India. At 5 feet 6 ¾ inches (1.7m) tall, with a 39 inch (100cm) chest (he weighed 160 pounds/72.5kg) he was bigger and broader than most of his fellow soldiers. His physical development, however, was judged only "fair".
Gudgin's war lasted just under two years, much of that spent in the reserve or in Britain. He reached France with the British Expeditionary Force on 18 March 1917 and a scant 9 months later he was dead and his wife was shortly afterward in receipt of his last effects: letters, photos, cards and a pocket book.
Information from the 1911 census
Although in 1915 Gudgin gave his address to the Army as Folkestone, he had a clear connection to Stockwell. Possibly he was working away from home. The 1911 census shows Edward, Nellie and their daughter were living at 65 Hubert Grove, Stockwell. Edward, described as a brewer's clerk, was born in Hanover Square, London; Nellie was born in Weedon, Northampton. Edith Florence Lucy, aged 3, was born in Lambeth.