John William Stockdale was born in Carlisle on 14th May 1886. He was the first child of Moses Stockdale and his wife Jane who had married in Carlisle a year earlier. 

Moses worked for the London & North Western Railway (LNWR), on the footplate of locomotives. Moses came originally from Whitehaven and joined the railway when he was 14. He worked for a while at Whitehaven as an engine cleaner and later transferred to Carlisle, probably when he was promoted from cleaner to fireman.

Soon after John was born, the family moved to Workington. Over the next ten years they lived alternately in Carlisle and Workington, probably as Moses progressed in his job. In the years after 1887 the family grew until eventually by 1906 Moses and Jane had six daughters and two sons. They moved finally to Workington in about 1910 when Moses was now a driver. Moses stayed in Workington for the rest of his life.

John himself joined the railway at Carlisle in about 1900. He started as a signal box boy. By 1910 he had relocated to Gorton, Manchester. He was still with the LNWR but now he was working in the carriage and wagon works making wagon sheets. These were heavy canvas sheets tied down on open goods wagons to protect the load. In the picture below you can see some wagons covered with the kind of sheets that John was making.

While John was living and working in Gorton he met Violetta Worrall, who worked as a calico finisher. There was a cotton finishing mill not far from the railway works. She probably worked there. They married on 26th November 1910 in the parish church in Gorton. John was aged 24, and Violetta 23. John's 18 year old sister Lily was one of the witnesses that signed the marriage register.

John and Violetta had four daughters in Manchester, and in about 1917 they moved back to Workington. John was still with the LNWR and by now he was employed as a tube cleaner. A locomotive boiler has tubes running through it which carry the heat from the fire through them to heat the water. These tubes need to be regularly cleaned of ash and soot to maintain the efficiency of the boiler, using long handled brushes and steam lances. This was physically demanding and dirty work, hazardous to health. It's difficult to imagine why he moved from a comparatively clean job in Manchester. Maybe he came under pressure to join the army and chose a job that was vital for the war effort.

Back in Workington they lived in a house that was in a courtyard just behind Cavendish Street. The courtyard had different names in various census records, Wide Arch, Coles Yard. They lived in number 4. By 1926 they had a few more children, including Albert Moses born in the house in1923. The map below is from 1923 and we've put red ring around the courtyard where they lived, The modern day photo below that is looking along Cavendish Street from Portland Square, with a red arrow showing the entrance to the courtyard.

We think that rather than sit around waiting for something to turn up John took the bold step of looking for work where there were likely to be opportunities. There was a huge amount of housebuilding in the London/Surrey area - did he find work there? Quite possibly - and he found a house as well and was able to bring the family down. And there starts the Stockdale connection in the South.

In the 1939 Register the family were still in 535 Gander Green Lane, John, Violetta, and five children, including Albert Moses. John's occupation was painter, which fits with the idea that he found work in the building trade.

John and Violetta stayed at 535 until they both died in 1967.

Albert Moses Stockdale

1923 - 2001

Albert was born in Workington on 5th April 1923. His birth certificate says he was born at 4 Cavendish Street - but it was actually at the house at 4 Coles Yard, Cavendish Street. He moved with the family to 535 Gander Green Lane, North Cheam sometime in the 1930s.

In the 1939 Register he is aged 16 employed as a card box maker. 

 (The 1939 Register was in effect a census taken on 29th September 1939 to record the details of every civilian. It was used as the basis for issuing identity cards and ration books during the war. It later formed the basis for starting the National Health Service.)

Here is the family in the 1939 Register.  Women's names were later changed when they married after the register was maintained by the NHS. Some entries are blacked out as closed where the person may be still alive. The blacked out entry for the Stockdale family is Dennis Stockdale.

On 29th January 1942, Albert was enlisted in the Army, aged 19. He was initially taken into the East Surrey Regiment, but on 20th June 1942 he was transferred to the Royal Engineers, with rank of Driver. Five days after D-Day on 11th June 1944 he landed in France with 234 Field Company RE. The job of the RE was building roads and bridges to facilitate the advance of the main Allied invasion force. On 21st September 1944 he was admitted to hospital, with burns to his chest. He was released from hospital and sent back to the UK six days later on 27th September.

He returned to France on 16th February 1945 with the British Liberation Army. We have yet to discover where he went in this period, all we know is that he was part of number 234 Field Company, RE. He came back home over a year later on 27th April 1946 and was discharged a few weeks after that on 22nd May 1946.

After he was discharged he worked in various general labouring jobs. He met Doris Minnie Amos and married her on 4th September 1948.

He lived with Doris in 18 York Street, Mitcham Junction, at the Amos family home. They had two children there, Alan 29th June 1949, and Ann 17th September 1952.

In 1958 they moved to 329 Purbrook Way, Havant, Hampshire. Albert had found work as a sheet metal worker at Dunham-Bush in Portsmouth. They stayed in Purbrook Way until Albert died in 2001.

Albert's Brothers and Sisters

John and Violetta had another ten children, Albert's brothers and sisters. Three died when they were babies. The following tables show the basic details of the families of the remaining seven.