In Memory of

Edwin Stentiford

Corporal 84072

2nd/4th London Regiment ( Royal Fusiliers)

Formerly R/43011 8th KRRC, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)

Killed in Action Thursday 19 September 1918 Age 19

Son of Mrs Beatrice Hannaford,

Week, Dartington, Totnes, Devon.

Enlisted: Chelsea

Residence: Chelsea

Buried Villers Hill, British Cemetery, Villers-Guislain Nord, France.

All First World War gravestones are sad to see but those of the men killed just as the War came to an end seem the most poignant of all. The word "armistice" would have crept into talk in the trenches just as it had back home and any 19 year-old would have started to hope that, maybe, just maybe, it would all end and they would be returning home.

Edwin Stentiford, born in the Spring of 1899, was the son of Beatrice Stentiford of Ugborough. His father is not known. We first met his mother as a little girl in the village school in Ugborough which we visited in Issue 10. Beatrice was the daughter of Charles Stentiford and Caroline Pound and her family details can be found in that article.

Edwin Stentiford's headstone

In 1903, Beatrice married Arthur Hannaford. The fact that Edwin enlisted in London into a London-based regiment might indicate that he was placed "in care" and sent away from Devon at a very early age. Certainly, there is no sign of him with his mother at the time of the 1901 Census when he would have been just 2.

Poppy Cross place in August 2003

©Roy Hewitt

Villiers Hill British Cemetery

Edwin's grave is in the front