ARTHUR GEORGE STALLARD
The Stallard family can trace it's roots in Portsmouth back to the 18th century using information from the census records but may well go back considerably further. The Stallard's legacy is one that touches many others in Portsmouth given it's tendency to produce large numbers of children in each generation.
The branch of the family to which Arthur George belonged is first recorded in the 1841 census when his great-grandparents John and Hannah Stallard (both born in 1791) were living with three sons, Thomas, Charles and Henry on Deadman's Lane, later called St. Mary's Road. John was listed as a Brick Burner and the association with brickmaking was passed down the Stallard family for at least two more generations. Of the three sons living at home in 1841 it was Henry who was destined to carry the line down towards Arthur George.
At the 1851 census the 22 year old Henry was living on Kingston Crescent with Ann Bramble and her four children. Four years later Henry and Ann were married and began creating their own family which eventually included at least three daughters and eight sons. By 1871 they had moved to Stanley Road, off Twyford Avenue in Stamshaw whilst Henry worked as a brickmaker, a trade he passed on to a number of his sons including his third born child John Thomas Stallard.
In 1876 John Thomas married Edith Baker and together they moved into another house on Stanley Road where they continued the family tradition of producing a large family. In their case Edith gave birth to a total of 22 children though only half that number survived infancy. The family had moved to Prospect Road, Mile End by 1891 and to Jervis Road ten years later. In 1908 the growth in the number of children was halted by the death of John Thomas, the last child being born just three years earlier when Edith was 47 years old. The eighth, or maybe ninth, child to survive was Arthur George Stallard (b. 1899).
At the outbreak of the Great War Arthur George was 15 years old and too young to enlist but by 1916 he had joined the 15th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment which was posted to France in May that year. The Hampshires took part in the Battle of the Somme which began in July 1916 and went on to fight at Flers around 15th September where Arthur George lost an arm. He died from his wounds at a stationary hospital in Rouen on 27th September.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) list Private Arthur George Stallard (18834), 15th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, died 27/09/1916, age 17. Buried at the St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen (Grave Ref: B.21.65.). Son of John and Edith Stallard, of 36, Jervis Rd., Twyford Avenue, Portsmouth.
Arthur Stallard is commemorated on the Cenotaph. He is not listed in "The National Roll of the Great War", Section X.
Tim Backhouse
September 2014