CHARLES DOUGLAS FELGATE STONE
Along with his three elder siblings Charles Stone was born in Southampton, shortly before the family moved to Portsmouth where they were recorded in the 1901 census as living at 39 St. David's Road, Southsea.
The head of the household was Frederick William Stone who was born in Essex in 1865 and he married Eliza Deborah Woodward at Portsmouth in 1890. Eliza was a native of Portsmouth having been born in Southsea in the same year as her husband to parents George and Mary Woodward.
By 1892 the family were living in Southampton when Eliza gave birth to the couple's first child, Brenda Felgate, followed two years later by another daughter, Phyllis. In 1898 a son, Frederick Felgate was the next to be born and the following year saw the arrival of Charles Douglas Felgate.
In both the 1901 and 1911 censuses Frederick William seems to have been earning his living as an agent or broker but the records don't indicate in which business he operated. Whatever it was he must have received a good income as the properties on St David's Road are mostly quite large and this was followed by one of the more prestigious addresses at 22 Craneswater Avenue.
Nothing is known of Charles Stone's life before the outbreak of the Great War except that he attended St. Jude's Church, Southsea. He would have been too young to enlist in the first wave of enthusiasm but must have done so as soon as he was eligible as he was in the Royal Irish Regiment, attached to the Connaught Rangers when he died, aged 18 years, in September 1916.
Further Information
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website lists Second Lieutenant Charles Douglas Felgate Stone, Royal Irish Regiment, date of death, 09/09/1916, aged 18. He is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial (Pier and Face 3 A). Son of Frederick William Felgate Stone and Lily Felgate Stone, of St. Helen's Towers, Clarendon Rd., Southsea.
Charles Stone's name appears on the St. Jude's Church WW1 Memorial (as Stone DF) and on the Cenotaph (also as Stone DF). He is not listed in the National Roll of the Great War, Section X.
RESEARCH NOTES
The CWGC records gives Charles Stone's mother as Lily Felgate Stone which is not supported by other available records. His mother was Eliza Deborah Stone. Even if Eliza had died after the 1911 census in which she appears it is highly unlikely that Frederick William would have then married a woman with 'Felgate' as part of her name as that was an inherited name used by the Stone family.
Tim Backhouse
August 2014