Aaron Archibald Stocking: an untimely death

Aaron Archibald STOCKING was born in 1883 in the December quarter, in Camberwell. At the time of the 1901 census he was living with his parents and siblings in Camberwell. Aged 19, no occupation is recorded for him. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission site has a record of his death , aged 34, in 1917 in Cambrai. He was first a Corporal then a Sergeant in the London Regiment and died on 1 December 1917. His name appears on the Cambrai Memorial in Louverval Military Cemetary Nord, France, and on the Bermondsey War Memorial. The records show he left a wife, 'Mrs EA Stocking', who was living at 14 Beechfield Road Catford at the time of his death. The medal roll index at TNA shows he was eligible for the Victory, British and 15 Star medals and first entered the theatre of war on 15 March 1915. He is shown as 'MM' (Military Medal) on the Bermondsey memorial.

There is a marriage index entry on FreeBMD for an Aaron A STOCKING in the September quarter of 1915, in Hackney. His bride is shown as Emma A FLACK, initials that match the reference to his wife on the CWGC site. Aaron would have been 32 years old at the time of the marriage. As he was first sent to fight in March 1915, the marriage was presumably arranged for when he was home on leave.  There are birth entries for Emma FLACK and Emma Ann FLACK in West Ham (September 1893) and Islington, December 1894. If either of these is the 'right' Emma, she would have been around 21 when they married and only 23 when widowed two years later. It seems that the couple had a son, born shortly after his father's death: FreeBMD has a record of Stanley AA (Aaron Archibald?) STOCKING in the March quarter of 1918, Lewisham, mother's surname FLACK. A sad story, though not one unique to the STOCKING family.