Walter Napleton Stone VC

b. 07/12/1891 Blackheath, London. d. 30/11/1917 Cambrai, France.

Walter Napleton Stone (1891-1917) was born on the 7th December 1891 at 3 Lansdowne Place, Blackheath, Lewisham, London. His father, Edward, was a solicitor, married Emily Frances Mieville, on 24th July 1874 at St Mary Hornsey Rise, Islington. Walter had nine siblings. One of his brothers, Arthur, was awarded the DSO and Mentioned in Despatches during the Great War. He was killed in action in 1918 and is buried in Hancourt British Cemetery, The Somme.

Walter was educated at Lindisfarne, Blackheath, at Harrow between 1906-10, and at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Walter did not complete his degree at Cambridge. Walter then decided to study land surveying, and travelled to Canada aboard to Lusitania on 27th April 1912. Walter met Mabel Maud Jukes at St Catherine’s, Ontario in 1913, and they lived in Toronto. There is no record of a marriage, and all records of Walter name his father as his next of kin. Walter and Mabel had a son, Reginald Mieville, born on 21st May 1914. Walter returned to England at the outbreak of World War I.

Walter N Stone VC

By the time war was declared in August 1914, the Stone family had moved house to 21, Vanbrugh Park, Blackheath, and Stone returned there after leaving Canada, and joined the Inns of Court OTC on the 9th November 1914 and then went on to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, on the 29th December 1914. He was commissioned into the 3rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) and attached to the 17th (Service) Battalion (Empire) which had been formed in London on the 31st August 1914 by the British Empire Committee and came under the command of the 99th Brigade, 33rd Division on the 26th June 1915, and landed in France on the 17th November 1915, though by the time Stone joined them on the 5th January 1916, the battalion had been transferred to the 5th Brigade, 2nd Division.

He was awarded the VC for his actions on the 30th November 1917 in the Cambrai Sector, France, which led to his death. His citation reads:

“For most conspicuous bravery when in command of a company in an isolated position 1,000 yards in front of the main line, and overlooking the enemy’s position. He observed the enemy massing for an attack, and afforded invaluable information to battalion headquarters. He was ordered to withdraw his company, leaving a rearguard to cover the withdrawal. The attack developing with unexpected speed, Capt. Stone sent three platoons back and remained with the rearguard himself. He stood on the parapet with the telephone under a tremendous bombardment, observing the enemy and continued to send back valuable information until the wire was cut by his orders. The rearguard was eventually surrounded and cut to pieces, and Capt. Stone was seen fighting to the last till he was shot through the head. The extraordinary coolness of this heroic officer and the accuracy of his information enabled dispositions to be made just in time to save the line and avert disaster.” — The London Gazette, 12th February 1918

Stone had listed his father as his next of kin and all relevant documents and belongings were forwarded to him upon his son’s death and Edward Stone received his son’s VC from the King on the 26th July 1918, at Buckingham Palace.

His actual grave has never been located and he is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial to the Missing, but there is a memorial to Stone in Greenwich Cemetery, south-east London. About thirty yards in front of the War Memorial is a group of graves of the Stone family. On the largest are the names of Stone’s parents, his father died in 1918 and his mother died in 1943, and underneath the inscription:

“also in memory of Lt Col Arthur Stone DSO, 16th Lancs. Fusiliers, second son of the above, killed 2nd October 1918; and Capt Walter Napleton Stone VC, 17th Royal Fusiliers, fifth son of the above, killed Bourlon Wood, France, 30th November 1917, presumed buried by the Germans near Moeuvres.”

Reginald Stone, after whom Stone’s son was named, served as a naval commander in the Royal Navy during the war and received a Distinguished Service Order.

A “W.N. Stone VC DSO MC” is listed on the parish war memorial in the Trinity Chapel of St Mary’s Church, Shrewsbury, though there has been no evidence found that he ever lived in Shrewsbury, nor did he receive the Distinguished Service Order or Military Cross. Walter is also commemoratated on the Harrow School Memorial, on the Shropshire County Roll of Honour, on a memorial plaque in Lewisham Shopping Centre, on the Royal Fusiliers panel at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, on the Pembroke College War Memorial, and also with a VC commemorative stone at Lewisham War Memorial placed on 30th November 2017.

In addition to his VC, he was awarded the British War Medal 1914-20 and Victory Medal 1914-19. The VC is held privately.

LOCATION OF MEDAL: NOT PUBLICLY HELD.

BURIAL PLACE: NO KNOWN GRAVE – ON CAMBRAI MEMORIAL, FRANCE. PANEL 3/4.