Stanley John Herbert Muzzell was born on 19 February 1891 at 12 Manor Place, Paddington, London, the third of the nine children of Thomas William Muzzell (1859-1919) and Mary Ann Sophia Muzzell née Owen (1861-1932). His birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1891 in the Paddington registration district. On 5 April 1891 he was baptised at St John's Church, Paddington, London, where the baptismal register confirms the family were living at 8 Harrow Road, Paddington and that his father was an undertaker's manager.
In the 1901 census he was shown as aged 2 months, living at 8 Harrow Road, Paddington, with his parents, two siblings: Arthur Edward Muzzell (1885-1969) and Mabel Constance Muzzell (1887-1964), together with a female general domestic servant. His father was described as a manager, undertaker.
The 1901 census shows him as a 10-year-old scholar living at 7 Harrow Road, Paddington, with his parents, five siblings: Arthur Edward Muzzell; Dorothy Violet Muzzell (1892-1978); Percival William Thomas Muzzell (1896-1917); Hilda Gladys Muzzell (b.1897) and Harold Owen Muzzell (1899-1909), together with a female domestic servant. His father was described as an undertaker and his elder sister, Mabel Constance Muzzell, was recorded as boarding at Haslemere School, Kings Road, Clapham, London.
He was educated at Margate College, Kent.
He was shown as aged 20 years and a banker's clerk when his father completed his 1911 census return form and was living in an 8 roomed property at 7 Harrow Road, Paddington, together with his parents and six siblings: Mabel Constance Muzzell - a florist; Dorothy Violet Muzzell - a typist; Percival William Thomas Muzzell - at school; Hilda Gladys Muzzell - at school; Marjorie Helena Gertrude Muzzell (1901-1936) - at school and Norman Montague Muzzell (1904-1987) - at school. His father described his own occupation as a funeral furnisher.
On 7 May 1912 he embarked at the Port of London aboard the SS Miltiades of the Aberdeen Line. The ship's manifest showed that he was a 1st class passenger bound for Cape Town, South Africa, the country in which he intended to take up permanent residence. He was a clerk in the Standard Bank of South Africa in both Kimberley and East London.
On 7 August 1915 he joined the 2nd Regiment, 1st South African Infantry, service number 67 and served in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in both Egypt and Palestine. He subsequently proceeded to France and on 9 July 1916 he was wounded at Bernafay Wood, Somme, France and on 12 April 1917 he was killed in action, aged 26 years, whilst serving in the regiment's 'D' Company, at Fampoux, Pas de Calais, France. His body was buried in Plot 3, Row B, Grave 22 in Brown's Copse Cemetery, Rue de la Herse, 62118 Rœux, France.
As his estate was administered in South Africa, a warrant for his army effects totalling £15-8s-5d was sent to the High Commission for the Union of South Africa on 15 October 1917, as was his £4-0s-0d war gratuity on 6 February 1919.
He is shown as MUZZELL.S.J.H. L-CORPL. 2ND. S.A.INF. on the Quebec Chapel war memorial at the Church of The Annunciation, Bryanston Street, Marylebone, London. He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
