William Neville JAPP (1892-1915)

William Neville Japp (1892-1915), known as Neville, was the oldest child in the household where Mela Brown Constable was employed as a Governess from 1913-1914 for his youngest sisters.  He was just a few years younger than Mela and was out at work.

Neville Japp was born on 7th August 1892 at Liverpool, the eldest of six children of Francis Vivian Japp, a shipbroker, and his wife, Ethel Mary Leonora (née Tyrell).  They were living in Oxton, Cheshire, in 1901 and, by 1906, the family was living at The Nest, 7 Vanburgh Park, Blackheath, London.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Neville was recorded as a shipbroker’s clerk at the time of the 1911 census.

During the First World War, Neville was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in the 1/20th Battalion London Regiment and arrived in France on 16th July 1915.  Just over a month later he was dead.  Neville was killed in action on 25th September 1915 and was buried at Loos-en-Gohelle, Pas-de-Calais.  From references in some of the letters, it seems that he was engaged to a girl called Madeleine.