War Service (2)

Names of those who served in WW1 and survived appear on the side panels of the Memorial in the Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Cherington

This wooden  memorial commemorating the local Great War soldiers was designed by Miss F. Brooke of Barford in the style of the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft. The figure of St George and the Dragon is splendid. The joinery was done by Stourton wheelwright Harry Clark and stonework by Baker of Shipston-on-Stour. Principally responsible for the creation of the memorial were Mrs H.E. (Nora) Dickins and her sister Miss Lilian Dickins, who raised the money, collected the names and saw the project through to the unveiling in 1922 by Fred Simkins and Herbert Taylor.

All the lettering, including the names of the sixty-six men who served (those who died are shown on the central panel), was restored in 2010 by Guy Redmayne on the initiative of Stan Mace, son of old soldier Fred Mace, and the memorial rededicated on Remembrance Sunday, November 14 2010.

Information supplied by Richard Russell.

Among the names of those listed as having served from 1915 to 1918 are those of Harold Bartlett and David Bailey. According to other sources they in fact served, respectively, from 1917 to 1918, and in 1918 only.

The survivors named on the side panels are listed below. Further forenames have been added in [] from other sources. See footnotes for these sources and for notes on incorrect spellings.

Notes: (1) full name from  original handwritten 1911 census entry.

(2) Josiah Ivens, father,- completed the census entry  see note (1) - and spelt the family surname “Ivens”.

(3) Samson Bevan Smith (1878-1958) was gassed; he used to drink a concoction of cider, black treacle and ginger to clear his lungs.

(4) Frank Gillett returned from the war with only one thumb.

A total of 66 soldiers is named, of whom seventeen (27%) gave their lives for their country. It is estimated that overall, one in seven Great War soldiers perished in the conflict.

There is another memorial, to soldiers who had attended the Methodist chapel in Stourton. When the chapel was deconsecrated, it was taken to the church at Sutton-under-Brailes. For details, click here.

Four more names appear on the Evesham Journal and Four Shires Advertiser Roll of Honour 1914-15, of those who had enlisted by the date of publication of the Cherington and Stourton section on 26 Sep. 1914. However, for unknown reasons, these four names are not on any of the memorials. They are:

Pte H. Canning, Pte J. Horn, Pte J. Thornill, Pte E. Webb. 

For the late Malcolm Farmer's valuable  indexed transcriptions of over 3,000 names from about 80% of the Journal Roll of Honour, see the Links page.