Chailey 2017

My thanks to photographer, Mike Anton, for sending me these new shots of Chailey. It's good to see the memorial (below) with the signs of spring creeping through in the background.

The shot below takes in both the war memorial and St Peter's church, Chailey, whilst the penultimate shot in this short series shows the triptych inside the church which was unveiled, prematurely, in 1918. 

Seeing this great photo below reminds me that I need to visit Chailey again this year and re-acquaint myself with the village, the names on the memorial, and some of the sleepers in the churchyard. The last time I came here was in 2008 when my daughter was two years old and we were still living in India. 

Chailey War Memorial

Here's another photo from the unveiling of Chailey's war memorial on the 2nd October 1920. The crop below shows some of the men of the parish, but who are they?

Thomas Deadman is the man on the far right, but what about the other men, and who is the officer? A Blencowe perhaps? Also see my earlier post on the unveiling of Chailey's War Memorial.

Unveiling Chailey's war memorial

These images of the unveiling of Chailey's war memorial all date to the 2nd October 1920.

Thomas Deadman is clearly identifiable in some of the photographs but who are the other participants?

Even before the war was over, work began in Chailey to commemorate the dead of the parish.  A temporary war memorial, paid for parishioners, was unveiled in the summer of 1918.  The teak triptych made of wood from HMS Britannia can still be seen in St Peter’s Church, Chailey and is now situated above a memorial book. The triptych was unveiled on June 4th but a further eleven men from the village would die in action before the year was out.

News reached the village about mid day on the 11th November that the Armistice had been signed and the same evening, “a large and reverend congregation” filled the parish church to give thanks for the victory.  Services of thanksgiving were also held the following Sunday.

In June 1919, The Chailey Parish Magazine reported that at an adjourned public meeting held at The Reading Room, it was unanimously resolved to erect a granite war memorial designed by Mr Cotesworth, on which were to be recorded the names of those connected with the Parish who fell in the war. It was decided by a narrow majority of two votes that the location for the memorial should be opposite the Reading Room. (Photograph below courtesy of Mike Anton).

At peace celebrations held in the village on July 19th 1919 a Special Eucharist and service of thanksgiving was held, 114 soldiers and sailors attending a ‘sumptuous dinner’ in the Parish Room.  Children were presented with medals by Robert Blencowe to commemorate the end of the Great War and each child had his or her medal pinned to shirts and blouses.

The concluding toast paid tribute to the work of the Red Cross and especially mentioned Beechland House which had done such good work with Miss Cotesworth as Commandant.  Frances Blencowe was also singled out for praise.

The following year, on October 2nd 1920, Chailey's war memorial was unveiled.

Forty nine names of servicemen who were killed in action or died as a result of wounds or sickness attributable to the Great War appear on the war memorial on Chailey village green.  According to my research, the names of a further seven men should also appear.  In alphabetical order, they are:

Charles Buckwell (born and lived in Chailey), Charles Hodges (born in Chailey), Robert Charles Jessop (born in Chailey), William Alfred Lansdowne (resident in Chailey), Richard Roffe (resident in Chailey), Edward Wells (resident in Chailey) and Charles Jarrett Willey (born in Chailey).

In addition, Harold Macculloch certainly had connections with the parish (his father John died at home in Chailey in 1915) and his name appears on the wooden triptych inside the church and in the British Legion Roll of Honour but not on the war memorial.

Frederick James Smith and George Spencer Smith are both noted on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Debt of Honour as being the sons of James and Margaret Emma Smith of Yew Tree Cottage, Cornwell's Bank, Chailey, Lewes, Sussex when in fact Colonel’s Bank is in Newick.  Their names appear on the war memorial in Newick along with those of two other brothers also killed during the First World War.

Finally, William Henry Spice is recorded on Soldiers in Died in The Great War as having been born in “Chailey, Kent”.  As I indicate on his page, this is certainly an error and it seems likely that he had no connection with the parish.

Chailey War Memorial 1920

My thanks to Jim Type for sending me the photo above which was taken during the unveiling ceremony of Chailey's war memorial in October 1920. There was obviously a series of photos taken at the time and later reproduced as postcards. Number 12 is here (originally on eBay by the looks of things - see bottom right corner) and number 9 is on the War Memorial and Remembrance page of the Chailey 1914-1918 website. I'd love to see other photos from the series if anybody has any they could scan and send me.

Chailey School - Cricket Team 1934

Following on from recent posts concerning Newick School cricket team circa 1907 and the Chailey School cricket team in 1938, here are some of Chailey's boys in 1934.

Back row, left to right:
Peter Douch, Harry English, Unknown, Ray Campbell, Russel Munnings, Unknown, Dennis Kimmins, David English

Front row:
Stan Hales, Unknown, Harold Williams, John Tompkins

On 15th November 1943, Russel Charles Munnings was one of 114 ratings killed when the ship on which he was serving - HMS Dulverton - was attacked by German planes five miles of the coast of the Greek Island of Kos. Three officers were also killed. The ship was badly damaged and was scuttled by HMS Belvoir. Russel Munnings is not commemorated on the Chailey War Memorial on the village green. His entry in the Commonwealth War Graves register notes that he was the son of Charles Aldous Munnings and Dorothy Kathleen Munnings of Horsted Keynes, Sussex.

My thanks again to David Gordon for sending me this photograph.

War memorial and St Peter's church

Another undated photograph of Chailey Green, and an interesting angle showing the church and war memorial. The house in between the two, no longer exists.

Chailey Green 1920s

Here's Chailey Green with the war memorial. You can read more about Chailey's war memorial and remembrance on the main site.

Chailey Green pre October 1920

I've been sent a couple of old photos of Chailey - and I have others which I'll also post in due course.

This first one shows Chailey Green before the war memorial was unveiled in October 1920. I'm assuming that this photograph and others that I'll post are out of copyright and that they're OK to post on a non-commercial, remembrance blog. If they're not, I'm sure somebody will let me know.

Charles Bristow and Christopher Short

Thanks to information recently received, I've been able to update the pages for Charles Bristow and Christopher Nathan Short. Charles, who was born in Chailey but emigrated to Australia before the start of the First World War, served with the AIF and was killed in action in September 1917. I have previously written about him on this blog.

Charles's sister Elizabeth would later go on to marry Christopher Short who served with the Royal Navy. The information I have on him is still very scant. Charles was also related to two other Bristow men: Erle Bristow and another Charles Bristow. The name was obviously an unlucky one for he too was also killed in action in September 1917. Both men are remembered on Chailey's parish war memorial.

G/18866 Pte Richard Roffe, 7th Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment)

Richard Roffe: another of Chailey's forgotten men.

Just over 90 years ago, on February 5th 1917, Private Richard Roffe of The East Kent Regiment was killed in action. He was not a native of Chailey, (he was born in Wittering, Sussex) but according to Soldiers Died in The Great War, he was resident in the village and enlisted at Wansford, Northants.

In its January 1916 issue Chailey Parish Magazine records him within the roll call of local serving men, noting, "Roffe, R". That is the only mention he receives but nevertheless enough, surely, to have warranted the inclusion of his name on the parish war memorial.

Richard Roffe possibly enlisted under the Derby Scheme in late 1915. He was certainly young. At the time of his death he was still four months short of his twentieth birthday.

Triptych, St Peter's Church, Chailey

My thanks to Mike Antonof Sussex for the splendid photo of the 1914-1918 triptych inside St Peter's Church, Chailey.

Fifty names appear on the triptych, one more than on the memorial outside on the village green. The additional name inside St Peter's is that of Lt Sigurd Harold Macculloch. The triptych was originally unveiled in 1918 whilst the war was still raging and I am at a loss to understand why Harold Macculloch's name was omitted when the war memorial was erected in 1920.