Blackmore Area Local History
Blackmore Remembers The Great War
Edwin James Alexander
Albert Edward Barker
Walter Brazier
* Herbert James Brown
W Alfred George Ellis
* William Wilsher Fixter
* Herbert Game
Herbert Charles Game
Alfred Godding
* James Gosling
* Ernest Samuel Knight
* Herbert Larke
Ernest Charles Martin
Ernest Albert Maynard
* Bertie Millbank
Ian A. Miller
Herbert Miller
Arthur John Nash
* Walter Ovel
Gerald Wellesley Pigott
Harry Riglin
James Roast
William Edward Rudling
William Henry Scudder
B David Sutton
B Ted (Edward) Sutton
* Charles Speller
* Joseph Thomas
B Charles Wash
Walter Wash
Alfred Wheal
George William White
* William Willis White
Notes
* These names are not commemorated on either the War Memorial or window in St Laurence Church, Blackmore.
B Names commemorated only on War Memorial.
W Name commemorated only on window in St Laurence Church.
The following names are also remembered on the War Memorial Tablet at Doddinghurst: Herbert Miller, Gerald Wellesley Pigott, Harry Riglin and James Roast.
Herbert Brown has a separate window in St Laurence Church dedicated to his memory.
The War Memorial also lists a further 81 men who served in the Great War and survived the conflict.
Photographs taken in October 2010 following completion of the work to clean and re-engrave the names on the War Memorial.
In
memory of those who gave
their
lives for their Country
in the
Great War 1914-1918
Sec
Lieu t. G.W.Pigott R.F.A.
″
Stoker
W Brazier R.N.
A/B E.
Alexander ″
″
A/mech
W Scudder R.N.A.S.
Pte.
G. White R.M.L.I.
Bomd.
A Godding R.F.A.
Gr. E. Sutton R.G.A.
Dr.
C. Wash R.E.
″
A.J.
Wheal ″
Pte.
D. Sutton R.Fus.
″
H.
Riglin Suffolk
″
W.
Rudling ″
″
H.
Game
″
H.
Miller ″
L/corp.
Pte.
A. Barker ″
″
E.
Martin ″
″
A.
Nash ″
″
J.
Roast ″
The window
depicts St Michael and St George and bears the
inscription:
“To the Greater Glory of God and in memory of those connected
with
this parish who fell in the great war 1914 – 19. 2nd Lt.
Gerald W
Pigott, 2nd Lt. Ian
Miller, Alfred Ellis, Herbert C Game, William E
Rudling, Ernest C Martin, Arthur J Nash, Edwin Alexander, Harry Riglin,
James
Roast, Alfred Godding, Alfred Wheal, Ernest A Maynard, George W White,
Herbert
Miller, Edward Barker, Walter Herbert Wash RN, W H Scudder, Walter
Brazier”.
The Armistice on 11th
November 1918
marked the end of hostilities with Germany
, and plans to
erect a war memorial
began only 3 months later. A
public
subscription raised £106:15s:1d, against a final cost of
£274. To
help bridge the gap, it was decided to
hold a hold a draw to raise funds.
Mr
Jasper promised a pig, Mr Hull promised a pig and a pair of fowls and
Mr
Marriage a pair of ducks and seven pounds of roasting beef.
The War Memorial was
dedicated on 7th
November 1920
,
four days before the second Anniversary of the Armistice when people
would have
gathered and paused for two minutes to remember.
The Essex County Chronicle reported: “The
unveiling of the war memorial took place on Sunday afternoon, a very
large
number of people being present. The ceremony began with the singing of
“O God
Our Help In Ages Past” followed by the lesson read by the
Vicar (the Revd. W L
Petrie) and prayers by Pastor Francis. At the request of Mr Edmund
Marriage,
Lieut. Col. Gibbons D.S.O. then unveiled the memorial congratulating
Blackmore
for having sent 103 men out of a population of 600. He mentioned that
one in
every five had paid the supreme sacrifice – Mr J H Hull then
asked Mr E
Marriage as Chairman of the Parish Council, to accept custody of the
memorial.
The names of the fallen are inscribed on the front face, and on the
other faces
the names of the men from the village who served are
inscribed”.
Even the bare statistics
of the names on the
memorial make sobering reading. The
deaths in WW1 of 21 people who lived or worked in Blackmore are
recorded from a population of around 600. Very unusually, the
memorial also lists the names of 81 of those who served, but survived. So we can confidently say
that, of the men of
Blackmore who could serve in the forces, more than one in five died.