"CHEVELEY WAR MEMORIAL"
To the eternal memory of the men of CHEVELEY who died in the service of their country
23 in the Great War of 1914-1919 and 2 in 1939-1945 and 1 civilian killed by enemy action
Cheveley war memorial stands in front of St. Mary's Church, High Street, Cheveley at the junction with Church Lane. A budded cross atop an octagonal pillar,
mounted on stepped plinth, all atop a square stone base which is incised with "Their name liveth evermore".
Above this, on the first step of the plinth, are mounted four bronze plates with raised lettering. The front face bears the dedication and the other three hold
the names of the fallen in the Great War in chronological order of their death. These plates give the forename, surname, battalion, regiment and date of death.
Just above, on the right, on the second step is a further matching bronze with "1939-1946" and the names and regiment of the two who fell in that war.
In addition on the front face here, there is an black engraved plate depicting a soldier resting on his arms reversed.
Inside the church is a small wall mounted wooden gabled frame with doors on the front. Inside are incised the names of the fallen from the Great War on either
side of the upright of a cross The panels above are incised with "Greater love hath no man than this", whilst in the gable is "For God, King and Country".
Across the bottom rail is "The Heroic Dead".
Under the doored part of the memorial a further panel, above a small wooden shelf, lists those who fell in 1939-1945.
Elsewhere in the church are Rawson family memorial plaques in brass, one of which commemorates 2nd Lt Edward Douglas Rawson
In addition, just inside the porch are wall mounted picture frames displaying typed cards which detail the service of those men of Cheveley who served in the Great War.
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Thanks to Mike Tuffs who found a cutting from the Cambridge Evening News, dated Monday 26th March, 1917:- Dedication Ceremony performed by Archdeacon Cunningham Corpl.Frederick Double, Dragoons, died May 13th. 1915 Pte. William Tuffs, Hampshire Regt.,died July 22nd,1915 Pte. Geoffrey Henley, Suffolk, died Sept.7th,1915 Edward Percy King, Suffolks, died Oct.13th,1915 Walter Davey, West Yorks.,died Dec.24th,1915 Harold Foreman, Suffolks, died March 30th,1916 Norris Foreman, Suffolks, died March 30th,1915 Harry King, Suffolk, died July 3rd,1916 Alfred George Gilson, Grenadier Guards, died Sept.12th,1916 Nathan Hazlewood, London Regt.,died Sept.21st,1916 Daniel Hurst, Suffolks, died Sept.26th,1916 Abel Tweed, Suffolks, died Oct.29th,1916 Bertie Lyes, Royal Fusiliers, died Nov.8th,1916 William J.Moden, Suffolk, died Feb.22nd,1917 The shrine is affixed to the wall of the church on the north side of the west door.On Saturday afternoon it was prior to the dedication covered with a Union flag, while a Union flag floated at half-mast on the church tower, in memory of the fallen soldiers. The service began at 3.30, and was read by the rector, the Rev.E.K.Douglas, from the form provided by the Bishop for such ceremony. The sermon was by the Archdeacon of Ely, Dr. W.Cunningham,whop spoke from the text, "Greater love than this hath no man, that a man lay down his life for his friend." The Archdeacon said that is was well that there should be a permanent memorial in Cheveley to those who had shown themselves ready to lay down their lives for an oppressed people and for the liberty of the generations yet to come. The men who went out from Cheveley had no personal knowledge of the people to whose help and assistance they were being sent, but they knew that those people were suffering, and they went out to save them from the fate that threatened them. He had seen some of those men in Cambridge, formerly strong and vigorous,but now cripples for life. And how many young lives had ceased for ever,lives full of promise-the best men in every sense of the word. How inexpressibly sad it was to think of those losses that seemed as if they could never be replaced. But those lives could not have been thrown away. We must not be unshaken in any reckoning of them. In God's great account of life we were told that "he that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his live shall keep it." Christ had taught us by precept and by His own example that human lives laid down were not wasted. And the experience of the last two years might enable us to understand that. He had seen young men who seemed to have shaken off the discipline of their school-days until their friends hardly knew how they would turn out, because they seemed to live solely for amusement, and it appeared doubtful if they would ever take up responsible life, or whether they would drift along with the wastrels. But when this war came these youths had shown that they had the root of the matter in them, and some of those who doubted them, looking backward, now might be humbled to think how they had misjudged the men who had risen to a high level in the time of trouble and had counted not their lives dear unto to them. They went forth to take part in the greatest struggle the world had ever seen, and we who stayed at home had learned week by week of their doings, and we had seen more and more clearly how terrible a thing it would be if the world were compelled to submit to those evil German influences that Germany was trying to force on the world. Nomen could perish more nobly than these who took part in that great struggle to get these people free from those influences, and we all felt that the lives of the men who had fallen had not been wasted because they were laid down in a great cause. They had followed along the path of self-sacrifice. While we mourned over the horrors of war and sorrowed for the promising lives taken from us, let us remember that very often these were the means by which the freedom of nations and the good of mankind were accomplished. The Rector, speaking from the chancel,asked the people in the nave to leave the church and to assemble on the opposite side of the road, leaving space immediately in front of the shrine for the relatives of the fallen soldiers, a place which was most justly their due. This course was followed. When the congregation had re-assembled outside the church the Rector announced that Mrs McCalmont was prevented by illness from attending, so he would unveil the memorial himself on her behalf. The Rector then removed the Union flag from the shrine, dedicating the shrine to the memory of the fallen soldiers. Among those who were present were the Hon.Miss Crossley (niece of Mrs McCalomnt),Mr C.E,.Winship(agent), the Hon.Mrs George Lambton, the Misses Manning, Miss Godsell, Mrs D.Ransome,Mrs J.Nicholls, Mr Sidney Taylor and Mrs Taylor, Mrs D.Ransome, Mr.George Tweed and Mr S.Rolfe (churchwardens),Messrs G.P.Collin, C.J.Spurling, J.Nicholls, W.S.Hazlewood. A.Rattle, A.Tweed and J.walker (sidesmen)
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old, |
