THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE - Private Alwyn Langham

28th October 2003.

Langham Family

We are searching for the Langham family of Worthing and came across an alwyn langham who was killed in 1918, he was the son of Walter and Fanny Langham of Nepcote, Worthing.

Our father was born in Worthing (Walter Albert) and we are trying to trace any remaining relatives of his and the Worthing Langhams.

Any help appreciated.

Thank you

Danice Berry

Alywn's father, Walter Langham was born c.1855 in Newmarket, Suffolk. He was the son of Thomas Langham, a stable lad and his wife Martha. With his family connections, not to mention the Newmarket ones, there was little doubt that Walter would become a racing man.

Therefore, no eyebrows were raised when he became a turf correspondent and moved to Findon.

Many of the villagers in Findon were employed in the racing scene during the tenure of Robert Gore the trainer at the Downs Stables at this time.

Cross Lane pre 1908

Walter married Fanny (a girl sixteen years his junior) from nearby Steyning and by 1891 the couple were settled at 3 Cross Lane in Findon and lived there for around the next ten years. It was quite a little racing community with

William Brown the jockey living next to the turf reporter and his family (at 2 Cross Lane).

A string of racehorses passing the forge (now John Henry's Bar) in Nepcote Lane.

Walter and Fanny Langham christened their first son Walter (after his father). The exact date of his birth in 1890 is a little uncertain but he was baptised on 7th December 1890.

Walter Junior was soon followed by Albert who was baptised at St. John the Baptist Church on 13th March 1892 but unfortunately died aged 15 months.

Their daughter Eva Sinclair was baptised on 4th October 1896.

Alwyn was born in 1899 (baptised in Findon on 3rd March 1899). The young Alwyn grew up in the village and in all probability attended the village school. He eventually said goodbye to his family, neighbours and friends and left Findon to become a Private in the 12th Norfolk Regiment and was sent to France in 1918.

"The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime"
- Edward Grey, ominously, at the outbreak of WW1.

I have been unable to ascertain whether he was killed outright or wounded and died from his wounds.

News reached Findon that Alwyn had not survived his ordeal on the front and was killed in action at age nineteen at the defence of Hazebrouck in north-western France (between Calais and Lillie, close to the Belgian border). The date of his death was 19th August 1918.

There was a great amount of confusion and disagreement during the Great War as to whether the bodies of soldiers should be brought home. Alwyn's body was recovered and as he was buried in Plot 1. Row F. Grave 14. Le Grand Hasard Military Cemetery, Morebecque. The small village of Morebecque came under the umbrella of the Department of the Nord, 3 kilometres south-west of Hazebrouck.

The bodies of many of his comrades were never recovered... or maybe if they had been wounded they were taken to the Hazebrouck Casualty Clearing Station which was part of the casualty evacuation chain. These Casualty Stations were normally located on or near railway lines, (such as Hazebrouck which was a strategically important railway centre), to facilitate movement of casualties from the battlefield and on to the hospitals.

The Casualty Stations moved quite frequently, especially in the wake of the enemy attacks in the spring of 1918 and the Allied advance on the Germans in the summer and autumn of that year.

The Langham family were living in Nepcote by the time of the 1913-18 electoral register.

he Langhams were related to the Bridger family who had also migrated from Newmarket and two of Alwyn's cousins were also killed in the First World War.

(Their mother, Emma, was the sister of Alwyn's father, Walter).

Emma's first son was William Albert Bridger, born in Newmarket in 1883. The family then moved to Findon where Wilfred Percival was born in 1885. The boys grew up in Findon and, and no doubt attended the Findon school along with their cousins.

William Albert left home and lived and worked as a stable lad at the Michelgrove Stables. At the start of the First World War he went to Chichester and enlisted in the 2nd Royal Sussex Regiment and became a

Lance Corporal. He was wounded in action and died of his wounds in France on 24th August 1916.

Meanwhile, his brother, Wilfred Percival was married and had three small boys and was living at Mill Cottages and then at Nepcote. He joined the 2nd Royal Sussex Regiment as a Private and in July 1915 was invalided out after many months of serving in the trenches. He

died on 13th September 1918 and was buried in the churchyard at St. John the Baptist Church in Findon.

The Great War was a sad time for the Langhams and the Bridgers of Findon.

Continue if you would like to read

The End of the Great War in Findon.