THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com  created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

THE END OF THE GREAT WAR IN FINDON

Copyright Valerie Martin 2003

Eight months after the Armistice, Peace Day was designated on Saturday 19th July 1919, and everyone in the village celebrated despite unsympathetic weather.

The Great War brought about a major change in farming on the Findon downland. This was the dispersal of a very large number of the Southdown sheep flocks due to fixed pricing and mutton not graded according to its quality. The famous and familiar Southdown breed was largely abandoned and a coarser sheep superseded them.

On the south wall of the nave in St. John the Baptist Church are two tablets commemorating the dead of the war that was to end all wars — and the Second World War. There is a sombre list of thirty-six names for the appalling  1914–1918 conflict. This was a crushing blow and a great sacrifice for a village of less than 800 inhabitants at the time.  Families were decimated by the war, which had almost wiped out a generation of menfolk.

It seems appropriate for me to record here the names of those who gave their lives in the Five Years' War. The names of the fallen and mourned are recorded here, together with details of their regiments and dates of death.

1914

Oct 26

Thomas Constable, Lance Corporal, 1st Dorsetshire Regt. — France.

 

Dec 16

George William Woolgar, Able-Seaman Royal Navy H.M.S. Hardy — off Scarborough.  

AB Woolgar was one of two sailors killed during the action later known as the East Coast Raid by units of the German High Seas fleet in 1914.

AB Woolgars service ( and sacrifice) is not recorded by the Commonwealth Graves commission and it should be.
 

1915

Mar 23

Richard Hollingdale, Private, 7th Royal Sussex Regt.— Aldershot.

 

Apr 5

George Constable, Corporal (Acting Sergeant), 1st Dorset Reg. — Camberwell from France.

 

Apr 25

Thomas Hugh Colville Frankland, Major, served with the 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers for many years.  

He was in Egypt in 1908 and then in India in 1910.  Brigade Major — Gallipoli.

 

Apr 25

Edward Cuninghame Margesson, Major, 2nd South Wales Borderers — Gallipoli.

 

May 4

Leslie Harold Langridge, 4th King's Royal Rifles Corps — France.

 

May 9

Leslie Carter, Private, 2nd Royal Sussex Regt. —Richebourg L’Avoue – France.

 

May 9

Ernest Ruff, 2nd Royal Sussex Regt. — Richebourg l’Avoue, France.

 

Aug 7

Robert Cecil Colville Frankland, Captain, 3rd North

Staffordshire Regt. Attached to 8th Lancashire Fusiliers — Suvla, Gallipoli

 

Aug 29

George Alder, Private, 4th Royal Sussex Regt. – Gallipoli.

 

Sep 25

Edward George Mills, Private, 2nd Royal Sussex Regt. — France.

 

Oct 23

Alfred Edward Eyears, Private, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry — France

 

Nov 12

Hugh Graystone Penfold Wyatt, 2nd Lieutenant Sussex Yeomanry — Alexandria from Gallipoli.

1916

Feb 19

Alec Gordon Boulton, 2nd Lieutenant — General List, Assistant Provost Marshall — France.   He was the son of Major General C. F. Boulton and Mrs Boulton of
Woolsthorpe (now the property known as Grey Point) Findon.    Alec was born in Karachi Sind and was
interpreter to the 129th Baluchis.
 

 

Mar 13

Albert Hards, Sergeant, Royal Engineers — St. Elie, France.

 

May 10

Charles Albert Madge, Lieutenant-Colonel South African Defence Force, late 6th Royal Warwickshire Regt. — Hohenzollern Redoubt, France.

 

May 31

William Tizzard, Royal Marine Light Infantry H.M.S. Queen Mary — off Jutland in the North Sea. 

The Queen Mary sank within 90 seconds of being struck.  All previous engagements in the history of naval warfare were surpassed by the Battle of Jutland on 31st May - 1st June.  The Royal Navy lost 14 ships and suffered 6,784 casualties compared with the destruction of only 11 enemy ships with just over 3,000 casualties.  In 1919 William's parents lived at No. 1 Rose Cottages in the Horsham Road.    
 

 

July 19

Arthur Hudson, 2nd Lieutenant, 31st Battn. Australian Imperial Force — Tromelles, France.

 

Aug 24

William Albert Bridger, Lance-Corporal, 2nd Royal Sussex Regt. — France

 

Sep 25

Geoffrey Wilfred Penfold Wyatt, 2nd Lieutenant, 1st The Buffs — East Kent Regt. — France

1917

Jan 11

Anthony Robert Margesson, Lance-Corporal, Manchester at sea from Salonica.

 

May 3

Arthur Bartlett, Private, 9th Royal Fusiliers — France

 

May 19

Joseph Cobby, Private, 2nd Royal Sussex Regt. — France

 

Jul 7

William Alan Fraser, Captain, Royal Engineers Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General — from Salonica.

 

Aug 19

Herbert William Lawson Preston, Lieutenant, Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery, — Rouen, France.

 

Nov 3

George Pratt, Private, 2/4th Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regt. — Palestine

 

Nov 11

Frederick Drury, Private, 4th Royal Sussex Regt. — Palestine.

1918

Jun 25

Harry John Gurd, Private, Army Veterinary Corps, and Private, Labour Corps.  Harry was a friend of Jack Long and was employed as a chauffeur on the Muntham Estate and lived at the East Lodge opposite North End.   He died in Worthing Hospital on 25th June 1918 aged 37.   He was the husband of Alice Gurd and was buried in the churchyard at Findon.

 

Aug 19

Alwyn Langham the son of Walter and Fanny Langham of Nepcote.  Private with the 12th Norfolk Regt. — Hazebrouck, northern France.

 

Aug 22

George Short, Private, 7th The Buffs, East Kent Regt. — Albert, France.

 

Sep 13

Wilfred Percival Bridger, late Private, 2nd Royal Sussex Regt. — Findon from France.

 

Sep 15

Albert Constable, Lance-Corporal, 18th Dorsetshire Regt. — Germany from France

 

Sep 18

Cedric Christian Douglas, Gunner, Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery — Cambrai, northern France.

 

Sep 19

Jesse Carrier, Private, 16th Royal Sussex Regt. — France

 

Oct 27

Charles Pratt, Private, 9th East Surrey Regt. — Lincoln from France.

The sons of Hugh Richard Penfold Wyatt (owner of the Cissbury Estate) — Hugh Graystone Penfold and Geoffrey Wilfred Penfold were later to be commemorated by a new window at St. John the Baptist Church.  I have also learned that Hugh Richard Penfold Wyatt was buried at Alexandria (Chatby) Military and War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt, aged 25.

The Parish War Memorial stands in the Churchyard. The original structure was altered after the Second World War to include an additional plinth to remember the Findon men lost serving their country.

Continue if you would like to read Picnic at Long Furlong — Between the Wars.

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This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.

E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com