2009

TL7315 : War Memorial, St Mary the Virgin Church, Great Leighs, Essex

taken 15 years ago, near to Fuller Street, Essex, England

War Memorial, St Mary the Virgin Church, Great Leighs, Essex
War Memorial, St Mary the Virgin Church, Great Leighs, Essex
Included within Church Grade 1 Listing: LinkExternal link and LinkExternal link (p36)
IWM War Memorials Archive No.22246 LinkExternal link (Archive LinkExternal link )
War Memorials Online Ref #: WMO130881 LinkExternal link
Roll of Honour LinkExternal link

Unveiled at 2.30 P.M. on 12th December 1920
by Major General Sir George Scott Moncrieff, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., C.I.E.
Late Director of Fortifications & Works, 1914-1918
Unveiling Programme: Pages 1&4: LinkExternal link Pages 2&3: LinkExternal link

Set in the 1715 boundary wall outside St Mary the Virgin Church is the
Memorial to the men of the Parish of Great Leighs
who gave their lives in the World Wars of 1914~1919 and 1939~1945.
The text reads:

GREAT LEIGHS 1920
THIS TABLET WAS PLACED HERE BY THE PARISHIONERS OF GREAT LEIGHS IN
HONORED MEMORY OF FELLOW PARISHIONERS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR
OUR COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 ~ 1919 . THEY WHOM THIS TABLET
COMMEMORATES WERE NUMBERED AMONG THOSE WHO AT THE CALL OF KING AND
COUNTRY LEFT ALL THAT WAS DEAR TO THEM ENDURED HARDNESS FACED DANGER
AND FINALLY PASSED OUT OF THE SIGHT OF MEN BY THE PATH OF DUTY AND SELF
SACRIFICE GIVING UP THEIR OWN LIVES THAT OTHERS MIGHT LIVE IN FREEDOM
LET THOSE WHO COME AFTER SEE TO IT THAT THEIR NAMES BE NOT FORGOTTEN

CHARLES CLOUGHTON D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
ERNEST GEORGE CLOUGHTON D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link M: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
CHARLES COOK D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
CHARLES JOSEPH DIGBY D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
ERNEST DIGBY D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
WILLIAM DUKE D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link M: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
ARCHIE FITCH D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link B: LinkExternal link
ARTHUR FITCH † D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link M: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link B: LinkExternal link
DICK FITCH † D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link M: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link B: LinkExternal link
GEORGE BENNETT FITCH D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link B: LinkExternal link
FREDERICK MANSFIELD D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link M: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
CHARLES JONATHAN RAYNER D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link M: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
HARRY SARGEANT D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
ALAN GEORGE TRITTON † D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link M: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
ALFRED REGINALD WARD D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
CHARLES HENRY WARD D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link
ERNEST WRIGHT D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link B: LinkExternal link
HERBERT GEORGE WRIGHT D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link M: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link B: LinkExternal link
LOUIS WALTER WRIGHT D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link 2018: LinkExternal link

1939 ~ 1945
ERIC SYDNEY BRIGGS D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link
DAVID COARD D: LinkExternal link (Archive LinkExternal link ) C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link
DAVID GORDON COUSINS D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link M: LinkExternal link
ALAN HULL D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link
RICHARD FRANK TOWNEND D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link M: LinkExternal link
ALFRED BERNARD READ D: LinkExternal link C: LinkExternal link G: LinkExternal link

where
D: are the CWGC* Casualty Details;
C: the CWGC Memorial Certificate;
G:/M: the Grave or Memorial Inscription photograph;
2018: November 2018 Memorial Signs (see below), and
B: Beaulieu, Springfield, Chelmsford Memorial road signs (see below).

Louis Walter Wright and David Coard are buried within the Churchyard.

Research based on:
“Echoes of the Great War - The Diary of the Reverend Andrew Clark 1914-1919”
Oxford University Press 1985. Edited with an introduction by James Munson. ISBN 0-19-212984-8
Extracts from this publication relating to each name commemorated
on the Memorial are available here: LinkExternal link
All extracts are © Oxford University Press and reproduced
by permission of Oxford University Press LinkExternal link

† In the 2014 BBC series "Britain's Great War", Jeremy Paxman describes the early loss of
Captain Alan Tritton and brothers Privates Richard (Dick) and Arthur Fitch,
and speaks with their niece Valerie Frost.
The BBC has very kindly provided this video clip: LinkExternal link
© BBC MMXIV Reproduced with Permission

In November 2018, to mark the Centenary of the end of World War One,
memorial signs were erected, where possible, close to their former home.
At Gt Leighs Village Hall there was a display of CWGC Certificates: LinkExternal link
On 1st November 2018, ITV Anglia TV included a report in their evening
Local News and has very kindly provided this video clip:
Medium Quality: LinkExternal link     High Quality: LinkExternal link
© ITV Anglia 2018 Reproduced with Permission

The Beaulieu housing estate in Springfield, Chelmsford has commemorated members
of the armed services who gave their lives in World War I, by way of road signs detailing
their unit and the date they were lost. Great Leighs casualties are remembered in
Fitch Close LinkExternal link and Wright Crescent LinkExternal link.

Information on the Memorial Plaque inside St Marys dedicated to Captain Tritton is available here:
TL7315 : Memorial Plaque to Captain Alan George Tritton

The links to the records of the *Commonwealth War Graves Commission
beside each name above are thought to be correct.
Please contact me with any corrections.
Ernest Wright and Herbert George Wright were my Great Uncles.

I am most grateful to Pat Watkinson and Terry Goddard for their research and photographs,
the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, The War Graves Photographic Project,
BBC Television and Oxford University Press.

The position of the Memorial can be seen in a view of St Marys Church available here:
TL7315 : St Mary the Virgin Church, Great Leighs, Essex

For more information on St. Marys, see here: LinkExternal link

For details of the nearby Little Leighs War Memorial, see:
TL7116 : War Memorial, St John the Evangelist Church, Little Leighs, Essex

"They shall grow not old as we who are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them."
Laurence Binyon, For the Fallen

"When you go home, tell them of us and say, for their tomorrow we gave our today."
US 14th Army War Memorial, Kohema, Burma

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Trevor Wright and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Category: War Memorial
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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TL7315, 61 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Trevor Wright   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Wednesday, 24 June, 2009   (more nearby)
Submitted
Wednesday, 24 June, 2009
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 73828 15598 [1m precision]
WGS84: 51:48.7191N 0:31.2140E
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TL 73828 15598
View Direction
East-southeast (about 112 degrees)
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