As
many of you know our church yard is of real beauty in the winter with a mantle of snow,
the grass is short and trees are bare. In the summer when the nettles are waist high, we
could be in the depth of the Surrey country, with butterflies and birds singing and wild
life, squirrels, foxes, hedge hogs, etc. But below our feet we have a wealth of history.
Bernard
Reeves and myself have laid the poppies crosses on the war graves for many years. Over the
years it has become more and more difficult to locate and identify some of the graves. To
find the graves one has to walk across other graves which is disrespectful and dangerous.
Because of
the difficulties it was agreed that the War Graves names be recorded in the Baptistery of
St. Mary's Church along with the others from the Parish who died in the 1914/18 and
1939/45 wars. The following list was prepared by Bernard Reeves.
There
are 25 War Graves in St. Mary's Churchyard, 15 are standard war graves, and 10 attached to
family graves. There are 12 Army, 5 RAF, 2 Royal Navy, 2 from the Labour Corp. and 4 Graves have no
details. The following are now recorded on the West wall of the Baptistery.
Sydney
Lancaster -died age 23
Gunner L. C.
Hales - Army - died 24th July
1940 age 20
Able Seaman
E. J. Hopper -Royal Navy - died 8th
December 1919
Private M.
H. Pratt - Army - died 27th May
1945 age 19
Qtmr Sgt. H.
E. Simmons - Army - died 30th July
1916 age 34
Sapper R D.
Orchard - Army - died l0th April 1940 age 18
Corporal T.
A. Williams - Army - died 27th June
1942 age 24
Sgt. T. A.
Fuller -RAF -died 20th January age 21
D. B.
O'Brian - died 14th June 1940 age 24
Sgt. Pilot
C. A. Blackwell - RAF - died 31st May
1942 age 25
Private W.
J. Smith - Army - died 24th March
1918 age 37
Private W.
A. Tubb - Army - died I1th October 1918 age 18
Sapper G. A.
Cox - Army - died 24th May
1918
Private J.
C. Pegley - Army - died 9th
November 1919 age 30
W. B. Webb -
died -3rd.July age 56
Sgt. A. W.
Spencer - Army - died 20th
December 1917 age 19
Private A.
W. Eley - Army - died 27th
February 1919 age 42
2nd. Air
Mech. L.. J. Potter - RAF - died 29th
September 1917 age 41
Colour Sgt.
G. Collings - Army - died 30th August
1914 age 46
The
following servicemen can be found elsewhere on the West and north walls of the Baptistery:
Able seaman
S. A. King - Royal Navy - died 19th
September 1918 age 31
Private A. R
Steel - Labour Corps - died 6th
November 1918 age 32
Harry
Arderne Shoults White A.M.RA.E died 11th April
1917
J. W. Pendergast - Army - died 13th August
1940 age 25
It is a pity
that the above servicemen have not been listed under the other men buried in St. Mary's
Churchyard and that the list titled ‘St Mary's War Graves’.
R.I.P.
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