East Knoyle War Memorial
United Kingdom
Colour photograph of the East Knoyle War Memorial
For soldiers from East Knoyle killed in war
Unveiled26 September 1920
Location51°04′26.9″N 02°10′14.4″W / 51.074139°N 2.170667°W / 51.074139; -2.170667
East Knoyle, Wiltshire
Designed byHerbert Maryon
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameEast Knoyle War Memorial
Designated4 October 2016
Reference no.1438366

The East Knoyle War Memorial is a monument that commemorates the lives of soldiers from East Knoyle, Wiltshire, England, who were killed in war. Unveiled on 26 September 1920, it was originally intended to commemorate the 20 soldiers from the parish who died during the First World War. Subsequent inscriptions were added to recognise twelve who were killed in the Second World War, and a soldier killed by friendly fire in the Iraq War. In 2016 the memorial was designated a Grade II listed building.

The memorial was designed by Herbert Maryon, who taught sculpture at the University of Reading. It consists of a three-stepped stone base, a square plinth, and a shaft that rises 16 feet (4.9 m) and terminates in a small wheel cross. Each side of the plinth is inscribed. The front bears an inscription dedicated to those who died in the world wars; each is named on the right and rear. The left panel includes a Bible verse and the name of the soldier who died in Iraq.

Background

In the aftermath of the First World War and its unprecedented casualties, thousands of war memorials were built across Britain.[1] Virtually every village, town, or city erected some form of memorial to commemorate their dead.[1] In East Knoyle, a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, at least 20 of the 853 people who lived in the village before the war died in military service during it.[2][3][4] The dead included three brothers,[5][6] and five members of the Wyndham family,[3] which tended one of the principal estates in East Knoyle.[7] Shortly before her death in 1920, Madeline Wyndham, the matriarch of the family, commissioned two plaques for St. Mary's Church, one commemorating her five grandsons,[3] and another, designed by Alexander Fisher, recognising all those from East Knoyle who died during the war.[8]

Commissioning

Colour photograph of the East Knoyle War Memorial on the village green
The memorial on the village green in 2009

A memorial committee was tasked with raising funds for a memorial and for additions to the village hall, to serve as a community centre.[4] Chaired by Colonel Guy Wyndham, the committee had George Sidney Herbert as its honorary secretary, and was assisted by a Mr. F. W. Barnes.[4] The three were well known to the village. Wyndham was the second son of Percy Wyndham and the father of Guy Richard Charles Wyndham, who at the time tended Clouds House, one of the principal estates in the area;[9] his eldest son, George Heremon Wyndham, was killed in action in 1915.[10] Herbert, who lived at Knoyle House across from the memorial's eventual location, was the son of the 14th Earl of Pembroke and brother of the 15th;[4] involved with numerous organisations in East Knoyle and Wiltshire, he was, in the words of the Western Gazette, one of the county's "best-known and most highly valued public men".[11] Barnes, meanwhile, was praised some years later for an "extreme willingness in helping on anyone or any cause in the village".[12] Ultimately, £1,450 was raised for the cause: £1,000 from the trustees of the Seymour estate, and £450 through subscription.[4]

The architect chosen to design the memorial was Herbert Maryon,[4] who taught sculpture, including metalwork, modelling, and casting, at the University of Reading.[13][14][15] Maryon had established himself in the Arts and Crafts movement before moving to academia,[note 1] and in the years following the war designed several memorials. The East Knoyle memorial was among his first; the following year he designed the Mortimer War Memorial, a similar monument in Mortimer Common, Berkshire,[17] and in 1923 he created a plaque for Manchester's Chorlton Road Congregational Church.[18] The University of Reading likewise commissioned him to create their war memorial, which was unveiled in 1924.[19]

Design

The East Knoyle War Memorial is located on a village green in the centre of East Knoyle, at the intersection of Church Road, The Street, and Wise Lane.[20] Before a 1996 bypass, it stood alongside the A350.[21] The location was named Knoyle House Corner when the memorial was built,[4] although the namesake house was razed in 1954.[22] Several hundred feet down Church Road lies St Mary's Church, a grade I listed building dating to the twelfth century.[23]

The memorial is carved from Portland stone.[20] It comprises a three-stepped square base set beneath a square plinth, from which a thin, tapering shaft rises 16 feet (4.9 m) and terminates in a small wheel cross.[20] Several stone flower holders rest on the top step, one of which is inscribed "BEST KEPT WAR MEMORIAL 1973".[24]

The four sides of the plinth are each inscribed. The side facing the road bears an inscription commemorating those who died in the First and Second World Wars; their names are listed to its right and rear, respectively. John 15:13 is inscribed to its left, above the name of a soldier who died in the Iraq War.[20]

FrontRightRearLeft
TO·THE·GLORY·OF·GOD
AND·IN·MEMORY·OF·THE
MEN·OF·THIS·PARISH
WHO·MADE·THE·SUPREME
SACRIFICE·IN·THE·GREAT
WAR·1914·1918·AND·IN
THE·WORLD·WAR·1939·1945
1914·1918
EDWIN·DURRANT:FRANK·W·KNIGHT
GERALD·S·FORWARD:JAMES·J·LAMPARD
JAMES·F·FLETCHER:REGD·G·LITTLECOTT
WILLIAM·T·FRICKER:OLIVER·SNOOKE
ROBERT·GRIFFITHS:EDWARD·D·SMALL
ALBERT·J·HARRIS:ERNEST·TANSWELL
EDWARD·W·JOLLIFFE:ROBERT·S·TANSWELL
FRED·JOLLIFFE:EDGAR·WAREHAM
VICTOR·H·JOLLIFFE:GEORGE·WYNDHAM
SYDNEY·JUKES:PERCY·L·WYNDHAM
1939·1945
NIGEL·N·ADAMS : WILLIAM·J·BOLTON
R·ALAN·J·DENNIS : E·GEORGE·FLOWER
H·JAMES·FORD : ERNEST·H·FRANCIS
VICTOR·J·T·HALLETT · GORDON·HART
ALASTAIR·HOUGHTON·BROWN : JOHN·A·M·LAREN
JACK·D·PEPPER : GEORGE·E·THOMAS		GREATER·LOVE·HATH·NO
MAN·THAN·THIS·THAT·A
MAN·LAY·DOWN·HIS·LIFE
FOR·HIS·FRIENDS·
IRAQ·2003·MATTHEW HULL

History

Black and white postcard of East Knoyle, showing the war memorial
The war memorial and Knoyle House, c. 1920–1923

The memorial was unveiled on 26 September 1920.[4] Henry Seymour Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson officiated, in one of his last public acts before departing to take up the Indian Command.[25][note 2] Rawlinson's mother was from East Knoyle,[25] and he had been brought up there as a child;[4] his cousin Jane Margaret Seymour owned and leased out Knoyle House at the time.[22] Another cousin, Colonel Henry Hales Pleydell-Bouverie,[29][30][31][32] was a trustee to the estate of their uncle Alfred Seymour,[33] which had donated to the memorial's fund.[4] Rawlinson had also been friends with George Wyndham,[34] whose son Percy Lyulph Wyndham had served as Rawlinson's aide-de-camp before his death in the First Battle of the Aisne in 1914.[35][36][37]

Rawlinson arrived with his wife and was received by a guard of honour comprising the Comrades of the Hindon and Knoyle Posts and the Knoyle Girl Guides; the Knoyle Band, conducted by a Mr H. Fry, performed as well.[4] Among those in attendance, the Western Gazette reported, included three members of the Wyndham family—Guy Wyndham, his daughter Olivia, and his son Guy Richard Charles[38]—and four of the Herberts: George Herbert, his mother the Dowager Countess of Pembroke, his sister Lady Muriel Jex-Blake, and her husband Arthur John Jex-Blake,[4] whom she had married the previous month.[39][40] The Seymour estate was represented by Colonel Pleydell-Bouverie.[4] Others included the memorial's architect Herbert Maryon, committee member F. W. Barnes, the local physician and surgeon Joseph Charles Blythe and his wife,[41][42] the vicar of next-door Hindon Rev. Marshall Winder Lumsden, who was a chaplain during the war,[43] and an Inspector Townshend.[4][note 3] Others who were not named also attended, including a substantial number of veterans, and family members of those killed.[4]

The ceremony began in St Mary's Church and, led by the choir and clergy, proceeded to the memorial.[4] The rector and curate—Rev. William Neville[note 4] and Rev. E. A. Reader, respectively[49][50]—conducted a brief service and Rev. Frank E. Yeomans, the Primitive Methodist minister in nearby Mere,[51] read a lesson, before Rawlinson removed a Union Jack from the memorial and delivered a speech.[4] Rawlinson read the inscription on the front of the memorial, then commented on his childhood in East Knoyle; he recalled a number of people, such as his late uncle Alfred Seymour, and said one had been a close friend and aide-de-camp.[4] Those whose names were engraved had done their duty, Rawlinson said, and the cross was erected as a memorial to their bravery, to record their great deeds, and to perpetuate their memory.[4] Afterwards, the rector dedicated the memorial and led prayers.[4] The hymns When I Survey the Wondrous Cross and There is a Blessed Home were sung, and buglers from the Wiltshire Regiment performed the Last Post.[4] Rawlinson laid a laurel wreath on the memorial and relatives of the dead left flowers.[4] Afterwards, the crowd left for the village hall, where Rawlinson officially opened the new additions.[4]

Second World War

In late 1945, months after the surrender of Japan marked the close of the Second World War, preparations were made to celebrate the return of veterans to East Knoyle, and commemorate the fallen.[52] The estate of Jane Seymour, who had recently died, had donated the village hall and adjoining land, including the War Memorial Garden, to the parish,[52] and the family of Percy Houghton Brown, a local barrister who had died the previous year, had given £900 for improvements.[53] The funds were given in memory of Houghton Brown's son Alastair, who had died in action in Libya in 1942.[54][55] In addition, by 27 November 1945, a campaign had raised £185 for a "Welcome Home Fund", intended to be distributed among the returning servicemen and women, and another £92 for a "Memorial Fund".[52] At a public meeting held on that date, it was decided to add a shelter to the memorial garden, and to inscribe the memorial with the names of those who had died in the Second World War;[53] twelve names were added as a result.[20] It was also decided to transfer the trusteeship and management of the memorial to the parish council.[53]

In December 1946 a celebration for the returning servicemen and women was held in the town hall.[56] 65 returning servicemembers were given a cheque and card in thanks.[56]

After the Second World War

Another name was added after to the memorial after a soldier was killed by friendly fire in Iraq in 2003.[20][57][58]

On 4 October 2016 the memorial was designated a Grade II listed building.[20] The listing entry termed the memorial "an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on the local community and the sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the [twentieth and twenty-first centuries]".[20] According to the village newsletter, a ceremony was held there on 11 November 2018 to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.[59] As part of the observances the village also researched the local men who died during the war, and placed plaques outside their onetime houses.[60] The research pushed the recognised number of East Knoyle deaths from 20 to 27; the additional seven—the brothers Percival Henry and Walter Geoffrey Hill, the brothers James Henry and Tom Samuel Lampard, and William George Caddy, William John Clifford, and George Elliott—were born in East Knoyle but raised elsewhere.[60][note 5]

Notes

  1. ↑ As a student at the Central School of Arts and Crafts around the turn of the century, Maryon had studied under Fisher.[16]
  2. ↑ Rawlinson unveiled several other memorials in the same year. On 28 June he unveiled a memorial tablet at the University of Reading, commemorating the 25 men from St Patrick's Hall who died during the war.[26] On 18 October, he would unveil an alabaster tablet at St. Andrew's Church in Trent, Dorset, commemorating the twelve men from the village who died.[27][28]
  3. ↑ The Western Gazette also recorded Mr E. H. Miles, Mr F. Alford, Mr H. Francis, Mr J. Jones, Mr H. Burton, and Mr T. Bath.[4]
  4. ↑ Neville was the son of the vicar of Butleigh Frederick Grenville,[44][45][46] the grandson of George Neville-Grenville,[47] and the brother-in-law of Arthur Bigge, the Private Secretary to the Sovereign.[48]
  5. ↑ By contrast, the 20 named on the memorial were predominantly born and raised in East Knoyle.[60] Some of the additional seven are commemorated by other memorials, such as the brothers Hill, whose names appear on the Donhead St Andrew War Memorial.[61]

References

  1. 1 2 Malone 2018, pp. 265–266.
  2. ↑ "East Knoyle CP/AP Through Time: Census Tables with Data for the Parish-level Unit". A Vision of Britain Through Time. GB Historical GIS, University of Portsmouth. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020. Free access icon
  3. 1 2 3 "Five Grandsons of Madeline Wyndham". War Memorials Register. Imperial War Museums. Archived from the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020. Free access icon
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 "East Knoyle War Memorial". The Western Gazette. No. 9, 557. Yeovil. 1 October 1920. p. 8. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Free access icon
  5. ↑ "In Memoriam: Jolliffe". Births, Marriages, & Deaths. The Western Gazette. No. 9, 437. Yeovil. 15 June 1917. p. 8. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  6. ↑ Symons, Ann (4 April 2017). "Edwin William Jolliffe". Shaftesbury Remembers the Great War. Gold Hill Museum. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020. Free access icon
  7. ↑ Dakers 1993, p. 47.
  8. ↑ Dakers 1993, p. 203.
  9. ↑ Dakers 1993, pp. 195–209.
  10. ↑ "Officers Killed: Second Lieutenant G. H. Wyndham". Roll of Honour. The Daily Telegraph. No. 18, 709. London. 30 March 1915. p. 3. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  11. ↑ "Col. Sir George Herbert, T.D." The Western Gazette. No. 10, 669. Yeovil. 6 February 1942. p. 6. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  12. ↑ "Presentation to Mr. F. W. Barnes". East Knoyle. The Western Gazette. No. 9, 944. Yeovil. 9 March 1928. p. 6. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  13. ↑ The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (1918). "Herbert James Maryon, in To be considered by the Applications Committee on Wednesday, 24th April, and by the Council on Friday, 3rd May 1918.". Proposals for Membership, Etc. London. pp. 337–339. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021 – via Ancestry.com.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  14. ↑ "Contributors to this Issue: Herbert Maryon". Studies in Conservation. The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. 5 (1). February 1960. JSTOR 1505065. Closed access icon
  15. ↑ "Contributors to this Issue: Herbert Maryon". Studies in Conservation. The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. 5 (2). May 1960. JSTOR 1504958. Closed access icon
  16. ↑ Bruce 2001, p. 54.
  17. ↑ "Mortimer War Memorial". War Memorials Register. Imperial War Museums. Archived from the original on 9 October 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2018. Free access icon
  18. ↑ "War Memorial in Gilded Bronze, Erected in Chorlton Road Congregational Church, Manchester". The Builder. CXXIV (4185): 664. 20 April 1923. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Open access icon
  19. ↑ Historic England. "University of Reading War Memorial (1113620)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 March 2020. Free access icon
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Historic England. "East Knoyle War Memorial (1438366)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 March 2020. Free access icon
  21. ↑ Knocker et al. 2011, p. 12.
  22. 1 2 Baggs et al. 1980.
  23. ↑ Historic England. "Church of St Mary (1131168)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 June 2020. Free access icon
  24. ↑ "East Knoyle – Cross". War Memorials Register. Imperial War Museums. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2020. Free access icon
  25. 1 2 "Lord Rawlinson Dead". The Western Gazette. No. 9, 791. Yeovil. 3 April 1925. p. 16. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  26. ↑ "A Reading War Memorial". News in Brief. The Western Gazette. No. 9, 544. Yeovil. 2 July 1920. p. 10. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  27. ↑ ""Those Brave Men": Memorial Tablet Unveiled by General Lord Rawlinson". Trent. The Western Gazette. No. 9, 560. Yeovil. 22 October 1920. p. 5. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  28. ↑ "Men of Trent – WW1 and WW2". War Memorials Register. Imperial War Museums. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2020. Free access icon
  29. ↑ "Mr. Henry Hales Pleydell-Bouverie". Bath and County Notes. The Bath Chronicle. Vol. 148, no. 7, 542. Bath, Somerset. 10 March 1904. p. 5. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Free access icon
  30. ↑ "Marriages". The Bath Chronicle. Vol. 106, no. 5, 424. Bath, Somerset. 11 September 1862. p. 5. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Free access icon
  31. ↑ "Marriages". The Bath Chronicle. Vol. 91, no. 4, 442. Bath, Somerset. 26 August 1847. p. 2. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  32. ↑ "The nuptials of Mr. P. Bouverie". John Bull. Vol. XXVII, no. 1, 394. London. 28 August 1847. p. 553. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Free access icon
  33. ↑ "The Late Mr. Alfred Seymour". Trent. The Western Gazette. No. 7, 919. Yeovil. 1 June 1888. p. 7. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Free access icon
  34. ↑ Wyndham 1915, pp. 445–446, 461, 482, 500, 502, 520.
  35. ↑ "The Services". The Manchester Guardian. No. 20, 440. London. 10 February 1912. p. 12. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  36. ↑ "Killed: Lieutenant Percy Wyndham". The Roll of Honour. The Daily Telegraph. No. 18, 543. London. 18 September 1914. p. 10. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  37. ↑ Dakers 1993, p. 193.
  38. ↑ Dakers 1993, p. 175.
  39. ↑ "Dr. Arthur Jex-Blake: A Distinguished Consultant". Obituary. The Times. No. 53, 923. London. 19 August 1957. p. 12. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  40. ↑ "Mr. A. Jex-Blake to Lady Muriel Herbert". The Gentlewoman. LXI (1572): 278–279. 21 August 1920. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Open access icon
  41. ↑ "Distressing Death". Wiltshire: East Knoyle. The Western Gazette. No. 7, 741. Yeovil. 19 December 1884. p. 8. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  42. ↑ "Medical News". Edinburgh Medical Journal. XXVII: 1128–1130. June 1882. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Open access icon
  43. ↑ "Rev. M. W. Lumsden: Death of Popular South Wilts Figure, Former Vicar of Hinton, Champion of Working-Class Causes". The Western Gazette. No. 10, 388. Yeovil. 11 September 1936. p. 7. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Free access icon
  44. ↑ "East Knoyle: Fifty Years' Ministry". The Western Gazette. No. 9, 852. Yeovil. 4 June 1926. p. 4. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  45. ↑ "East Knoyle Rector's Farewell: 20 Years' Work in Parish, Rev. W. Neville Leaves for Guildford". The Western Gazette. No. 10, 180. Yeovil. 16 September 1932. p. 10. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Free access icon
  46. ↑ "Death of the Rev. William Neville". East Knoyle. The Western Gazette. No. 10, 533. Yeovil. 30 June 1939. p. 5. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Free access icon
  47. ↑ "Death of the Dean of Windsor". The Morning Post. No. 25, 098. London. 12 June 1854. p. 5. Archived from the original on 5 June 2020. Free access icon
  48. ↑ "Death of Lady Stamfordham". Daily Mail. No. 8, 123. London. 25 April 1922. p. 9. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Free access icon
  49. ↑ "Ecclesiastical Appointments". The Daily Telegraph. No. 21, 260. London. 13 June 1923. p. 13. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Free access icon
  50. ↑ "Clergyman's Appointment". Bradpole. The Western Gazette. No. 9, 697. Yeovil. 15 June 1923. p. 4. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Free access icon
  51. ↑ "The Rev. F. E. Yeomans: Well-Known Methodist Minister, Sudden Death in Forest of Dean". The Western Gazette. No. 10, 348. Yeovil. 6 December 1935. p. 16. Archived from the original on 5 June 2020. Free access icon
  52. 1 2 3 "Welcome Home and War Memorial: Public Meeting". East Knoyle. The Western Gazette. No. 10, 869. Yeovil. 7 December 1945. p. 3. Free access icon
  53. 1 2 3 "Death of Mr. P. Houghton Brown: Funeral at East Knoyle". The Western Gazette. No. 10, 781. Yeovil. 31 March 1944. p. 2. Free access icon
  54. ↑ Dakers 1993, p. 244.
  55. ↑ "Roll of Honour" (PDF). The Eagle. LII (227–228): 209–210. 1943. Open access icon
  56. 1 2 "Welcome to Returned Service Folk". East Knoyle. The Western Gazette. No. 10, 921. Yeovil. 6 December 1946. p. 2. Free access icon
  57. ↑ Kirby, Terry (16 April 2003). "For Queen and Country". The Independent. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2020. Free access icon
  58. ↑ Lyall, Sarah (16 March 2007). "Coroner Rules Death of British Soldier in Iraq Unlawful". The New York Times. New York. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020. Closed access icon
  59. ↑ "East Knoyle Commemorates" (PDF). The East Knoyle Newsletter. 44 (6): 7. November–December 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2020. Free access icon
  60. 1 2 3 "The East Knoyle WW1 History Trail". East Knoyle. Archived from the original on 19 May 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2020. Free access icon
  61. ↑ "Donhead St. Andrew". War Memorials Register. Imperial War Museums. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 23 May 2020. Free access icon

Bibliography

Wikimedia Commons has media related to East Knoyle War Memorial.

Further reading

  • Clarke, Ron (May–June 2017). "RBL Branch News" (PDF). The East Knoyle Newsletter. 43 (3): 8. Free access icon
  • Hamilton, Briony (November–December 2017). "St Mary's Church" (PDF). The East Knoyle Newsletter. 43 (6): 2. Free access icon
  • "The East Knoyle 1918 Trail" (PDF). The East Knoyle Newsletter. 44 (3): 5. May–June 2018. Free access icon
  • Clarke, Ron (November–December 2019). "RBL Branch News" (PDF). The East Knoyle Newsletter. 45 (6): 14. Free access icon
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