Helping to remember 
THE war heroes of Little Marlow will be even more fully remembered than usual this year thanks to one church parishioner. 
Sue Norton, who attends Little Marlow Parish Church, has sifted through the archives to produce a remembrance book detailing the lives of the servicemen from the village who perished in two world wars.
Mrs Norton said: "It has been an undertaking but it's been extremely interesting. I decided to do it because every year we read out all the names and promise to remember them. I thought wouldn't it be nice if we had a record of who we were remembering."
Mrs Norton, who lives in Popes Lane Cookham Dean, began her research at the start of the year and will exhibit her findings on boards at the church Remembrance Sunday.
She added: "Perhaps people will get a greater understanding of the men made that sacrifice to give us the freedom that we enjoy in this country today
"The information could be used by school pupils. It always helps to personalise history for young people, to make it more understandable."
Mrs Norton trawled through internet, sites, back copies of the Bucks Press and countless other documents.
The display is hoped to stay up for some weeks after which a book containing the information will be left in the church for all to see.

The Men on Little Marlow War Memorial

In May 1915 the Bucks Free Press published an "Active Service List" including men from
Little Marlow serving with the Isle of Wight the Rifles. There were also men serving
 from Wooburn, Wycornbe, Marlow, and Flackwall Heath. Why were men from Little Marlow serving in this Battalion?

On 20th July 1901 Captain John Edward Rhodes, then aged 31, retired from the army after returning from the Boer War. In 1913, by then a Lieutenant Colonel, he was given command of the Ist/8th (Isle of Wight Rifles, "Princess Beatrice's) Battalion, Hampshire Regiment (Territorial).

John Rhodes was also the Agent for the Little Marlow Estate. On the outbreak of war in 1914, in the call for volunteers to join the colours, Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes, -wishing to attract men he knew, offered a pound to each man who joined up - more than a week's wages for most of them. The ranks of the Battalion were soon fiIled with the youth of the village, who were known as "oveners" by the local men on the Isle of Wight. The Rifles were fully mobilised on 4th August 1914, they then trained at Parkhurst, on the Isle of Wight, Bury St. Edmonds and Watford, before sailing from Liverpool as part of 163 Infantry Brigade, 54th Division on 30th July 1915. They were bound for the Dardenelles and the shores of Gallipoli.

The Brigade landed at Sulva Say an 10th August. Their first action was on the 12thAugust, and when the Battalion attacked at 4.50 pm their objective was Anafarta Ridge. Among the dead on this day was William Alfred Mayo, age 19, who is commemorated on the Helles Memorial.

From Gallipoli, the Isle of Wight Rifles sailed to Alexandria, where they replaced their losses and went into training near the Great pyramids. Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes was by then 47, and handed over command to a younger man to prepare for the advance into Palestine. In February 1917 the Rifles took twelve days to cross the Sinai Desert (145 miles) in full marching order. In March they were in reserve for the First Battle of Gaza. The Second Battle of Gaza began an 1'7th April 1917 with a heavy artillery barrage. The rifles advanced on Dumb Bell Hill and reached their objective with opposition. They held the crest of the Sheik Abbas Ridge until the morning of 19th April. Then, after two hours of preliminary bombardment, the whistles blew at 7.30 am. and the Isle of Wight Rifles went over the top.

Among those who died on 19th April 1917 were Owen Rogers, Joseph Summerfield, Leomard Southam, age 27, and Percy Twitchen, age 25. Owen Rogers, Leonard Southam and Percy Twitchen are commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial, and Joseph Summerfield lies in the Gaza War Cemetery.  

On Thursday 19th April 1917 five men from Little Marlow died in the Second Battle of Gaza.
They were all serving with the 1st/8th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, otherwise known as the Isle of VVight Riffles.

Lance Corporal James Payne was just 28, He lived in Flackwell Heath and is also remembered on the Flackwell Heath War Memorial.
Rifleman Owen Rogers was 22. He went to Little Marlow School with his brothers Albert and Frederick who are also on the Little Marlow War Memorial, and all three are on the Memorial in Flackwell Heath.
Rifleman Leonard James Southam was 27, and worked for Richard Burroughs who was a local farmer.
Rifleman Joseph Summerfield lived in Flackwell Heath before the start of the War.
Rifleman Percy Twitchen was 26, he worked for Mr W Roberts at Westhorpe Farm.

The Second Baffle of Gaza was a costly failure. The attack in daylight across open ground against prepared positions gave the troops no chance, and it cost the Divisional Commander, General Murray, his job. The final toll for the Isle of Wight Rifles on April 19th 1917 was 8 officers and 186 men.

The first news of the disaster appeared in the Bucks Free Press on 11th May 1917. All the local villages lost men on that terrible day, but because men were missing for various periods the impact of a single casualty list was lost. We must never forget these brave young men from our village, they gave their lives that we might live ours in freedom.

Sue Norton

On 9 December 1917, Jerusalem surrendered to the British forces. Two days later General Allenby entered the Jaffa Gate on foot, at the head of a victory procession This act marked the end off our centuries of Ottotwn-Turk rule and the beginning of thirty years of British rule.
In July 1920 the Mandate civil administration took over from the military and for the first time since Crusader days (11th century) Jerusalem was again the capital of the whole country. This lasted until 29 Nov 1947 when under the UN Partition Plan, Jordan gained the city. Next to the Jaffa Gate in Old Jerusalem is The Citadel - a Roman garrison at the time of Jesus. The twin part is David's Tower offering views over the Old City, but within the tower lies the Jerusalem City Museum containing a magnificent display of photographs, including the arrival of the British troops in 1917 - one being my grandfather. As they marched through the Jaffa Gate, General Allenby removed his shoes - a symbolic gesture that the city he was entering was holy and precious to God (Neh 11 v1). At times we tend to limit our thoughts of WWI to the ghastly trenches of Belgium and France, and forget there were also battles being fought so far away. There, the rain the mud of Europe was replaced by the strength-sapping heat and desert. - Ed.

Many men who die in war do so because they are killed helping another person, not always one from their own side. While looking for information on the men on our own War Memorial, I came upon the story of Thomas Dunn. His death, while going to the aid of a wounded German soldier, was certainly one of great courage. After the Battle of Poelcappelle, in which seven Battalions of the Lancashire Fusiliers took part, no less than 148 men of the Regiment were decorated. Sadly, Thomas Dunn was not one of these – perhaps he should have been! 

Private Thomas Dunn,2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, had served with his Battalion in India for 10 years, after which he was with the Dardenelles Expedition. While in the Dardenelles in 1915 he was wounded and sent to a hospital in England. On recovering from his wounds he returned to his Battalion, which was by then in France.

On the 9th October 1917, Thomas Dunn was killed at Poelcappelle, in the Ypres area, during what was the final engagement of the third Battle of Ypres, Passchendaele. After Thomas Dunn’s death a letter was sent by Captain C. R. R. Huxtable of the Royal Army Medical Corps, part of which was published in the Bucks Free Press on November 2nd 1917.

“My friend, Major Watkins, has asked me to write to you about your son, Thomas Dunn, who has been an old and much respected soldier of this Battalion for such a long time. I was with him on October 9th, when he was killed. He fell during the attack near (censored), about half past five in the morning, just after the attack began. 

We were all together with Major Watkins until the attack began, but we got separated soon afterwards when we moved forward. I was returning with some stretcher bearers and searching the ground for the wounded, and their I found a man named Priestly, who was with Dunn. Priestly had his leg broken, and he told me that Dunn and himself had been dressing a wounded German when a shell had fallen beside them, and he thought that Dunn was killed. I went and looked where he pointed to, and there, a few yards away, I found him, and beside him the German soldier, both dead. Dunn was lying quite peacefully, just as he had fallen forward from a kneeling position, as he had been bandaging the German soldier, and beside him was his own field dressing, which he had been using on the German. It was a noble way to die, and it was an act of great courage to stop and bandage a man in the open during the terrific bombardment that there was.”

We Will Remember Them

Have you ever taken time to look at the stained glass window to the left of the door as you come into St. John the Baptist Church in Little Marlow?  It commemorates Edward Terence Doyne Finch, a young man whose parents lived at Abbey Cottage, Well End and who was killed on 26^th November 1914, aged 27.

 On 15^th October 1903 Edward was a Midshipman in the Royal Navy and joined HMS Hannibal on 15^th September of the same year.  He joined HMS Prince George on 22^nd February 1905, was promoted to Sub Lieutenant on 15^th December 1906 and was based in Portsmouth under training.  On 28^th April 1908 he joined HMS Suffolk and was promoted to Lieutenant on 15^th June 1908.  He then joined TB078 (a torpedo boat), in command, on 7^th February 1911 and subsequently took command of HMS Brazen, joining her on 31^st October.  Training for torpedo duties on HMS Vernon followed and he joined HMS Bulwark on 29^th August 1913 as Torpedo Officer.

 HMS Bulwark was a 1^st Class battleship of 15,000 tons, built at the Devonport Dockyard.  She was serving in the 5^th Battle Squadron under Captain G.L. Sclater when on 15^th November she arrived at Sheerness to provision.

 Eleven days later, while taking on ammunition, she blew up without warning.  Practically all her complement of 750 officers and men were on board, only 12 survived.  It was the worst naval accident of the war, and the Admiralty “could not account for the cause on the meagre evidence placed before it”. 

Among those unaccounted for was Edward Finch.  The entry on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial register reads:  FINCH, Lieut. Edward Terence Doyne. R.N.  H.M.S. “Bulwark”.  Killed by internal explosion of vessel off Sheerness 26^th November 1914.

A year after Edward’s death the memorial window was dedicated to his memory.  The wording at the base of the window reads “To the Glory of God and to the dearly loved and honoured memory of Edward Terence Doyne Finch, Lieut. Royal Navy, born 6^th Nov 1887.  Lost with the officers and men of HMS Bulwark whilst serving their country, 26 Nov 1914, aged 27 years RIP”.

 Take another look at this window the next time you are in the Church, and say a prayer of thanks for Edward Finch and all the young men who died for our freedom. 

 Six months later, on 27 May 1915, Sheerness witnessed the destruction of the minelayer HMS ‘Princess Irene’ with the loss of 380 lives – just one survivor.  Without warning, whilst priming mines, the ship blew up and her remains, and the remains of those on board, were scattered over a wide area of the surrounding river and countryside.  Those few that were located were buried in Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham.  A memorial to those lost in both this and the ‘Bulwark’ disaster is situated opposite Sheerness Railway Station. – Ed.

We Will Remember Them

The 85th Anniversary of the 2nd Battle of Gaza was commemorated on Sunday 20th April in the chapel of Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight. Of the six men from Little Marlow who served in the Isle of Wight Rifles, five were killed in the 2nd Battle of Gaza, and I was honoured to be asked to attend the commemoration service and lay the wreath on behalf of the men of the Rifles who came from off the island (the "oveners"). Fortunately it was a sunny day, and those present were able to assemble outside the chapel and watch the parade of men from the Isle of Wight Territorials, members of the Hampshire Regiment who are now members of the Isle of Wight Branch of the British Legion, and three men from the Isle of Wight Rifles Living History Society who were in the uniform that would have been worn by serving soldiers in 1917. Banners were carried, and the parade went off, of course, with military precision.
The Carisbrooke Castle Chapel is tiny and has beautiful stained glass windows; it was originally built in the 13th Century and finally restored in the 20th Century. The Chapel is now a memorial for all the people of the Island who died in the 1st and 2nd World wars. The service was quite short and was taken by the Chaplain, Mr. Roger Whatley. During the service four of the young men from the Territorials read out the names of the 181 men of the Rifles who died in the 2nd Battle of Gaza, these included Owen Rogers, Joseph Summerfield, James Payne, Leonard Southam and Percy Twitchen from Little Marlow. On the rear wall of the Chapel are carved the names of all the men of the Isle of Wight Rifles who died in the 1st World War, including the five mentioned above and William Alfred Mayo who died on 12th August 1915 in Gallipoli.
After the service a few people went to the nearby cemetery, where there is an area named "Heroes Corner". This area contains three of the original wooden crosses brought back from Gallipoli, there used to be twenty one, and a wreath of poppies was laid next to these crosses with equal ceremonial to that of the service we had just attended.
I felt it a great privilege to be at this commemorative service, and it is marvellous to know that the sacrifices of all these young men are not forgotten. 

We Will Remember Them

Feedback to Us  

03/07/2007

WebWork by Jonathan