Stone or wooden pillars, crosses etc are common features in parishes across the country. They were erected because, in the vast majority of cases, those who died in World War One were buried near to where they fell and their bodies not brought back to ‘blighty’. This was their lasting memorial.
The War Memorial for Stondon Massey is on the north wall of the church. In the following passage, written by the then Rector, Revd. Edward Reeve, we learn of the possibly arbitrary nature in which the names of those who died in the Great War are commemorated.
“We did not move away very quickly at Stondon, but the matter was brought forward at the Parish Meeting in the spring of 1921, and a special meeting of Parishioners was in consequence summoned on Saturday evening April 16th. It was decided to erect an oaken Tablet … in keeping with the old oak screen and Jacobean pulpit and reading desk.
“The Suffragan Bishop of Barking (Dr. Inskip) most kindly agreed to come and dedicate the memorial when it should be ready for the unveiling, and the ceremony was finally arranged for Tuesday Dec 13th.
“The cost of the Memorial … was provided by voluntary subscriptions, practically every house in the village contributing something.
“The six names are all that we could fairly include, though Ernest Maynard, a Blackmore lad who worked in the Rectory garden here up to the time of enlisting, was well known, and almost eligible; and Fred Garnham, who fell in the Mons retreat, had been brought up in the village, but had married and joined from Radley Green, Writtle. R J Ellis was living at Norton [Mandeville] when he died, but was included as being a true Stondon lad, and with his old parents still in the parish” [ERO T/P 188/3 f860-863].
The War Memorial for Stondon Massey is on the north wall of the church. In the following passage, written by the then Rector, Revd. Edward Reeve, we learn of the possibly arbitrary nature in which the names of those who died in the Great War are commemorated.
“We did not move away very quickly at Stondon, but the matter was brought forward at the Parish Meeting in the spring of 1921, and a special meeting of Parishioners was in consequence summoned on Saturday evening April 16th. It was decided to erect an oaken Tablet … in keeping with the old oak screen and Jacobean pulpit and reading desk.
“The Suffragan Bishop of Barking (Dr. Inskip) most kindly agreed to come and dedicate the memorial when it should be ready for the unveiling, and the ceremony was finally arranged for Tuesday Dec 13th.
“The cost of the Memorial … was provided by voluntary subscriptions, practically every house in the village contributing something.
“The six names are all that we could fairly include, though Ernest Maynard, a Blackmore lad who worked in the Rectory garden here up to the time of enlisting, was well known, and almost eligible; and Fred Garnham, who fell in the Mons retreat, had been brought up in the village, but had married and joined from Radley Green, Writtle. R J Ellis was living at Norton [Mandeville] when he died, but was included as being a true Stondon lad, and with his old parents still in the parish” [ERO T/P 188/3 f860-863].
The inscription reads:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF/
William Chantry Sapper RE
Robert James Ellis RAF
Herbert Walter Gann Sapper RE
Herbert Hasler Pte Middlesex Regt
Leonard Hasler Pte East Surrey Regt
William Hasler Pte Ryl Innskg Fusrs
MEN OF STONDON MASSEY WHO FELL FIGHTING FOR KING/ AND COUNTRY OR WHO DIED FROM SICKNESS CONTRACTED/ THROUGH SERVING IN THE GREAT WAR A.D. 1914-1918/ THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE/ ERECTED BY PARISHIONERS AND FRIENDS.
William Chantry Sapper RE
Robert James Ellis RAF
Herbert Walter Gann Sapper RE
Herbert Hasler Pte Middlesex Regt
Leonard Hasler Pte East Surrey Regt
William Hasler Pte Ryl Innskg Fusrs
MEN OF STONDON MASSEY WHO FELL FIGHTING FOR KING/ AND COUNTRY OR WHO DIED FROM SICKNESS CONTRACTED/ THROUGH SERVING IN THE GREAT WAR A.D. 1914-1918/ THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE/ ERECTED BY PARISHIONERS AND FRIENDS.
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