Walking inside the church you see the two war memorial plaques on the North wall to the men from the parish who fell in the First and Second World Wars. However there is another memorial in the church that cannot be seen.

St Mary’s Church, Westham – Image courtesy of Rosalind Hodge

Hanging in the large 14th century tower is a ring of six bells of which the largest, the tenor bell weighing ten and a half hundred weight, is a memorial to five local bell ringers who lost their lives in World War One. It is not uncommon to have memorial bells but the tenor at Westham appears, according to the Sussex County Association of Change Ringers, to be the only bell in the county of Sussex on which is recorded only the names of bell ringers who were killed in WW1.

At that time the parish of Westham consisted of the village and also the outlying districts of Hankham, Stone Cross, Friday Street and part of Langley.

Following the war, an inspection of the bells in 1919, revealed they were in too dangerous a condition to ring. The frame holding them was on the point of collapse and several of the bells were split and held together with iron straps. It was decided to raise the money for a new frame and to recast the six bells. As five local young ringers had been lost in the recent war it was agreed the Tenor Bell should bear their names: George Burgess, Harry Burgess, Albert Hazelden, William Hobden and Robert Marchant.

The bells were re-cast from the metal of the old ones at the Croydon bell foundry of Gillett & Johnston and dedicated by the Archdeacon of Hastings at a special service on Saturday 14th May 1921.

The first two men named on the bell are brothers George and Harry Burgess. They were the sons of Edwin Burgess and Sarah neé Tasker. Edwin was a carter/ Waggoner and the family lived at 1 Spring Cottages Westham.

Edward George Burgess – Gunner 906200 Royal Horse Artillery and 336th Bde Royal Field Artillery enlisted at Eastbourne

Known as George he was born at Westham in 1892 the 9th of the 12 children of Edwin and Sarah. He was baptised at St Mary’s Westham 21 August 1892. George attended the village school and became a stockman on a farm. He was killed in action 1 May 1918 at Mesopotamia aged 25. George has no known grave and is commemorated on panel 3 and 60 of the Basra Memorial, Al Basra’s, Basra, Iraq.

Thomas Henry Burgess – Pte SD/2864 13th Bn Royal Sussex Regt. enlisted at Hastings

Known as Harry he was born at Westham the 8th child of Edwin and Sarah and was baptised Thomas Henry at Westham parish church 26 April 1891. His occupation was a farm labourer. Harry was killed in action at the Battle of the Boar’s Head at Richebourg on 30 June 1916 aged 25. According to the records of the Sussex County Association of Bell Ringers he is the only Sussex bell ringer to have been killed at the Boar’s Head.

Westham WW1 memorial – Image courtesy of Rosalind Hodge

He has no known grave and is commemorated on Panel 69 to 73 of the Loos Memorial Pas de Calais France. Although his birth registration and baptism record him as Thomas Henry Burgess, he enlisted using the name Henry Thomas and is recorded as Henry Thomas Burgess in Commonwealth War Grave Commission records and other military records. Harry is also commemorated on the Panel for the 13th Bn. in the Royal Sussex regimental chapel at Chichester Cathedral.

Albert Hazelden AKA Burgess – Pte. 12165 8th Coy Machine Gun Corps. (Infantry)

Albert was born at Cooks Town an area of Ashburnham on 19 June 1885. He was the third of eight children of Charles Burgess/ Hazelden, Haiselden and Mary Elizabeth neé Delves. His father was a miller’s carter and the family lived in Mill Cottage beside the windmill at Windmill Hill later moving to Reid’s Cottage Wartling Hill Pevensey.

In recent years the identity of Albert Hazelden was a mystery as although the name was recorded on the memorial bell it was not on either of the two Westham WW1 memorials. Albert Hazelden was recorded on the handwritten roll of Honour in St Luke’s Stone Cross. Eventually it was noticed that whenever the name Burgess is recorded the name Hazelden is not and vise versa and this after much research led to Albert’s identification.

His birth was registered using the surname Burgess although other than for legal purposes his family had consistently used the name Hazelden for two previous generations. Albert’s great grandfather Benjamin Haiselden had married his great grandmother Harriet Burgess a widow after their son was born. That son used the name Haiselden although his legal name was Burgess and this continued for two further generations.

Over the years some of Westham parish records were unfortunately destroyed and it was forgotten that the family used the two surnames. Albert Hazelden used his legal surname of Burgess when he enlisted in the 7th Bn. Royal Sussex Regiment G/7612 at Eastbourne in July 1915. By the end of that year he had been transferred to the 8th Coy Machine Gun Corps. He was wounded during the Battle of Albert the first of the battles of the Somme.

He was transferred to one of the military hospitals at Champ de Courses on the southern outskirts of Rouen where he died 22 July 1916 aged 32. He is buried in grave A.32.2. In St Sever Cemetery Rouen. No relationship between Albert and the Burgess brothers Harry and George has been found. As Albert was known locally by the surname Hazelden it was this name used on the tenor bell.

William James Hobden – Pte 229354 44th Bn. Canadian Infantry New Brunswick Regt

William was born 1 January 1889 at Plumpton, the 2nd of 8 children of William Hobden and Mary neé Finnis, their eldest son.

He was baptised at St Michael and All Angels Plumpton 25 January 1889. The family moved to Westham in 1891 where his father became foreman at Kemp’s brickyard. The family originally lived at the brickyard but by 1901 they had moved to ‘Geerings Cottage’ Langney Westham.

Shortly after leaving Westham school, his family moved to ‘Mapleton’ Westham and William became a domestic gardener. On 13 October 1910, aged 21, William sailed from Bristol bound for Quebec, Montreal on the Royal George of the Royal Canadian Northern Steamship line, master James Harrison. He arrived in Quebec on 19 October 1910.

Roll of Honour – Image courtesy of Rosalind Hodge

Following the outbreak of war William enlisted at Winnipeg on 10 June 1915 in 61st Oversees Bn. 460748. On 2 April 1916 he sailed from Halifax on SS Olympia arriving 11 April. By 12 May 1916 he had arrived at Shorncliffe Army Camp near Folkestone for training and by 16 May he was at Bramshott camp and had been transferred to the 44th Bn. Canadian Infantry.

He embarked for Le Havre France 10 August 1916. On 24 October he was reported evacuated wounded. He was again reported wounded on 9 November. A month later on 9 December it is recorded that although he was previously reported wounded he was now reported wounded and missing but on 16 April 1917 he was reported as having been killed in action.

By this date the family home was 3 Gordon Terrace and his parents stayed at this address until their deaths, his father in 1951 aged 92 and his mother in 1955 aged 91. William aged 27 was buried at Adanac Military Cemetery Miraumont in Grave V.G.19.

Thomas Robert Marchant – Pte G/27841 12th Bn Royal Fusiliers city of London Regt, transferring to the 24th Bn

Known as Robert he was the only child of Robert Marchant and Selina neé Wilmshurst. He was born in1895 at Westham where his father’s family had lived for several generations and was baptised at the parish church 9 May 1895.

The family lived in the High Street, his father being a grocer’s assistant and his mother a dressmaker. Robert attended the village school and when aged 18 enlisted in the 12th Bn Royal Fusiliers serving from 9th August 1916 to 21 August before being transferred to the 24th Bn in which he served from 22 August 1916 until he was killed in action on the Somme on 17 February 1917.

Westham Ringers commemorate the men on the memorial bell – Image courtesy of Rosalind Hodge

He was 19 years old, the youngest of the men commemorated on the bell. Robert was buried in grave I.E.19 at Regina Trench Cemetery Grandcourt, the Somme France. Robert’s parents are buried in Westham churchyard and his name is inscribed in their headstone.

These five men are commemorated on the WW1 Memorial in Westham Church and on the granite cross situated beside the cross roads outside St Luke’s Church Stone Cross. This cross was placed there as being at the centre of the parish of Westham before St Luke’s Church was built and the parish of Stone Cross was created. Albert Hazelden is recorded on both these memorials as Albert Burgess. Their names are recorded in the Rolls of Honour of the Sussex County Association of Change Ringers and the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers in St Paul’s Cathedral.

On the hundredth anniversary of each of their deaths the Westham bells have been rung in a Quarter Peal to Honour the memory of these former bell ringers. The exception was Albert Hazelden’s hundredth anniversary as he had not then been positively identified until early 2018. A Quarter Peal was rung in his memory on 22 July 2018, the 102nd anniversary of his death.

This story was submitted by Rosalind Hodge, Archivist, Willingdon Parish Church

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In 1918, the Government found that it had amassed £6m from sales in military canteens so allocated £1.5m to a Welfare Fund for the benefit of returning soldiers. This worked out to be an award of 5 shillings (25p) per returnee – the average weekly wage in 1918 being 30 shillings.

Map of the trees

180 lucky Framfield soldiers returned and, after financial adjustments, £45 from the fund was granted, to be managed by soldiers and a local committee rather than individual donations. The committee decided they wanted to use the money to try and create a Recreation Ground – a park of peace far removed from the horrors of the Western Front.

A field behind the local school was thought to be ideal and the landowner, Mrs. Curteis, agreed to sell it to them for £385. The tenant farmer, Mr. Pratt, although having already planted the field, agreed to waive his rights for £5 compensation. Nevertheless they had to find more funds to complete the purchase so local fundraising began and £60 was raised. However, when they approached Mr. and Mrs. Eaton, of Thurston Hall, the couple said that they wished to pay the full amount in memory of the fallen of the Parish.

These hugely charitable and generous parishioners made no stipulation on their gift expressing only that all religions would be free to use the recreation ground, but Mr. Eaton hoped that no ‘conchy’ would ever step foot on it. In July 1921 it was duly opened.

In 1923, 60 trees of 20 varieties were planted around the perimeter of the ground each bearing a plaque at the foot of each trunk inscribed with the name of a soldier and his regiment.

Some of these soldiers commemorated were:

Lieutenant John de Carrick Cheape:

John de Carrick Cheape – Hornbeam tree. No. 33 on map

John de Carrick Cheape was born in Switzerland in January 1894 and lived with his mother Antoinette at Great Streele Farm, Framfield. From 1909-1913 he was at Clifton College and at war’s outbreak was studying at Cambridge University.

John enlisted immediately, joining the 8th Royal Sussex as a Private in September 1914. Having served in the Officer Training Corps at Clifton and Cambridge, he was soon promoted to Corporal and then recommended for a Commission. 2nd Lieutenant Cheape stayed with 8th Royal Sussex, who were tasked as Pioneers in 18th (Eastern) Division, and deployed to the Albert area of France with them in July 1915.

He was soon promoted to Lieutenant. Hard pioneering work in winter 1915-16 afflicted Lt Cheape, and he was hospitalised in Rouen and in the UK between Feb-June 1916. He returned to the Western Front in July, drafted to D Company, 13th Royal Sussex, who had been greatly depleted at the Battle of Boar’s Head. With his pioneer experience he soon became Field Works Officer. On 3rd September 1916, 13th Royal Sussex supported their sister battalion, 11th Royal Sussex’s attack on Beaucourt Ridge as part of the Battle of the Somme. Casualties were heavy and John took over and led A Company when their officer fell. At the end of the action Lt Cheape went out to recover the wounded with a stretcher party.

In so doing, he was shot and killed by an enemy sniper. Lieutenant Cheape is buried at Hamel Military Cemetery, Beaumont-Hamel, France.

Private Ambrose Driver:

Ambrose Driver was born in Framfield in autumn 1885, third child of Thomas, an agricultural labourer, and Ellen Driver. Ambrose lived with his family at Hawkhurst Gate, Blackboys.

Ambrose Driver – Redwood Cedar Tree

By 1911 Ambrose worked as a farm labourer for Edward Brooker at Palehouse Farm in Framfield, and was still working there when war broke out. Ambrose was one of the first local men to join the 1st Southdown Battalion, in Lewes in early September 1914.

With his battalion, now embodied as the 11th Royal Sussex, Ambrose deployed to the Western Front in March 1916. April saw them in the trenches at Givenchy and conduct their first trench raid, and in May they performed fatigues for the Royal Engineers and served in the trenches at Festubert, where Framfield resident and war-poet 2nd Lt. Edmund Blunden joined them.

In preparation for the upcoming Somme Offensive, 116th Brigade was tasked with a diversionary ‘holding action’ in the Richebourg area to prevent the Germans from sending reinforcements south to the Somme. 12th and 13th Royal Sussex were tasked to assault the German salient known as the ‘Boar’s Head’, with the 11th Battalion providing support. They all went ‘over-the-top’ at 3.05am on 30th June 1916, but the Germans expected the attack, which proved a massacre.

Over 1,100 men of 116th Brigade became casualties on the 30th June, 15 officers and 364 Other Ranks were killed or died from wounds. Ambrose was one of the wounded. He was first treated by 132nd Field Ambulance RAMC and then moved likely to 33rd Casualty Clearing Station RAMC in Bethune, where he succumbed to his injuries the following day. Ambrose was buried in what became the Bethune Town Cemetery.

Acting/Farrier Sergeant William John Harland:

William John Harland – Ash Tree

William was born in spring 1872, eldest son to Sylvanus and Harriet Harland of Blackboys Lane. He started work as an agricultural labourer, but by 1897 was employed in a Denmark Hill veterinary institute as a blacksmith. In September 1899 he married Alice Relf in Lewes and moved to the Isle of White, five of his children being born there.

By the outbreak of war the family were in St Leonard’s, and William volunteered in November 1914, albeit it overage and under-height: the Army needed skilled blacksmiths. His family moved to Jubilee Cottage, Blackboys. William was assigned to the 22nd Division Signals Company, Royal Engineers, at Seaford, and deployed to Flesselles, France in September 1915. The 22nd Division was then immediately moved to the new Salonika Front.

In October 1916 William was promoted to Acting Farrier Sergeant, but was suffering acutely from sciatica. Salonika was a quiet front due to political expediency, but in April 1917 the British attacked in the Lake Dorian sector, 22nd Division being involved. The Salonika front became more renowned, due to its climate and conditions, for the casualties caused by malaria, dysentery and other such diseases. More men died from these there than in combat.

On the 28th November 1917 William was admitted to 28th General Hospital, having contracted malaria. He died there on 1st December 1917. William is buried at Salonika (Lembet Road) Military Cemetery, Greece.

Sergeant Herbert Hopkins:

Herbert Hopkins – Ash Tree

Herbert Hopkins was born in Framfield in Spring 1893, the fourth of eight children born to James, a farm steward, and Emily Hopkins, of Newlands, High Cross, Framfield. By 1911, Herbert worked as a gardener on the High Cross estate of the Thornton family.

By the outbreak of war, however, Herbert was in Welshpool, North Wales, and on the 28th August 1914, he enlisted in the local 7th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers (7th RWF). Herbert signed on for overseas service in September and in August 1915, newly promoted to Lance Corporal, he and 7th RWF were deployed to Suvla Bay as part of the Gallipoli expedition. The 53rd Division attack on Anafarta Ridge was a shambles and 7th RWF suffer heavily from casualties and disease throughout the campaign.

By November 1915, Herbert was a Sergeant. In December 1915, 53rd Div were withdrawn to Egypt. In January 1917, 7th RWF were part of the ‘Desert Column’ invading Turkish Sinai & Palestine. The first major battle was at Gaza on 26th March and 7th RWF were tasked to take the strategic 300′ knoll to the southeast of the city. 1,500 yards of the 7th RWF’s advance was in full view of the Turks and they were hit with artillery and machine gun fire.

They only got to within 500yds of the Turkish positions before forced to withdraw. Herbert was killed in the assault and his body sadly not recovered. With no known grave, Herbert is remembered to this day on the Jerusalem Memorial.

Private Ernest George Staplehurst:

Ernest George Staplehurst – Chestnut Tree

Ernest was born in Laughton to Henry and Ruth Staplehurst in early 1888, and he spent his youth at Peckham Farm in Framfield. By 1911 Ernest was a cowman in Palehouse Common, living with his widowed mother.

Ernest joined the 1st Southdown Battalion, alongside other Parish men and his brother Fred, in Lewes in September 1914 and, as the 11th (1st Southdown) Battalion Royal Sussex, went to the Western Front with them in March 1916. He participated in his first attack, at Beaucourt Ridge, Somme, on 3rd September, and at the notorious Schwaben Redoubt and ‘Stuff Trench’ in the October. 11th Sussex moved up to Ypres and on 31st July attacked at Pilkem Ridge to commence the 3rd Battle of Ypres (“Passchendaele”).

Ernest was severely wounded here, and on recovery was posted to the 7th Royal Sussex. By September 1918, 7th Royal Sussex, with Ernest, were engaging the German Army on their Hindenburg Line, as part of the ‘Hundred Days to Victory‘. On the misty dawn of 18th September 1918, 7th Royal Sussex, led by Ernest’s A Company, attacked the German Alpine Korps positions south of the fortress village of Epehy. As 35th Brigade failed to secure Epehy itself, 7th Sussex came under machine gun fire from German positions on their exposed right flank as they advanced towards Malassise Farm.

Ernest was one of those wounded. Although evacuated to a Casualty Clearing Station, he succumbed to his wounds and was buried in what became Doingt Communal Cemetery Extension near Peronne.

In 1935, The Royal British Legion offered to help with the management of the trees and in that same year a Wellingtonia tree was planted to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V.

The ground was acquired for war use in WW2 and rented to the Observer Corps for the princely sum of £1 a year. Many locals still remember trenches being dug on it and the Home Guard using it for training. Framfield was in ‘bomb alley’ and suffered many V1 ‘doodlebug’ hits and plane crashes and at one point 5 German airmen were buried in the local church cemetery to be later exhumed and re-interred in Germany after hostilities.

By 1945 the ground was pretty churned up but was flattened out for public use again by farmers’ rollers and in the late 1950s responsibility and ownership was transferred to the Parish Council.

The recreation ground was the site for a returning Framfield resident and hero, the transpolar explorer, Charlie Burton who, with Ranulph Fiennes, had completed a 3 year trek from pole to pole. When Charlie Burton came back to the village in 1982, he posed for photos and signed autographs but added that he wanted to escape from the memories of the freezing ice floes and biting polar winds and how glad he was to be able to return to the peace, green fields and tranquility of Framfield.

When our 180 men came back from the horror of WW1 they wanted the same – a place to spiritually unwind, reflect and, with the passing of the years, appreciate the calm and peaceful motion of the surrounding trees planted in remembrance of the fallen.

They were the lucky ones. 700,000 men from across the country were not so lucky.

We are today’s lucky ones because of those young men from Framfield and their dream of a peaceful remembrance park.

This was their gift to the future.

This story and all its images were submitted by Lisa Moore. It includes information from Paul Leader (Ref-Framfield & Blackboys Through the Ages by MI Green & PM Allsop – September 2016 ). Research and individual soldier’s stories were compiled by Jim Hastings and photos were contributed by Sam Weddell.

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This year marks the Centenary of the end of the Great War (1914-1918) and the Crowborough Community Festival will be commemorating this moment in history with a week-long programme of events called Crowborough Remembers in October 2018.

Crowborough Camp – Image courtesy of Denis Hart

A major exhibition called Crowborough’s War 1914-1918 will be held at the Beacon Academy School from Monday 22 October until Thursday 25 October. The exhibition which will be opened by the Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex, will tell the story of the town and the thousands of soldiers who were based in the army training camps before being deployed to the front line. The students of Beacon Academy will create a striking poppy installation to be displayed as part of the exhibition in Beeches Main Hall. All Key Stage 3 students (Years 7, 8 and 9) will decorate a unique laser-cut poppy during Art and Technology lessons at the beginning of the academic year.

We are also making an appeal to local families who may have relatives who fought in the Great War to get in touch and share their stories, old photos or memorabilia with us and we will include in the exhibition.

The week will begin on Saturday 20 October with a special commemorative concert performed by Crowborough Choral Society held in the Main Hall, and the programme will feature an original score called This Human Shield, specially written for the occasion by local composer Simon Austin, and poet and writer Nick Nye.

As the festival takes place during half term week we will have lots of fun as well as educational activities for young people, including creative workshops called People & Poppies as well as a ‘Secret Stones Trail’ with a painted poppy for each of the names commemorated on Crowborough’s War Memorial. A series of talks from notable speakers on the subject of the Great War is also planned as is entertaining dramatic sketches featuring the Suffragette movement and an interlude with Rudyard Kipling. A mini film festival with screenings of classic WW1 films is also scheduled.

Local artists of all calibres are invited to submit artwork with a WW1 theme to participate in a Competition and exhibition to be held at Crowborough’s Community Centre from Thurs 1 November until 21 November. Artist materials to the value of £500 will be awarded to the first, second and third prize winners.

“This is such an important Centenary in world history and Crowborough should remember the part it played. I’d like to thank the British Legion, Beacon Academy, Crowborough Historical Society, Wealden WW1 Project and all the volunteers who are supporting this unique event”, says Festival Director Denis Hart.

More information about the festival programme will be found on www.crowboroughcommunityfestival.org or on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/CrowboroughFest.

This story was submitted by Denis Hart

The post Crowborough Remembers appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

We also held a smaller exhibition of the Suffragette/Suffragist movement in Kent and East Sussex, plus some national media reports about Emily Davison and meetings held at the Albert Hall. We have not, as yet, found any names of ladies from Wadhurst who took part, despite contacting other well known groups who were documented as having taken part.

Wadhurst History Society Display – Image courtesy of Anthony Cosham

Our display included three boards about the movement and the same number of tables, which held further reading matter and one or two artefacts. It was rewarding to see how many people stood at the display boards, or sat at the tables, reading the material on them.

Afterwards it was most interesting to read the comments left in the visitors’ book.

This story was submitted by Rachel Ring with images provided by Anthony Cosham

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Brigitte Lardinois, (Senior Research Fellow at London College of Communication, University of Arts, London) has for the last five years been working with Tom Reeves and Tania Osband (the owners of the Edward Reeves Archive in Lewes, East Sussex) to create events that engage the local community with the archive.

Lewes Remembers Torches – Image Courtesy of Edward Reeves Photography

After showing pictures on lightboxes in various relevant places around the town, ‘Stories seen through a Glass Plate, no 5: Lewes Remembers 1914-1918’ was a one-off vigil commemorating Lewes soldiers who lost their lives during the First World War. The project linked The Edward Reeves Archive with the Sussex County Archive and actively engaged hundreds of young men. The experience of the ritual intensified the awareness of what it would have meant for a small community to lose so many of its young men. The event had a profound effect on both participants and onlookers alike.

The Lewes War Memorial records 236 names of Lewes residents who died in World War 1. There were approximately 350 local casualties, many of whose names are commemorated elsewhere in the town. At dusk on 12th November 2017, 235 men and one woman of the age of those who died walked with a flaming torch from the home addresses of the fallen soldiers to the War Memorial, where their torches were extinguished. In some cases members of the families of the fallen soldiers walked in their name, and were distinguished by yellow instead of red arm bands. Where more than one person in a family died the men doused their torches together.

The Lewes Remembers vigil was created by nearly 500 Lewes volunteers with the support of the seven Lewes Bonfire Societies and the staff at Lewes Town Hall. Without their commitment and logistical work behind the scenes none of this would have happened. All services were provided free of charge and a small grant from Friends of Lewes paid for the information leaflets and the badges of the participants.

Lewes Remembers Torches – Image Courtesy of Edward Reeves Photography

For logistical reasons, the vigil could not be advertised, so a short film was made by four professional filmmakers resident in Lewes in order to share the event with the community. It was directed by Tony Dowmunt and Mick Hawksworth. The ‘Lewes Remembers’ film is a Lewes Community Screen Production in collaboration with the London College of Communication, UAL and the Edward Reeves Archive Project, who initiated the Remembrance Day event. A short trailer can be seen online.

This film premiered in The Depot Cinema, Lewes with a showing to the participants, after which it was shown with an accompanying exhibition to a wider public. Extensively covered by the BBC it reached a larger audience on the BBC website as well as Facebook.

The exhibition was first shown in Lewes Town Hall from 13 November – 25 November 2017 and in an updated version in The Depot, Lewes from 5 February – 11 February 2018. It showed material from the Edward Reeves Archive as well as copies of the 236 original applications filled in by Lewes families who applied to have their loved ones included on the War Memorial uniquely preserved by Lewes Town Hall and kept in the Sussex Archive in The Keep.

On 19th April 2018, the organisers were presented with a civic award from Lewes Town Council in recognition of the project which was put together on a budget of only £500, and the only cost towards participants was for leaflets and badges.

This story was submitted by Brigitte Lardinois

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On 30th June 2016, bells rang out across Sussex from Chichester Cathedral and parish churches in towns and villages to commemorate the 100th anniversary of ‘The Day Sussex Died‘, the Battle of the Boar’s Head at Richebourg.

During the years of the Great War bell ringing had been severely curtailed by the Defense of the Realm Act (DORA). DORA, prevented the ringing of church bells and imposed restrictions on bonfires and after notable lights which could be used to signal enemy soldiers or spies. In Westminster even Big Ben had been silent since 1914. However, on 23rd November 1917, church bells rang out across the country in celebration for the first time during the war, following the success of the assault by tanks in the Battle of Cambrai.

Crowds gathered on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, London to witness the joyous sound of the bells ringing in celebration at the great victory of the Third Army breaking through the Hindenburg Line. St Paul’s 12 bells rang out for the first time in years and were soon joined by the bells of other churches across London and the cheers of the crowds.

Many bell-ringers had enlisted, which resulted in some 1,400 ringers losing their lives. In the early 1920s, the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers (CCCBR) sent out a call for the names of all ringers who had fallen in the war. They commissioned a handwritten Memorial Book, now in its second volume, to commemorate those ringers.

‘The Great War Memorial Book of Church Bell-Ringers who fell in the Great War 1914-1918‘, is on display in a bookcase on the way up to the ringing chamber at St Paul’s Cathedral. It bears the following inscription:

“They whom this book 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.”

Over the years the Roll has grown as more names of ringers who died in the service of King and Country have come to light. In 1914-1918 not all church towers were registered with their County Associations and often it was men from those unregistered churches who were not originally recorded. In recent years, and especially during this 100th anniversary of the War, more research has been carried out as information has become more accessible.

Additional names have been sent in from churches, ringing societies and individuals, which Alan Regin, the current Steward of the Rolls of Honour, has collected and updated. The additional information now includes age, date of death, rank, regiment, and cemetery/memorial where known. A growing collection of photographs of headstones and memorials is also gradually being added. All this information can be viewed on the CCCBR website where an electronic version of the Roll is now available. Alan was awarded the M.B.E. in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List for ‘services to campanology and its heritage’.

The Sussex County Association of Change Ringers (SCACR), unlike some other Ringing Associations, doesn’t have its own Great War Roll of Honour displayed in a Sussex Church or other building. However, a record is kept and is available on their website listing names, age, church towers where they rang, regiment, rank and details of death, place of burial or commemoration. In 1919 the SCACR original roll commemorated 30 ringers from 14 church towers. Today this has risen to 49 from 21 towers with one additional name awaiting more research to be positively confirmed.

Several churches in Sussex list more than one ringer lost: Barcombe, Burgess Hill, Cuckfield, Henfield, Horsham/Warnham and Pulborough each lost three ringers. Four are listed from the churches of Mayfield and West Grinstead. The Westham bells were recast in 1921 and five names are inscribed on the tenor bell. It is thought that they were all bell-ringers at the tower who lost their lives although it doesn’t actually state this on the bell.

All those named on the bell are on the Westham War Memorial except for one who is named on the Stone Cross memorial. One of those named is Harry Burgess (Private Henry Thomas Burgess SD/2864, 13th Batt. Royal Sussex Regiment) who was killed in action on 30th June 1916 at the Battle the Boar’s Head. Harry is the only Sussex bell-ringer recorded as having been killed on ‘The Day Sussex Died’. His brother George is also named on the tenor bell.

Willingdon bell-ringer with his great great great uncle Ernest Wooller‘s medals

Church bells across the UK remained very restricted throughout the course of the First World War and apart from a few exceptions, really only rang freely once Armistice was declared on 11 November 1918. With the 100th anniversary of the Armistice approaching this year, it is planned that the Nation’s bells will again ring out together from churches and cathedrals in cities, towns and villages across the United Kingdom as they did in 1918. Although silent at present due to restoration work, Big Ben will also strike at 11am to mark the centenary.

To mark this, the final year of the First World War centenary commemorations, it is hoped to recruit 1,400 new bell ringers in honour of the number that lost their lives during the First World War.

A campaign titled ‘Ringing Remembers‘, is being run by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in collaboration with Big Ideas Community Interest Company and the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers. ‘Ringing Remembers’ aims to keep this traditional British art alive in memory of the bell-ringers who lost their lives in The Great War, thereby linking together bell-ringers of the past, present and future.

This story was submitted by Rosalind Hodge, Archivist, Willingdon Parish Church

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After meeting at noon on Butts Brow above the village of Willingdon, twenty-two people, including representatives of Willingdon & Jevington Parish Council, East Sussex County Council, the Willingdon branch of the Royal British Legion and a representative of the Eastbourne Member of Parliament made the 20 minute walk across the fields to the site of the crash. The site is high on Willingdon Hill beside the remnants of the old flint barns of what in 1917 had been Willingdon Hill Farm, on the border of Willingdon with Jevington.

It was in a field next to these barns that two airships had moored when weather conditions of fog, snow and gales had prevented them landing at their station at Willingdon.

Once at the crash site, an Act of Remembrance was led by Fr. Kevin Agnew vicar of St Mary the Virgin church in Willingdon assisted by Rev’d Sue Wilkinson, deacon of the parish. They were joined by Rev’d Martin Quayle who was a grandson of Air Mechanic Victor Dodd the 18 year old wireless operator, one of two crew, who had jumped from the blazing airship and survived.

Martin Quayle gave a short description of the events which had led to the disaster when an airborne ship flying in fog and sleet had collided with one of those moored. This had resulted in the death of Flight Sub-Lt Richard Swallow, pilot of airship S.S.Z.7, and the serious injury of three of his colleagues.

Four descendants of Victor Dodd had travelled that day from Shropshire and Leighton Buzzard to be present. John Hemingway, chair of Willingdon Branch British Legion gave the Exhortation which was followed by the Last Post sounded by the Legion’s Sussex county bugler, Heidi Watkins; the sound drifting in the silence across the mist covered hills.

Two minutes silence was observed followed by Reveille and the words of the Kohima Epitaph.

At the nearby Trig Point, overlooking the crash site, two wreaths were laid in memory of Flight Sub-Lt Richard Swallow. John Hemingway placed one on behalf of the People of Willingdon and a second was laid by David Edwards representing Stephen Lloyd M.P. The bugler played ‘Sunset‘.

A number of people then went on to Richard’s Swallow’s grave in Ocklynge Cemetery, Eastbourne where the Last Post was sounded over his grave followed by the Naval Reveille. A wreath of evergreens picked in Willingdon was laid on Richard Swallow’s grave by the archivist of Willingdon Church in memory of this young man who had died on active service in Willingdon one hundred years ago.

This story was submitted by Rosalind Hodge, Archivist, Willingdon Parish Church

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‘1914 -1918: Lewes Remembers’ Light Box Image

Brigitte Lardinois, Senior Research Fellow at University of the Arts London (UAL) based at London College of Communication, has been working with the Edward Reeves Studio of Lewes in East Sussex – the world’s oldest continually operating photographic studio (c.1855 – present) to open up the business’s remarkable archive.

‘1914 -1918: Lewes Remembers’ is a street exhibition of 80 light boxes displayed in 67 windows of shops and houses during August and September. It shows images that cover the First World War period and includes portraits of individual soldiers or family groups, group portraits of the many thousands of men billeted in the town, as well as photographs of civilian life during the war, all displayed in places relevant to the subject.

In October 2016, the exhibition began with a simple showing of 80 light boxes. The trail has now been completed with the addition of a new online audio visual tour. Accessible on mobile devices or on home computers, the tour includes new and highly evocative images and audio clips that illustrate life in this market town during the First World War. Much of the new material is the result of the work of a team of local volunteer researchers and family stories prompted by the first showing of the lightboxes.

‘1914 -1918: Lewes Remembers’ Light Box Image

Working with Tom Reeves, the great-grandson of founder Edward Reeves, and his wife Tania Osband who currently run the business, Lardinois has begun the process of revealing over 150,000 glass plates, the work of the first three generations of Reeves photographers. This unique archive, dating back to about 1855, includes many related ledgers and account books which allow the subject matter of the photographs to be identified. Also preserved are original backgrounds, equipment and studio accessories. The Victorian daylight studio is still in daily use for current photography.

Lardinois said: “The Edward Reeves Archive is a treasure trove of photography and huge credit is due to the Reeves family who have preserved it. UAL are working with them to open up the archive and share 150 years of local history. In digitising the collection, we are turning it into a resource for photography enthusiasts and scholars as well as our UAL students, providing new insights into the history of photography and social change.”

Professor Elisabeth Edwards, Research Professor in Photographic History and Director of Photographic History Research Centre, De Montfort University said: “The study of this hitherto hidden archive is one of the most exciting developments in the history of British Photography.”

‘1914 -1918: Lewes Remembers’ Light Box Image

This project has involved working with over 50 local volunteers on different aspects of the project, to make accessible the unique accompanying photographic ledgers. These detail who are in the images, where they were taken and how much they cost. Such historical details are almost always unavailable for this type of archive, as although photographic plates have often been preserved, the corresponding paperwork has mostly been lost.

The project has been supported by a small Heritage Lottery Fund grant and funding from the UAL and local private and public sources – but is remarkable in its use of local volunteers, making this project ‘the family album of Lewes’.

In addition to this there was an exhibition in the Edward Reeves Studio Gallery of work by five generations of the Reeves family – Edward, Benjamin, Edward M, Tom and Isaac. On show was an engaging collection of modern and historic images, photomontages and colourisations, as well as some original equipment.

This story was submitted by Brigitte Lardinois

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Refrain was inspired by the story of conscientious objectors at Richmond Castle and was developed for sites of specific historic importance for conscientious objectors during the First World War.

As part of its tour Refrain was performed at Newhaven Fort from 9-11 June 2017. The play was composed and produced by Verity Standen, and below she discusses her motivations and the process of creating the piece.

Richmond Castle, North Yorkshire is such a key site in our understanding of conscientious objectors because the cell block retains original graffiti drawn by the men who were held there in 1916. I was lucky enough to spend time in the cells, surrounded by these 100-year old marks: drawings, poems, biblical verses, political statements and memories of life outside. But the Richmond Sixteen are just a tiny part of the story of conscientious objection – around 16,000 men refused service on grounds of conscience in WW1. The Richmond Sixteen were a group of 16 conscientious objectors who were taken to France and sentenced to death for refusing orders, but who eventually had their sentences commuted to life prison sentences and hard labour.

We began our conversations about staging the work in St Helens when we discovered the story of Ernest Everett, a school teacher from the town who was the first person to be convicted for refusing to fight. It’s a personal story that really resonated with the whole team. And it felt important to find a site for Refrain on the South coast, where many of the conscientious objectors were sent to work camps before being shipped to France to face court-martial. Newhaven, close to the Seaford camp and with its own military fort, completes our trio of venues.

In each place I wanted to find a site that was connected to the history, but that in its own right offered an adventure for local performers and audiences – a range of spaces and scales, natural acoustics that support the voice so that the audience’s relationship to the sound could be live and direct rather than amplified.

English Heritage guided me in the first instance through the histories and I used a set of informative (and dense) books on conscientious objection, recommended by curator Kevin Booth, as a jumping off point. It was a topic I knew very little about; I was shocked to learn of the visceral disdain and shame put upon the men by some sections of the media and society. For a considerable time after they were released from prisons around the country, their choices marked them.

As part of this homework, it felt very important to spend time at the sites and get a sense of how all the different spaces feel and sound. While I was keen to learn about the histories, I knew that I wanted the heart of the piece to remain in the here and now – made with, and performed by, local people. Richmond Castle for instance, has a wonderful range of acoustics – from the intimate chapel to the great, reverberant keep – that I wanted to fill with the voices of local singers.

Parts of the site are nearly 1,000 years old and open to the elements, so there’s the weather to contend with too. I’ve tried to keep both the history and the environment in my mind while I compose.

We all react to music in different ways: two people can listen to the same series of chords and one find it melancholic while the other hears it as totally uplifting. There will be a series of spaces
across the locations to explore, each filled with voices. I want the audience to make their own journey, to spend as long as they like in each space and savour the varied sounds that the men are
creating.

I imagine some people will enter those spaces, having read about the inspiration for the work, with the historical context at the forefront of their experience. Others might purely
enjoy spending time in those environments. I hope that the music can function as a guide through the experience – gently leading people on an exploration of the site, and celebrating the voices of the local singers who are the core of the piece.

Refrain is inspired by men who took a stance, but the piece itself doesn’t take a stance on the history. I have offered my music to our local performers to mould and make their own; now the final piece of the jigsaw is for them to offer it to audiences.

I hope that together we have captured something of the emotional register of these complex histories, and I can’t wait to discover what contemporary audiences feel as they walk amongst the music through these charged environments.

Story submitted by Nicola Jeffs – Communications and Audience Development at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts

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Supported by a team of archivists, artists and historians, the local community came together through research, creative activities and heritage events to discover the hidden histories of the 95 soldiers commemorated on the plaque and consider the personal experiences of ordinary people during the war.

A team of volunteers received training and accessed local archives to research and collect the stories of The Boys on the Plaque through genealogy, photographs, newspaper clippings, documents, letters and photos of keepsakes, as well as family tales passed down, to help them build an understanding of what life was really like during this time.

Activities with local older and younger groups used creativity and reminiscence to further explore these experiences and create new legacies for our local history. A series of Conversation Café’s explored local knowledge, personal mementos and family history through discussion and shared discovery. Younger people connected to the personal histories of The Boys on the Plaque by attending creative graffiti workshops, considering commemoration and identity through contemporary practice.

A range of public events for all ages shared what we have found and provided opportunities for our local community to come together to remember and learn more about the First World War.

The Boys on the Plaque represent so many of the sons, brothers, fathers and uncles who fought and fell in the First World War, and this project paid tribute to these men by telling their stories and considering the wider impact on the local community.

In 2017 it is the Bi-Centennial of Holy Trinity church and is a fitting time to honour and celebrate the history of the building and its continuing presence as a place of contemplation and community in Brighton & Hove.

Find out more on our project blog here: https://boysontheplaque.wordpress.com

For further information, images and interviews, please contact Clare Hankinson, Project Manager – The Boys on the Plaque.
Fabrica, 40 Duke Street, BN1 AGH
01273 778646 / clare.hankinson@fabrica.org.uk
boysontheplaque.wordpress.com
@fabricagallery #boysontheplaque

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