Roll of Honour - Cambridgeshire

Ministry of Defence

Lest We Forget

The Royal British Legion

LITTLE THETFORD WAR MEMORIAL

World War 1 and 2 - Roll of Honour with detailed information
Compiled and copyright © 2000 Dave Edwards & Cliff Brown

The following names are recorded on a brass plaque and scroll in the church of St George that was unveiled on 2nd March 1921 and dedicated by the Venerable Archdeacon of Wisbech (reported in the Cambridge Independent Press 4th March 1921 page 10 and on 11 March 1921 .A War Memorial in the village cemetery list’s all these names except L.N. Goy and takes the form of a shortened Celtic style wheel cross on a tapering plinth with a single, square, step.


Photographs Copyright © Ann Thompson 2000

Inscription of the war memorial

ERECTED
IN MEMORY OF THE MEN
WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR
1914 - 1918

GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS
THAT HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS
1939 - 1945

Inscription on the plaque

To the glory of God
and in grateful memory
of the men of Little Thetford
who died in the
Great War 1914 – 1918
gave their lives for King and Country.

DEWSBURY

Alfred

[Dewsbery in CWGC] Private 19583, 10th Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), killed in action Saturday 25th September 1915, commemorated: Loos Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. Panel 57 to 59. Born Soham, enlisted Sheffield, resident Ely. Son of Mr & Mrs H.J. Dewsbury, Little Thetford. Formerly 85442 Royal Field Artillery.

DEWSBURY

Arthur James

Gunner 200831, "D" Battery, 124^th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, killed in action Saturday 19th October 1918 age 23, buried: Viesly Communal Cemetery, Nord, France. Grave C. 5. Son of Henry James and Mahala Dewsbury of Ivy Cottage, Little Thetford, Ely, Cambs. Enlisted Ripon, Yorks, resident Chesterfield, Derbys.

DEWSBURY

Eric

[Spelt DEWSBUR on CWGC] Private 201861, 1st/4th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, killed in action Thursday 12th April 1917, buried: Wancourt British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Grave VI. G. 14. Brother of Miss L. Dewsbury, Round House, Little Thetford. Enlisted Ely. Formerly 4255, Suffolk Regiment.

DRIVER

Clement Claude

Private 2126A, 3rd Battalion, Australian Infantry, died Sunday 29th August 1915, buried: Lone Pine Cemetery, ANZAC, Turkey. Grave II. A. 2. Living Lt Thetford 1901, age 6, born Waterbeach. Australian Archives confirms that their man was born Waterbeach and mother living at Haddenham in WW1. See also Haddenham.

GENT

James Pate

Sergeant S/13839, 8^th Battalion, Rifle Brigade, died Thursday 3rd May 1917, age 21, buried: NKG, commemorated: Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. Bay 9. Son of Barford and Hannah Gent, of Blackwing Drove, Prickwillow, Ely, Cambs.

HOWARD

David

Private 19913, 7^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, killed in action Friday 30th November 1917, France & Flanders, buried: NKG, commemorated: Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, Nord, France. Panel 4. Enlisted Ely.

LOW[E]

James J

[Spelt LOWE on CWGC] Private 7471, "C" Company, 1^st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, killed in action Saturday 24th April 1915, age 28, buried: NKG, commemorated: Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Panel 21. Son of Mrs. George Lowe, of Little Thetford, Ely, Cambs. Born Little Thetford, enlisted Cambridge.

MASON

Thomas William

Private 7158, 2^nd Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, killed in action Wednesday 26th August 1914 age 26, buried: NKG, commemorated: La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial, Seine-et-Marne, France. Son of John and Eliza Mason, of Little Thetford, Ely, Cambs. Born Stretham, enlisted Ely.

WRIGHT

John

Gunner 163893, 6^th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, killed in action Monday 15th April 1918, age 23, buried: Mont Noir Military Cemetery, St. Jans-Cappel, Nord, France. Grave I. B. 6. Son of Tom and Louisa Wright, of Little Thetford, Ely, Cambs. Born and resident Little Thetford, enlisted Cambridge. See also Liverpool Street Station, London.

YARROW

Owen

Rifleman 375358, 1^st/8^th Battalion, London Regiment (Post Office Rifles), killed in action Friday 30th November 1917 age 35, buried: NKG, commemorated: Cambrai Memorial, Louverval, Nord, France. Panel 11. Son of James and Mary Yarrow, of Little Thetford; husband of Laura Yarrow, of Hall Fen, Little Thetford, Ely, Cambs. Born and resident Little Thetford, enlisted Bury St Edmunds.

"Faithful until death"

Additionally recorded on the scroll:

GAGE

Sidney C

Private 17515, 11^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, died of wounds Saturday 1st July 1916 age 33, buried: Serre Road Cemetery No. 1, Pas de Calais, France. Grave I. BB. 3. Son of Mrs. S. Gage, of 5, Little Thetford, Isle of Ely, Cambs. Born Mildenhall, Suffolk, enlisted Ely. Brother of the below.

GAGE

Albert

Sergeant 34809, 1st Battery, Royal Field Artillery, killed in action Tuesday 16th October 1917, buried: Trois Arbres Cemetery, Steenwerck, Nord, France. Grave II. A. 26. Born and enlisted Mildenhall, Suffolk. Brother of the above. See also Ely and Prickwillow.

1939 – 1945

GOY

Leslie Newman

Telegraphist/Air Gunner, H.M.S. Glasgow, died 20th May 1939 age 22, buried at sea, died after rescuing his Pilot after a crash during an exercise. A full description of the circumstances of his death is in the church.

YARROW

Alfred

Private 5835326, 5^th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, died in captivity Sunday 27th June 1943 age 23, buried: Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, Thailand. Son of Laura Yarrow, of Little Thetford, Cambridgeshire.

CORNWELL

Stanley Arthur James (Jim)

Royal Navy - returned home following injury whilst serving on HMS Warspite, died 1944, aged 20 years at home, 8, Green Hill, Lt. Thetford. Second son of 6 boys and 3 girls of Winifred Ellen & Edmund Stanley (Bill) Cornwell. Buried Lt. Thetford Cemetery directly opposite war memorial. His father served in Cambridgeshire Regiment.

Not on Memorial

PRESNELL

Henry A

Ordinary Seaman, HMS Grenville, died 2nd October 1951, age 19. Youngest son of Mrs E Presnell, Council Houses, Little Thetford. HMS Grenville was being used as an air training target vessel and was in collision with the Italian steamer Alceo, off Start Point, Devon. Three crewman on the Grenville died and four were posted missing.

** NOTE **

I served in HMS Grenville and was aboard during the collision mentioned above. Seven men were lost in all, including the sick berth attendant. Four were Petty Officers. I can be contacted at ambain@btopenworld.com if anyone cares to do so.

Alan Bain, former R.E.M., R.N.

http://www.btinternet.com/~ambain

Last updated 13 January, 2019

War Memorials Trust