Roll of Honour - Oxfordshire

Ministry of Defence

Lest We Forget

The Royal British Legion

FINMERE MEMORIAL

World War 1 & 2 - Roll of Honour with detailed information
Compiled and copyright © 2003 Martin Edwards
further information and photographs supplied by Andy Boddington
Finmere Website - with grateful thanks
Roll of Honur and plaque details Carolynn Langley

The memorial is to be found inisde the gate of the churchyard. It is made from stone and has a base sourmounted by a two-stepped pedestal, a shaft and cross with inscriptions on two sides of the pedestal. On the front face of the cross is a sword of sacrifice mounted in relief. There are six names for World War 1 by surname, forename, rank and Regiment, there are a further four names for World War 2 listed in the same manner. The memorial was first dedicated by the local clergy and dignitaries on 11th July 1920 and ahain on 11th November 1954. The original mason was J C Coles. Within the church of St Michael is a handwritten Rol of Honour, framed, inside a window recess on the left of the doorway, it is badly faded. There are also two personal plaques in the church.

Extracts relating to the memorial are as follows:

On the day that the Armistice was signed George Dangerfield recorded the event in the Rector’s Book, six months later:

On November 11th at 11am an Armistice was concluded and the Great European War 1914-1918 came to an end.

With these brief words, Reverend George Dangerfield recorded the end of the First World War. Two years later, the parish erected a war memorial in the churchyard. George Dangerfield recorded the details:

On July 13th a Memorial Cross erected in the Churchyard … in memory of the men of Finmere Parish who fell in the Great War was dedicated by the Reverend T.H. Archer Houblon. There were a large number present at the Service and the Last Post and Reveille were sounded by boy buglers from Magdalene College School, Brackley.

The Cross is of Honiton Stone and the work was done by Messrs Coles of Brackley at a cost of £80, the money being willingly subscribed by parishioners and others connected with the Parish. The memorial stands in the churchyard. See the Finmere Website.

The War Memorial photographed between the Wars
Photograph Copyright © Andy Boddington 2003

"Their Name Liveth for Evermore"

1914-1918

BIGNELL

Herbert

Private 8578, 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment. Killed in action Sunday 14th March 1915 at the fateful battle of Neuve Chapelle. Born Paulerspury, Nothamptonshire, enlisted Northampton. Commemorated on LE TOURET MEMORIAL, Pas de Calais, France. Panel 28 to 30.

CLIFFORD

Archibald

Private 5762, 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Killed in action at Festubert on Sunday 16th May 1915. Aged 34. Born Finmere, enlisted Banbury, resident Leeds. Son of John and Ann Clifford of Lower End, Finmere; husband of Elizabeth Clifford of of 5, Shag Terrace, Woodhouse St., Leeds. Commemorated on LE TOURET MEMORIAL, Pas de Calais, France. Panel 26.

CLIFFORD

Frank

Private 19638, [SDGW states 1st] 2nd Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment. Killed in action Saturday 1st July 1916. Age 21. Born and resident Finmere, enlisted Oxford. Son of Harry and Elizabeth Clifford, of Finmere. Formerly 11276, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Commemorated on THIEPVAL MEMORIAL, Somme, France. Pier and Face 13A

CLIFFORD

William

Private SD/659, 11th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment. Killed in action Sunday 3rd September 1916. Age 26. Born Finmere, enlisted Willesden, Middlesex. Son of Thomas 9"Tommy-Dodd" and Margaret Clifford of Finmere. Eldest of eleven children. Commemorated on THIEPVAL MEMORIAL, Somme, France. Pier and Face 7 C.

DAVIES

George Frederick

[Spelt DAVIS on CWGC] Private 5769, 1st/4th Battalion, Royal Fusliers. Died 12th October 1916 in France & Flanders. Age 36. Native of Finmere, Buckingham. Son of Thomas and Louisa Davis of 167, Hoxton St., Shoreditch, London. Buried in ST. SEVER CEMETERY, ROUEN, Seine-Maritime, France. Grave B. 14. 33.

PAXTON

Wilfred

Lance Corporal 220081, 2nd Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment. Killed in action Friday 15th February 1918. Born and resident Finmere, enlisted Oxford. Formerly 204129, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. The Paxtons were a long established Finmere family. Commemorated on TYNE COT MEMORIAL, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Panel 105 to 106 and 162.

SYMES-THOMPSON

Cholmeley

Captain, 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards. Killed in action Tuesday 17th November 1914. Age 33. Son of the late Dr. Edmund Symes-Thompson, F.R.C.P., (died 1906) and Elizabeth Symes-Thompson (died 1920); husband of Grace E. J. Symes-Thompson (nee Churchill), of 43, Argyll Rd., Kensington, London. Buried in ZILLEBEKE CHURCHYARD, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Grave F. 2. Commemorated within the chgurch of St Michael, Finmere:

TO THE LOVED MEMORY OF
CHOLMELEY SYMES – THOMPSON
Capt. 1ST Battn. GRENADIER GUARDS
Born 16.4.1881 GAVE HIS LIFE FOR THE
HONOUR OF HIS COUTRY IN THE BATTLE
OF 17TH NOVEMBER 1914 NEAR YPRES.

“Be thou faithful – unto death and I will give thee a crown of life”

The War Memorial also pays tribute to the men of Finmere who fell during the Second World War. The Reverend P.A. Parrott recorded the addition of a panel to the cross in 1954:

On Remembrance Day, 11th November, a panel of the War Memorial Cross recording the names of the men who gave their lives in the 1939-1945 war was unveiled. The local branch of the British Legion attended the service and laid a tribute at the Memorial. The Cross was cleaned and the additional work done by means of a house-to-house collection in the parish and a small sum from the Barrett War Memorial bequest.

1939-1945

BUCK

Benjamin Robert

Gunner 1427327, H.Q. 6 H.A.A. Regiment, Royal Artillery. Died on Sunday 29th November 1942. Age 27. Son of Albert and Hannah Buck; husband of Olive Alice Buck, of Finmere, Buckinghamshire. Died in a POW camp at Fukuoka. Commemorated on YOKOHAMA CREMATION MEMORIAL, Japan. Panel 2.

BULL

Douglas John

Private 5961893, 2nd Battalion, The Hertfordshire Regiment, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. Died on Thursday 6th May 1943. Age 20. Son of Frank and Sophia Bull, of Finmere, Oxfordshire. Buried in MEDJEZ-EL-BAB WAR CEMETERY, Tunisia. Grave 2. G. 9.

HORWOOD

George

Gunner 1712406, 80th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. Died on Wednesday 25th April 1945. Age 35. Son of John and Alice Horwood, of Little Tingewick, Buckinghamshire. Buried in BECKLINGEN WAR CEMETERY, Soltau, Niedersachsen, Germany. Grave 4. L. 4.

SYMES-THOMPSON

Richard Edmund

Civilian. B.A., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. Son of Dr and Mrs H.E. Thompson who lived at Finmere House. Wounded “as a result of enemy action”, an air raid, died at St Luke’s Hospital in Chelsea, London on Sunday 11th May 1941. Age 28. Listed in METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF CHELSEA, Civilian War Dead, London. Commemorated within the chgurch of St Michael, Finmere:

IN MEMORY OF H.E. SYMES THOMPSON
M.A.M.D. MYCF
Who died 18th JANUARY 1952
Churchwarden of this parish
Also his son
R.E. SYMES – THOMPSON
BA.MRCS LR. CP.
11TH MAY 1941
KILLED BY ENEMY ACTION.

ROLL OF HONOUR
1914-1918

MEN SERVING IN H.M. FORCES FROM FINEMERE and LITTLE TINGEWICK
IN MEMORIUM

Note: The names here have been sorted intyo alphabetcial order for ease of reading.

ARIS