A Memorial in the Flavel Church9
For four years, the nation has been marking the centenary of the Great War. As our contribution, the Dartmouth History Research Group decided to put together a list of all those commemorated in Dartmouth who died in the conflict, and find out more about them. by Gail Ham
The first step was to identify correctly all the names on the Town’s War Memorial – some previous research was incomplete and, it turned out, not wholly accurate. Secondly, we collected the names on all the memorials in the town’s churches and found that, while most were on the Town War Memorial, several were not. Thirdly, we collected the names on official War Graves from the Great War in St Clements churchyard and in Longcross Cemetery. Again, some names were commemorated on the War Memorial, but several were not.
Finally, review of obituary notices in the Dartmouth Chronicle showed that some people whose deaths were marked at the time were not commemorated on any memorials. Those names were also added to the list.
Since 2014 we have been researching each individual – their family background, their service and how and where they died. A special commemorative website records their stories: www.dartmouthgreatwarfallen.org
Our research shows that the men commemorated in Dartmouth fell in every major campaign in which British Empire forces were engaged – on the Western Front, Gallipoli, Salonica, Mesopotamia and Palestine; in all the major naval battles, in submarine and mine warfare, and in the air; in the front line and in support functions. Several died in the merchant navy. Men also died in accidents, of disease, and in two cases, suicide.
The graph (opposite) shows when most deaths occurred. In the Army, the battles that took the highest toll were Loos, in September 1915; the Somme, July-November 1916; Arras, in April 1917; and the Third Battle of Ypres, July-October 1917. In the Navy, the losses were greatest at the Battle of Coronel in 1914, and at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.
Armistice Day was not the end of the war and the deaths commemorated continued beyond it. The Peace Treaty was not signed until 28th June 1919, and in Britain, wartime legislation did not officially end until 31st August 1921. Until that date, those who died while serving in the Forces were commemorated with a War Grave.
There are no women’s names on Dartmouth memorials. However, we found one woman, Beatrice Crocker, who died as a direct result of enemy action in 1916, when the ship on which she was travelling struck a mine and sank.
About a quarter of those commemorated did not live or were not born in Dartmouth. Reflecting ties with the Empire, two were born in Australia, one in New Zealand, and two had recently emigrated to Canada.
Armistice Day 1918
Nowadays, we mark the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month with silence, but in 1918 in Dartmouth it was noisily celebrated. The Dartmouth Chronicle reported: “The great world drama rushed to its climax with terrific swiftness. Dartmouth awoke and went about its daily work on Monday morning hoping that the good news would come, and there was a deep spirit of thankfulness in all hearts when at eleven o’clock sirens from shipping in the harbour and factories were heard blowing loud and prolonged blasts. The bells of St Saviour’s Church also sounded forth a merry peal, and citizens knew that at last the great day had arrived.”
Stocks of Union Jacks and flags of the Allies ran out. Then attention turned to commemorating those who would not return.
War memorials are now such a familiar part of the landscape that we take them for granted. It is easy to forget that one hundred years ago the circumstances were wholly unprecedented. Although everyone could agree on the need to recognise the collective sacrifice, deciding on the right kind of public memorial was more difficult. The memorials in the churches proved uncontroversial, but the Town War Memorial provoked strong views.
Early in 1919 a War Memorial Committee was set up and invited proposals. Eight were put forward, several reflecting ideas for town improvements:
- a new Guildhall
- a weather-proof shelter on the Embankment
- a wayside crucifix in St Saviour’s Churchyard
- a public bathhouse and wash house, with a tea house on the roof
- a triumphal arch on the New Ground, with a figure of Britannia and “war scenes”
- an extension of the Cottage Hospital
- the preservation of one of Dartmouth’s oldest houses
- new housing and a recreation ground on Combe Mud
The ensuing argument was typical of that happening everywhere – what were memorials for? Should they provide practical benefits to the living, or focus on the dead? Should they be funded by the rates, or by voluntary subscription? How could it be ensured that any memorial was permanent? Who would look after it? How could different religious views be accommodated? What would the men “who had gone west”, as one man put it, have wanted?
Eventually agreement was reached on a twenty-foot granite obelisk, inscribed with the names of the fallen, located on the New Ground. There was no central source of information for the names – the Town Clerk drew up a list based largely on information from the Dartmouth Chronicle. The list was published in the paper, and, though incomplete, helped us one hundred years later to confirm the identities of many of the people named on the memorial.
During 1920, as the churches put up their memorials, contributions towards the town’s trickled in. This was not unusual – the post-war years were hard, and many communities struggled to raise enough money. But gradually concern grew – other towns now had their memorials, where was Dartmouth’s?
By October, funds raised totalled £240, a shortfall of £320. Some said the shortfall was because people disliked the obelisk, called by one man “an old heathen thing”; a cross was proposed instead. At a public meeting, there were 21 votes for a cross, 18 against. The view that obelisks were “pagan” or “heathen” was expressed in similar meetings elsewhere in Devon;
on the other hand, some places specifically chose them.
After a last-minute disagreement about its exact location, the War Memorial was put up where it is now and unveiled with much ceremony by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) on 18th May 1921. Despite the controversy at the time, it remains the focus of the town’s commemoration of those who fell in the Great War, and all subsequent conflicts.
About the Dartmouth History Research Group
The Dartmouth History Research Group researches and records the history of Dartmouth and surrounding villages. If you’re interested in Dartmouth’s rich history, have a look at their many publications (available in the Community Bookshop, the Museum, or directly from the DHRG); at their website http://www.dartmouth.org.uk or go along to one of their meetings – dates are on the home page. It costs nothing to join and new members are always welcome.
First published in By The Dart magazine December 2018