Stowupland's Memorials
The date of this document is unknown but it refers to a petition from the Rev J.E. Chapman and his churchwardens Mr L.Napthine and Mr A. Cooper regarding the erection of a memorial to 37 of our young men killed in The Great War. He was Stowupland’s vicar from 1922 to 1935.
This plaque commemorating 37 of Stowupland’s fallen of WW1 can be seen on the wall of Holy Trinity Church. The inscription reads”These Held Not Their Lives Dear”.
Click on the link to read more about the men and their families whose lives were changed forever.
The memorial cross was erected ‘For the Men Who Fell’ and unveiled on 24 Oct 1920 by Lieutenant Colonel C P Beerot, 6th Battalion Suffolk Regiment. It stands in Stowupland’s cemetery with our 2 Commonwealth War Graves. This plaque for 10 local men who died in WW2 is in Holy Trinity Church under the roll of honour for WW1.
During his childhood in Stowupland the Rev Leslie Brame was in the Boys’ Brigade. In his unpublished manuscript ‘As I Remember It’ he described the War memorial and recalled a Boys Brigade parade that was held to mark Remembrance Day.
‘The War Memorial stood in the centre of the circle at the far end of the cemetery; it was a heavy concrete structure, in chunky style, with a large base pedestal and tapering as it rose skywards to a plain chunky cross on the top at the height of about twenty feet. On the lower half, there were smooth sloping panels on three sides, carrying the names of Stowupland men who had gone to war in France and had not returned. The centre panel was engraved with the words In Memoriam, The Great War 1914 -1918 underneath a laurel wreath and the flags of the Suffolk regiment and the Union Jack. As was usual, the list of names was in alphabetical order, men and officers alike, without mentioning whether they were Church or Chapel or neither!’
He did recall one occasion when the Anglican Vicar refused to join in the Remembrance service that was being marked by a parade of the Boys Brigade, though as Rev Brame pointed out ‘some of his parishioners whose families were affected came to it and even mingled with Chapel people.’
In 2018 a beacon was erected on Our Green near The Retreat. It was lit for the centenary of the ending of WW1 and again to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Read Jerry Voden’s article on our Beacon of light, 2018
Of course it was not just in WW1 and WW2 that local men fought and died for their country. Those for whom we have been able to find a military record will be marked with a soldier’s silhouette.
Some enlisted men did return to their loved ones, but for many their lives and those of their loved ones were changed for ever and many of their sacrifices are now forgotten.
We know of some men whose home at the time of conflict did not have family in Stowupland but who subsequently made this their home eg Rev Lark, Norman Hoad and Hocky Lazell‘s husband. If you have a story of a Stowupland Loved One whose family was affected by conflict please share it with us so they can be remembered.
On May 16th, 1916 – ” lessons in self-sacrifice, duty (including duty of economy) and patriotism followed by the singing of the national anthem and salutes to the living and departed village heroes.”
24th September, 1917 -” The children by sanction of the LEA devoted the day to a blackberrying expedition. The proceeds by the decision of the children to be given to the red Cross”
(NL’s extracts from Stowupland School Log Book and the Managers Minute Book).
The Supreme Sacrifice was first sung on November 11, 1920 in Westminster Abbey, London at the burial service of the Unknown Warrior. It has continued to be sung in Stowupland church during the Remembrance service whilst a collection is taken for the work of the British Legion.
Over the decades many of the memories and relics of our wartime past have been lost but some do remain, see Impacts of Conflicts and Stowupland’s Unexpected Visitors.
Whilst many untimely deaths have been due to world conflicts this is not true for all. Those stories that we can share can be read here.
