War Memorial

Reasons for Designation

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION The War Memorial at Bexwell is designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons: * It is a poignant reminder of the impact of world events on the local communities of Bexwell and Ryston * It demonstrates how the tragedy of the First World War united people from different social spheres * The remains of an ancient stone cross are incorporated into the fabric

Details

DOWNHAM MARKET

807/0/10002 BEXWELL
11-MAR-08 War Memorial

II
War memorial. Erected to the memory of L. H. Pratt of Ryston Hall and C. D. Prangley of Bexwell Rectory, who were killed in action in the First World War. Two square limestone plinths with inlaid marble tablets on one side, bearing inscriptions. Plain limestone cross. Between the plinths and the cross is a weathered square base with chamfered corners which probably came from an ancient cross on the site.

INSCRIPTIONS:
The upper plinth is inscribed: 'L. H. Pratt of Ryston Sept. 25. 1915 / C. D. Prangley of Bexwell Sept. 25. 1916.'
The lower plinth is inscribed: 'All that we had we gave / All that was ours to give / Freely surrendered all / That you in peace might live. / In trench and field and many seas we lie / We who in dying shall not ever die / If only you in honour of the slain / Shall surely see we did not die in vain.'

HISTORY:
This memorial, erected on the site of an ancient stone cross on the boundary of the parishes of Bexwell and Ryston, honours two friends who were killed in action in France on the same date a year apart. The first, Lionel Henry Pratt, was the son of the squire of Ryston Hall; the second, Charles Dean Prangley, was the son of the rector of Bexwell.

Second Lieutenant Lionel Henry Pratt was born on 17 December 1889, the third son of Edward Roger Murray Pratt and Louisa Frances Pratt of Ryston Hall. He served in the 18th Battalion of the London Regiment (London Irish Rifles) and was killed on 25 September 1915 in the Battle of Loos, aged 25. He is buried in a mass grave at Maroc British Cemetery, Grenay.

Second Lieutenant Charles Dean Prangley, known as 'Doox', was born in 1897, the son of Charles Wilton Prangley and Elizabeth Prangley of Bexwell Rectory. His mother died when he was two. He served in the 1st Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment and was killed on 25 September 1916 at the Battle of Morval on the Somme, aged 19. He is buried at the Guards' Cemetery in Les Boeufs. His father Revd Prangley commissioned a local corn merchant, George Smith of Downham Market, to produce a commemorative book with illuminated pages, which is now kept in St George's Memorial Church in Ypres. The photographs of Doox in the book are mounted on silk from his mother's wedding dress; the covers are made of wood from the garden of Bexwell Rectory; and the gold cross on the cover is made from his mother's wedding ring. The wooden cross that originally marked Doox's grave in France is hanging in St Mary's Church, Bexwell.

SOURCES:
John Pollock, Doox - A Soldier of the Great War and His Legacy (Truro, 2005).
Ordnance Survey maps 1887, 1905, 1928.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION:
The War Memorial at Bexwell is designated at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* It is a poignant reminder of the impact of world events on the local communities of Bexwell and Ryston
* It demonstrates how the tragedy of the First World War united people from different social spheres
* The remains of an ancient stone cross are incorporated into the fabric
TF6243202784

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 23 January 2017.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

495542

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 23 January 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/56331
War Memorials Online, accessed 23 January 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/69425

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