Botley War Memorial

Summary

First and Second World War memorial. Erected in 1920 by the builders Messrs W Cornish with a further inscription added after the Second World War.

Reasons for Designation

Botley War Memorial, erected in 1920 in the churchyard of All Saints Church, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic interest:

* As a poignant reminder of the tragic impact of world events on the local community, and the sacrifice it made during the First and Second World Wars;

Group value:

* With the Grade II-listed All Saints Church.

History

The aftermath of the First World War saw a huge wave of public commemoration with tens of thousands of memorials erected across the country. One such memorial was erected by the builders Messrs W Cornish in the churchyard of All Saints Church to commemorate 33 residents of Botley who died during the conflict.

The proposal to erect the memorial, with funding provided through public subscription, was approved at a Botley Parish Council meeting held on 6 February 1919. It was constructed during 1920 and unveiled to the public on Easter Sunday, 27 March 1921. The Reverend Salway officiated, assisted by Congregational Minister Reverend Longmore, the church choir and organist Mr Truckel. It was reported in The Hampshire Advertiser that the ceremony was well attended by ‘all classes of the community, including friends and relatives of the fallen ones [and] many ex-Service men’. The hymns ‘O God, Our Help in Ages Past’, ‘The Supreme Sacrifice’ and ‘For all the Saints’ were sung and Psalm 23 chanted. Major Footner DSO, of the 1st/4th Hampshire Regiment, Territorial Force Battalion, unveiled the memorial by releasing a Union Jack after buglers sounded the ‘Last Post’. Several of the dead, such as Privates R. and T. W. Tosdevine, served with Major Footner in the 1st/4th Battalion and gave their lives in Mesopotamia. He is listed in the London Gazette as having been awarded his Distinguished Service Order on 3 June 1919, for his service during the defence of Kut-al-Amarah, which was one of the worst Allied defeats of the Mesopotamian campaign.

An inscription was added to the memorial following the Second World War to commemorate 12 servicemen from Botley who lost their lives during that conflict.

Details

First and Second World War memorial. Erected in 1920 by the builders Messrs W Cornish, with a further inscription added after the Second World War.

MATERIALS: carved from Hopton wood stone and York stone.

DESCRIPTION: the war memorial stands in the churchyard of All Saints Church. It is situated to the south of the Grade-II listed church, near the entrance gate of the churchyard. The memorial comprises a Latin cross, which stands on four tiered steps supported by a rectangular pedestal with a projecting cornice, a plinth with a projecting cornice, and a square, York stone, three-stepped base. Each face of the pedestal is decorated with a laurel wreath carved in relief. The plinth has a flat recess on each side for the inscriptions. The east face is inscribed in lead lettering: SACRED/ TO THE MEMORY/ OF/ THE MEN OF THIS PARISH/ WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES/ FOR THEIR COUNTRY/ IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914 – 1919/ “GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN/ THAN THIS, THAT HE GAVE HIS/ LIFE FOR FRIENDS”/ AND IN THE WORLD WAR 1939 – 1945. The north, south and west faces are inscribed in lead lettering with 33 names of the fallen. There are also 12 names of servicemen who died during the Second World War on the west face of the plinth. At the top of the base on the west side of the memorial is a cross-shaped memorial vase.

Sources

Websites
Imperial War Museum War Memorials Register, accessed 20 Sept 2017 from www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/21095
War Memorials Online, accessed 20 Sept 2017 from www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/209393

End of official list entry

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