www.lyonshall.net THE LYONSHALL HISTORY PROJECT www.lyonshallresearch.co.uk MAYBERRY 1090> DEVEREAUX 1190-1393 &-1485 MERBURY 1400 1438 HARLEY 1568 2014> The GREAT WAR & The Parish. THE LYONSHALL [CENTENARY] COMMEMORATIVE PROJECT. 105 Years from 1914 to 2018.
1090 > 1190 > "LEST WE FORGET 1400 > <2014 IN MEMORY OF THOSE FAMILIES WHO GAVE OF THEIR LIVES AND HOPES IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR, [1914 1919. 03/04/2014 ARCHER. John Thomas George. Son of George ( Gardener ) of Bradnor & Eliza of Titley. Killed in Action. Private Soldier. Kings Shropshire Light Infantry. France / Flanders 01/04/1918. [Aged 19]. Buried in France and Commemorated at Lyonshall. COWLES. Frank. Son of Cornelius Henry & Mary Jane Cowles, Landlords of The George Inn, Lyonshall. Butcher s apprentice. He emigrated to Australia in 1909 to join his older brother who was working on a sugarcane farm Died of Wounds received at Gallipoli. Private Soldier / Driver, The Australian Light Horse. [Australian Imperial Force]. Fatally Wounded at Gallipoli 10/09/1915. Died in Devonport Naval Hospital, Devon, England.. [Aged 23]. Buried in the family plot and Commemorated at Lyonshall. Also Commemorated at Melbourne, Australia. DAVIES. Francis. Husband of Lizzie Alfreda Davies and father of Francis Vernon Davies (b, 1911). Born in Lyonshall and a Clerk on The Great Western Railway at Kington Station. Killed in Action by a trench mortar shell. Private Soldier. 49 th (Edmonton) Regiment, Canadian Infantry. France 04/09/1917. [Aged 34]. Buried in France and Commemorated at Lyonshall.
EDWARDS. Thomas. Son of George of The Wharf Inn and Frances Edwards of The White Lion, Lyonshall. Joined The Army in Ludlow, Shropshire & Died of Wounds. Gunner. The Royal Field Artillery. The Western Front 28/11/1918. (17 days after the Armistice was signed). [Aged 25]. Buried in France and Commemorated at Lyonshall. HAMER. George. Son of George Hamer. Gardener Domestic & Shepherd of Lewis Wych, Lyonshall. Killed in Action. Private Soldier. The Sherwood Foresters. France/Flanders 13/05/1918. [Aged 29]. Commemorated at Lyonshall. JAY. William Thomas. Gardener. Son of Thomas Jay of Pembridge & Eliza ( Mabel ) Jay. Of Marston, Lyonshall. Baptised at Lyonshall. Married. Enlisted into The Monmouthshire Regiment (V) [24 th Foot] at Leominster. Died of Wounds at Eccleshall, Yorkshire. Lance Corporal. The South Wales Borderers [24 th Foot]. The Western Front 25/05/1918. [Aged 31]. Buried at Pembridge and Commemorated at Lyonshall. LEEK. William Charles. Sometime Jobbing Gardener at Elsdon Cottages, Lyonshall. Born at Dolly Green, Presteigne. Killed in Action. Private Soldier. 6 th Battalion, The Lincolnshire Regiment. The Western Front 27/11/1916. [Aged 31]. Buried in France and Remembered & Commemorated at Lyonshall by his employers (Samuel Mainwearing, Farmer at Elsdon ). LEWIS. Archibald Percy. Shop Assistant at Worcester. Son of Thomas ( Cattle Man ) & Diana of The Whittern Estate. Enlisted at Hereford 1914. Died. Private Soldier. Kings Shropshire Light Infantry. Salonika (The Balkan Theatre) 08/8/1918. [Aged 26]. Buried in Greece and Commemorated at Lyonshall. McMURDO. John Coke. Eldest son and heir of Commander Aston McMurdo RN who had been born at The Whittern (Lyonshall) and who was the son and heir to Robert McMurdo JP, DL, John (born in Kent) was
Commissioned into The Essex Regiment before The First World War and served in India. He was Killed in Action as a Captain at The Gallipoli Landings on 25/04/1915. [Aged 30]. Buried in Turkey and Privately commemorated inside Lyonshall Parish Church, at Warley [Essex] and on The War Memorial at Chudleigh in Devon. After note: His Maternal First Cousin, Sub Lieutenant Adair Grey BAGSHAWE RN was killed on 04/06/1915 at Gallipoli commanding his Sailors - acting as Soldiers - as part of The Collingwood Battalion. Wounded in The 2 nd Battle of Krithia he fought on and was wounded again. He was unable to join his men in the withdrawal on 04/06/1915 [Aged 31]. His body was never found but he is remembered at Helles on the same memorial in Turkey as his cousin. McMURDO Robert. Younger brother of John Coke McMurdo (see above). He went to Canada to join his Uncle s family [Captain Charles Edward McMurdo, Royal Canadian Rifles]. Killed in Action while rendering First Aid to his comrade. Private Soldier / Stretcher Bearer. 4 th Battalion (Central Ontario) The Royal Regiment of Canada. Zillebeke, Ypres 14/06/1916. [Aged 24]. Buried in Belgium and Privately commemorated inside Lyonshall Parish Church. RICHARDS. Evan James. Gardener Domestic at Cuerden Hall Cheshire. Born in The Parish of Pembridge and son of Evan and Matilda Richards, of Castle Weir Farm, Lyonshall, originally of Dilwyn, Herefordshire. Enlisted at Warrington, Lancashire, into The Lancashire Fusiliers. Died of Wounds. Lance Sergeant. The Western Front 10/05/1916. [Aged 26]. Commemorated at Lyonshall.
Lyonshall Church Memorial, Figure 1 "Memorial Plaque inside The Church"
Figure 2 "The Parish Church from the south". [Trooper COWLES s grave is arrowed, below the tower] Figure 3 "The McMURDO Memorial by The Altar. Captain John Coke McMURDO.
Figure 4 The McMurdo Memorial Window above the altar at the East end of The Church. This window commemorates Robert and Sarah McMurdo of The Whittern (1806-1891) and their eldest son Henry Robert Douglas McMURDO who was lost at sea believed drowned on 9 th September 1852 aged 22. He was serving aboard HMS Fox [a 46 gun 5 th Rate Ship of The Line] during The Second Anglo- Burmese War. Born in Scotland in 1830, he is recorded as living at Lyonshall with his family in 1841. Figure 5 "The family grave of Trooper (Driver) Frank COWLES".
THE MEMORIAL HALL LYONSHALL. Figure 6 "The porch of the 'Memorial Hall' with its plaque commemorating those who fell in The First World War between 1915 and 1918". History of The Memorial Hall. The Lyonshall Memorial Hall was built in 1922, by Public Subscription, to commemorate the 9 Members of The Parish who had died in THE GREAT WAR. It did not include the two McMurdo brothers as their family no longer lived within The Parish boundaries. The following families were involved in its purchase, building and its future care: Major Stewart Robinson* JP of Lynhales ~ Donated the land in perpetuity. James Ratcliffe * of Crackadonia [Florist & Nurseryman] ~ Chairman of the Trustees. Ralph Holt Bromley Schoolmaster ~ Secretary and Trustee. Captain Lionel Havercroft Green JP, MBE [Landowner The Whittern ] ~ Trustee. Evan William Jones [Farmer The Holme ] ~ Trustee. Major Hubert Ronald Pettit* TD, JP, DL [Landowner Castle Weir ] ~ Trustee. Note*: Three of the families concerned were to lose sons, nephews or grandsons in The Second World War! In 2012 The Memorial Hall is still run by an Independent Board of Trustees for, and on behalf of, The Community of The Parish of Lyonshall.
The above group photograph of the 1 st /2 nd Herefordshire Regiment (Volunteers), taken in 1914 on the outbreak of the First World War, shows two of the Landowners of The Parish of Lyonshall who were intimately connected with The Memorial Hall. 2 nd Lt Stewart Robinson of Lynhales Hall (aged 45) donated the land for The Memorial Hall and Captain Lionel H. Green MBE of The Whittern (aged 31) was a Trustee of the Governing Committee. Also shown in the photograph is 2 nd Lt Francis H.L.Evelyn of Hinsham Court (aged 23) who was the nephew of Stewart Robinson. All three survived the conflict but Stewart Robinson s only son and heir [John Stewart Robinson (aged 22)] was killed over Singapore in The RAF in The Second World War (1942) and Francis Evelyn s nephew [Bernard C Harrison (aged 20)] was killed over France in 1940, also in The RAF.
If I should die, think only this of me: That there s some corner of a foreign Field That is forever - England. Sub Lieutenant Rupert Brooke RNVR. The Soldier. [ 1914 ] Born 3 August 1887 Died 23 April 1915 [Aged: 28]. Killed by a mosquito bite off The Island of Skyros in The Aegean Sea, Greece, whilst serving in The Royal Naval Division (Infantry) on his way to: Gallipoli. THE ALLIED EASTERN FRONT
Macedonia / Salonika 1915-18 & Gallipoli 1915-16. Serbia Bulgaria Constantinople Albania SALONIKA Gallipoli 1915-16 CORFU [Britain] GREECE Skyros Ottoman Empire TURKEY Athens RHODES [Italy] Crete BULGARIA INVADED SERBIA (OCTOBER 1915) THE ALLIES APPROACH ISTANBUL (OCTOBER 1918). Most people know that the spark that triggered the 1914-18 War was the assassination of The Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria/Hungary in Sarajevo in 1914. After that our attention and memories focus on The Western Front and the trench warfare in France and Flanders. Meanwhile the war continued in the Eastern Mediterranean region! Allied to Imperial Germany & Austria Hungary, and soon joined by The Turkish Ottoman Empire, The Kingdom of Bulgaria invaded Serbia (blamed for the assassination) in October 1915. The Allies ( The British Empire, France & The Kingdom of Italy ) came to Serbia s aid using Salonika (in Semi-Neutral Greece) and Corfu [UK] as bases. The Australians and New Zealanders played a key role in the abortive invasion of Gallipoli with the British and French. Three of Lyonshall s casualties were killed in this campaign (27% of the total). Trooper Frank Cowles was among the first of many to die in that war and he is buried in Lyonshall. THE ALLIED WESTERN FRONT
France / Flanders 1914-18. ENGLAND Brussels GERMANY B.E.F. SWITZERLAND PARIS FRANCE GERMANY invades BELGIUM & FRANCE (August 1914) GERMANY sues for An ARMISTICE. >11/11/1918.> > a PEACE TREATY was Signed at VERSAILLES, France in JUNE 1919. War in Europe had been brewing for many years but in 1914 the spark - the assassination of The Heir to The Austrian Throne, by a random student activist / terrorist - gave the excuse! On 4 th August 1914 Imperial Germany invaded (Neutral) Belgium and France. Thus The British Empire joined the conflict. Allied to France, and guaranteeing Belgian neutrality, a British Expeditionary Force [The BEF] was sent across The Channel. The British Empire, France, The Kingdom of Italy, Belgium, Portugal, The Russian Empire and Siam [Thailand] were now at War in Western Europe with The German Empire, Austria / Hungary & The Central Powers. So began THE First WORLD WAR! The tiny Parish of Lyonshall [Population 660] in peaceful Herefordshire, England, was to lose 11 of its men in The Conflict, 8 of them on The Western Front. The areas in which they were killed or wounded are marked by the Symbol on the Maps. THE LYONSHALL HYMN.
This hymn is sung at Memorial Services throughout The Commonwealth and at many Military Funerals.