Showcase result

Tylers Green

The war memorial gothic cross stands adjacent to St. Margaret’s Church in the closed churchyard on Church Road. The area is within a Conservation Area. The memorial is constructed of Portland Stone. An inscription and names are carved and black painted on the cross. There are also names on plaques on the wall behind the memorial which are carved and lead filled.

In February 2008 War Memorials Trust provided a grant of £360 towards the re-incising and re-painting of letters on the cross. The memorial was not cleaned as the stone had weathered to match the church behind and the community sought to retain this.

The memorial was built by E. Harris. On 26th August 1920 the memorial was dedicated by the Rt. Rev John Taylor-Smith, Chaplain General of Forces and unveiled by the Lord Lieutenant of Buckingham, Sir Charles Robert Wynn-Carington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire, whose own son, Viscount Wendover, had died in 1915 from wounds received at the 2nd Battle of Ypres.

On the cross is the inscription:

In thankful and loving memory of the Officers and Men of this village who laid down their lives in the Great War for civilization. 1914 – 1919.

Some of the names recorded on the memorial from World War I can be seen in photographs held by the Trust:

Arthur Dover
Harry Dutton
Hugh Fryer
Alfred Trendall
Ernest Trendall

Two of the men on the memorial were in likelihood related; Corporal Alfred Trendell and Lance Corporal Ernest Trendell. Both were members of the regular army and both were sent to France in August 1914, Corp. Trendell in the 1st Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps and Lance Corp. Trendell in 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment. Corp. Trendell died at the beginning of March 1916 aged 20. Lance Corp. died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916.

The men on the memorial commemorated from World War II saw action all over the globe. Some of those names that can be read from photographs:

Leonard Bone
Albert Brooks 
Lewis Goldsworthy
Bertie Meeks
Maurice Perfect
Arthur Radwell
George Warren
Donald West
Donald White

Leonard Bone served on HMS Hermes in the post of Leading Photographer. From the summer of 1940 the Hermes patrolled the Indian Ocean as part of the Eastern Fleet. On 9 April 1942 she was attacked by 70 Japanese bombers while returning to Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, and sunk with the loss of 370 men.

Trooper George Warren of the Royal Armoured Corps died in January 1943 during fighting in Tunisia, in the last phase of the "back and forth" fighting in the north African desert; four months later the Allies were victorious here. Trooper Warren’s parents lived in Penn in Buckinghamshire; their son is buried in Tunisia. The parents of Lewis Goldsworthy also lived in Penn; their son is buried even further away, in Thailand. He was a driver in the 197 Field Ambulance, part of the Royal Army Service Corps. The 197 Field Ambulance was part of 18th Division which left Avonmouth at the end of October 1941 heading for the Middle East. They proceeded to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then to Trinidad to refuel, before having 4 days shore leave at Cape Town. During this time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour and invaded Malaya; the troops were redirected to Bombay, where they went ashore for two weeks, before re-embarking and arriving in Singapore in January 1942. The Japanese landed on Singapore on 8th February and the island was unconditionally surrendered by the Allied commanders on 15th February. All remaining Allied soldiers and civilians became prisoners of war; members 197 Field Ambulances were among those marched to Changi prison. Men from this prisoner and other smaller camps were used as forced labour to build the Burma-Siam railway. Driver Galsworthy died during this work in October 1943 after being a prisoner of war for 20 months.

Two of the men commemorated at St. Margarets died as the Allies fought their way up the Italian peninsula. Gunner Maurice Perfect was a member of the 80th (The Scottish Horse) Medium Regiment and landed at Taranto on 9th September 1943. His regiment fought up the Adriatic coast of Italy, breaking the Viktor/Volturno Line defences on 6 October. After this they stopped at the Trigno River to regroup and it was not for nearly a month (2nd November) that they attacked the Germans across the river. The fighting was fierce, and Gunner Perfect was killed on 3rd November 1943. However, on that same day the British reached the town on San Salvo and the German commander decided to withdraw to the next German defensive line. Lance Corporal Albert Brooks was a member of the regular army. On 25 August 1944 the Hampshire Brigade started its assault on the Gothic Line, a line of German defences running east - west across the Italian peninsula and after 5 days they had been so successful that they were in a position to assault the Gothic Line proper. The Gothic Line was breached on 1st September and the advance continued northwards. Lance Corp. Brooks died on 5 September 1944 the day that the Brigade was relieved.

Further information

War Memorials Trust reference WM2320
UK National Inventory of War Memorials: 8314

Children (and Families) of Far Eastern Prisoners of War, a registered charity which works to educate the public about those taken prisoner in the Far East between 1942 and 1945. The organisation also maintains a memorial building at the National Memorial Arboretum in memory of British servicemen who were prisoners of war in South East Asia under Japanese occupation. One of the pages of the above website gives details about 196 Field Ambulance, a unit with a similar history to 197 Field Ambulance, of which Driver Lewis Galsworthy was a member. 

West, David R C.
The Fighting Tenth: A short history of the 10th Battalion, the Royal Berkshire Regiment, 1940 to 1944  
Imprint: Marlborough: Tenth Royal Berkshire Reunion Committee, 1950.
Pte. Arthur Radwell was a member of this regiment.

If you have a concern about this memorial please contact the Trust on conservation@warmemorials.org

Return to search results | Start a new search