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Great Stukeley

The war memorial in the village of Great Stukeley is in the churchyard of St. Bartholomew’s Church. The memorial is a cross and column made of Clipsham or Barnack stone, standing on a plinth with a moulded cap and bottom base. There is a First World War Hopton Wood stone panel recessed into one face and Second World War Hopton Wood stone panel fixed to another face.

In March 2008 War Memorials Trust offered a grant of £540 towards washing the memorial, application of algicide, repointing of joints with lime mortar where necessary and the carrying out of mortar repairs.

The memorial was unveiled in 1920 by Mr Howard Coote of Stukeley Hall, Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire. His son had fought in the 4th Gloucestershire Regiment in the Great War and had returned. Mr. Coote also unveiled the memorial in the village of Ramsey, about six miles north east of Great Stukeley. Mr W E Ashley designed the memorial.

A number of the men commemorated on the memorial were members of the regular army, and we can see from this that troops stationed all over the Empire were recalled to fight in 1914. Pte. Frank Gough, whose parents lived in Great Stukeley, was a member of the 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment and was in Pretoria in August 1914. His battalion was recalled and landed at Southampton in September 1914, moving to Belgium in October, where they helped to evacuate the Belgian army. Pte. Gough died in November 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres and has no known grave. After the First Battle of Ypres the Western Front became a stalemate of trench warfare.

Pte. Joe Stringer of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry was also serving abroad when war was declared on 4th August; he was in Singapore. His battalion arrived at Southampton three weeks after that of Pte. Gough. He transferred to France in January 1915, and served on the Western Front for ten months before being killed during the Battle of Loos; one of the 50 000 casualties of the Empire armies at this battle.

Another regular soldier based overseas was Pte. Fred Oldfield of the 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment who were based at Mullingar in Ireland. His regiment was in a position to act quickly and they landed in France on 15 August 1914, eleven days after the declaration of war. Pte. Oldfield died during the Somme offensive in September 1916; it seems likely that he died at the Battle of Guillemont, a subsidiary battle of the offensive. On the memorial of the neighbouring village of Little Stukeley is commemorated Pte. Stanyon, of the same battalion as Pte. Oldfield. Pte Stanyon died the day after Pte. Oldfield at the same battle. Another man of Great Stukeley who died during the Somme Offensive was Pte. Walter Triplow of the Oxfordshire and Bucks Light Infantry who was serving in one of Kitchener’s new service battalions. He died at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on the same day as Lieut. Raymond Asquith, the son of the Prime Minister. Sgt. Herbert Green of the 8th Bedfordshire Regiment, who is commemorated at Great Stukeley, also died at the Battle of the Somme.

Casualties from other major offensives be found on the memorial. Ptes Sterry and Loop died during the Arras Campaign, and Second Lieut. McKinnie at Passchendaele. Able Seaman Page and Pte. Peach died in the spring of 1918, fighting against the German Spring Offensive.

Two men who fell in World War II are commemorated at Great Stukeley. Pte. Ernest Cobley of the 5th Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment died in May 1940 during the British withdrawal from France, defending the line of the River Scheldt. The Germans attempted to cross the river near Esquelmes during the morning of 21 May but were repulsed after heavy fighting. They eventually crossed on 23 May, when the British Expeditionary Force withdrew to the Gort Line. Casualties buried in various places in the neighbourhood were brought to Esquelmes by the Belgian authorities in September 1940.

Thus we can see in Great Stukeley, as we can in memorials in villages across Britain, how the community was touched by the World Wars and how men who had grown up where the memorial now stands ended their lives fighting miles and miles away. 

Further information

War Memorials Trust reference WM2330
UK National Inventory of War Memorials: 264

A history of Pte. Oldfield’s Brigade, called “The Doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade” written by Edward Lord Gleichen is downloadable as a whole text. 
Bedfordshire Regiment in World War I

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

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