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Stopham
Town or City: Pulborough
County: Sussex (West)
Country: England
WMT Reference Number: WM866
Value of grant: £1938.00
Type of memorial: Freestanding
Type of work: Conservation and repair
Grant scheme: Small Grants Scheme
Year: 2008
UKNIWM reference number: 43473
Stopham village war memorial in West Sussex stands in the centre of the village green, in front of St. Mary’s Church. It has a five tier stepped base of locally quarried sandstone (Midhurst stone) and on this base is a square block of sandstone inscribed with the names of those who fell in the two world wars. Above this stands a tall tapering shaft topped with a sandstone cross.
In 2008 the War Memorials Trust gave a grant of £1,938 towards remedial and renovation work on the memorial. This consisted of repair of stone to ensure sound faces; raking out of joints, removal of old cement repairs and re-pointing; trimming of vegetation surrounding the memorial and cleaning.
The memorial was rededicated in November 2008.
The inscription on the war memorial reads:
In grateful memory of the men of this Parish who fell in the Great War 1914-1918.
Some of the names recorded (and not all are shown or clear in the photographic records held by the Trust) include:
Albert J. Adsett
Walter B. Barttelot
Nigel K. W. Barttelot
Ernest Hawkins
Charles Holden
William Holden
George Knight
Harold Johloson?
1939 - 1945
Walter de S Barttelot
Sydney F Buckle
Wiliam B Mansfield
John ? Mansfield
One of the names that appears most frequently on the war memorial is Barttelot. The family have a long standing association with Stopham as the major landowners. The family is understood to have come over at the Norman Conquest. They have a long tradition of service, the 2nd Baronet died serving in the Boer War, two of his children Walter and Nigel died in World War One and a further generation, the 4th Baronet fell in World War Two.
- Walter Balfour Barttelot, the 3rd Bt., had been a professional soldier before the outbreak of the war. Walter Barttelot began his World War One service in France and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. He served in the Gallipoli Campaign and then in January 1916 was made Brigade Major for the Mesopotamia Campaign. In December 1916 he was made a DSO and in March 1918 was made Military Attache to Tehran. He was brevetted to Lieutenant Colonel in June 1918, but died four months later. During his war service Lieut. Col Barttelot was mentioned in despatches four times.
- Lieut. Commander Nigel K.W. Barttelot, the younger son of the 2nd Baronet, and Walter's brother, died at the beginning of the war on 29th August 1914 whilst commanding the HMS Liberty at the Battle of Heligoland Bight. This was the first naval battle of the First World War. The British ambushed German destroyers on their regular patrols, and four German vessels were sunk and three damaged. Four British vessels were damaged, and thirty five men killed, including Lieut. Commander Bartttelot. The engagement was considered a great victory by Britain and afterwards the German High Seas Fleet remained in port.
- Lieut. Col Barttelot’s elder son, Sir Walter de Stopham Barttelot was fourteen when his father Walter was killed in 1918. He in turn served in the Second World War, being a member of the General Staff of the 6th Guards Tank Brigade. He died in Normandy in the middle of August 1944 during the thrust made from Caumont l'Evente towards Vire to drive a wedge between the German 7th Army and Panzer Group West.
More information about some of the other men commemorated at Stopham can be found on the Roll of Honour webpage, but it is sparser than the information we have on the Barttelots.
Further information
War Memorials Trust reference WM866
UK National Inventory of War Memorials: 43473
Roll of Honour: Stopham
Battle of Heligoland Bight
Walter Balfour Barttelot, 3rd Bt
Operation Overlord (the invasion of Normandy)
If you have a concern about this memorial please contact the Trust on conservation@warmemorials.org