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Biddestone

The war memorial in the Cotswold village of Biddestone, Wiltshire, is situated on the village green. The Bath stone cross stands on a two stepped plinth made of Forest of Dean stone, and the three stepped base is made of Cotswold stone. The memorial is grade II listed.

In July 2008 War Memorials Trust offered a grant of £1480 towards work to clean the memorial; to remove the cement mortar from the Cotswold stone sections of the memorial and replace it with lime mortar; to replace where necessary pieces of the Forest of Dean stone; to assess the condition of the Bath stone; and to repair it with lime mortar where necessary.

Records indicate that the memorial was built and dedicated in late 1920/1, through public subscription. The memorial was re-dedicated at the end of November 2008 in a service attended by some of the relatives of people commemorated on the memorial.

On one of the faces of the plinth is the inscription:

In memory of
Biddestone men
who died in the
Great War 1914 -1919

The names of the men of the two World Wars who died are inscribed on opposite sides of the plinth.

We can trace the war-time stories of some of the men commemorated. Following the failure of the Schlieffen Plan in the autumn of 1914, the Germans decided that the decisive blow would be to take the Channel ports. The First Battle of Ypres was the last of a series of battles that broke out between the British and the Germans during the Race to the Sea. The Allies frustrated and stopped the German advance on the channel ports. British casualties in the fighting between 14 October and 30 November were 58,155 (7,960 dead, 29,562 wounded and 17,873 missing). Driver Oscar Bush of the 54th Battery Royal Field Artillery was one of these. He was in the First Division of the British Army and it seems likely that he was injured during the Battle of Langemarck, 21-24 October 1914, and died later, on 12th November 1914.

Pte. Arthur Skuse was a member of the 7th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment, which formed part of 26th Division. They arrived in France in September 1915, and two months later were sent to the Salonika Front, fighting in Serbia, Bulgaria and Macedonia against the Central Powers. The regiment returned to France in July 1918, at which time the Allies were fighting the advancing Germans, who had made progress after their Spring Offensive. It was during July that the Germans overstretched their supply lines and the initiative passed to the Allies, who pressed the Germans back. Pte. Skuse died on 7th October during the Battle of the Hindenburg Line, probably having sustained injuries at either the Battle of San Quentin Canal, or the Battle of Beaurevoir. The Hindenburg Line was finally broken three days after his death.

Having been listed and renovated, the Biddestone memorial is once again a fitting memorial for those of the village who gave their lives in the wars.

Further information

War Memorials Trust reference WM2309
UK National Inventory of War Memorials: 23879

Information about the First Battle of Ypres
An essay by John Buchan on the First Battle of Ypres
Information about the Salonika Front (the page tells the history of 11th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment who were in 78th Brigade 26th Division; the 7th Wiltshires were in 79th Brigade, 26th Division)

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

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