Seaford men lost their lives in the Great War
On Sunday, the focus for many Seafordians will be the War Memorial in Sutton Park Road.
In 1914 many Seaford men hurried to join Kitchener's Army in order to remove the Germans from 'poor little Belgium'.
There was a long queue of local men to join 'Lowther's Lambs' – the Southdown Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment – and photographs show the men smiling. There was to be an adventure ahead and it was best to join up quickly as the war would be over by Christmas.
Only seven local men had been killed in the Boer War and most of them through disease caught in Africa.
Their optimism was misplaced. Over 100 Seaford men lost their lives in the Great War – this from a population of just 4,000. This equates to one in 20 of the male population of the town.
The first local casualty of the war was 21 year old Harold Stanley Ford of Bishopstone. He was the son of Thomas and Mary Ford and had enlisted a few months before in Newhaven.
Guardsman Ford was killed on November 11, 1914 in Belgium and has no known grave but is commemorated on the Menin Gate memorial, Ypres, as well as the Seaford War memorial and the memorial inside St Andrew's Church, Bishopstone.
A few weeks later, in December 1914, Seaford's second war casualty was killed. He was Lieutenant Commander Head, the son of John and Charlotte of 'Highlands' Seaford. Clement Head initially trained as a pilot and received an aviator certificate (number 191) flying a Bristol Bi-plane at Salisbury in March 1912.
During the Great War he joined the submarine service. He died when in charge of submarine D2 which was lost in the North Sea with a loss of all 26 crew. The submarine had been rammed by a German patrol boat near the island of Borkum off the German coast.
Week by week the casualty list increased as the war continued. The people of Seaford must have been in a sombre mood – not only hearing about the deaths of their loved ones in a foreign land, but also about the commonwealth soldiers who were dying in their own town. When the war formally ended the men who returned formed the 'Comrades of the Great War', which had its headquarters in Pelham Road.
In May 1921 different ex-servicemen's associations joined together to form a new larger organisation, the British Legion. The Seaford branch of the British Legion was formed on August 2, 1921, and the very next day its members gathered in Dane Road for the unveiling of the Cornish granite Celtic Cross, which is our War Memorial.
The site was close to the former fire station in Green Lane and is now occupied by the loading bay for Morrison's. That year, 1921, is also remembered for the first ever 'poppy day.'
Following the Second World War the memorial had to be updated with more names for the fallen and it was decided to move it to a more visible location at an area known to Seafordians as the 'cats cemetery'; the junction of Sutton Park Road and Avondale Road.
The new masonry was cut in 'imperishable letters' by Bridgman Ltd of Seaford and the monument was put in place by Stevens Ltd of Seaford. Most of the funds to move the memorial were raised by the British Legion.
A further ceremony took place on Sunday, November 2, 1952. The Town Clerk, Mr Joseph Pey LL.B started the proceedings saying: "We are come to honour our brethren who gave their lives for us and this Country in a just cause.
This memorial is a witness of our love for their memory; and the constant pledge and reminder to us for their valour and duty."
He then said to the chairman of Seaford Urban District Council, Councillor William Streeter JP: "Sir, I desire you to unveil this memorial," which he duly did.
There was then a general salute after which Mr Streeter said to the Vicar of Seaford, the Rev Shillito MA: "Sir, we request you as Vicar of this Parish to dedicate this memorial in the name of God and in thankful and glorious memory of our townsmen and women who gave their lives in the South African War and in two World Wars."
After this, there was the last post and two minutes silence followed by hymns. The presidents of the men's and women's sections of the British Legion were the first to lay wreaths as the national anthem was sung. Other persons were then permitted to lay their wreaths as the bells of St Leonard's pealed.
Like the bells of St Leonard's, the words of those civic dignitaries still ring true today and I hope you will attend the war memorial on Sunday morning at 10.45 just as Seafordians have done every year since it was first unveiled.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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