Special ceremony to be held in Storrington to honour First World War serviceman

The Storrington Local History Group and the Storrington and District Museum will host a ceremony at St Mary's churchyard on Sunday April 2 at 12 noon for the dedication of a new Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone for David Butcher who died on October 22 1919.

David was born in Washington in 1890 and on his eighteenth birthday joined the Royal Navy, signing up for 12 years. However, after three years he became medically unfit and was discharged from service.

In 1914 when war broke out he was one of the first from Storrington to join up. Assigned to the Royal Sussex Regiment he went to the training camp at Shoreham but was declared medically unfit for service.

A month later he joined the Army Veterinary Corps as a Horsekeeper and was sent to France. In November 1916 he transferred to the Royal Horse Artillery, posted as a driver joining the Leicester Royal Horse Artillery. Over time he was hospitalised on several occasions and was finally invalided back to the United Kingdom and discharged from service in October 1918.

He was eventually sent to the Grosvenor Sanatorium in Kennington where on October 22 1919 he passed away. He was just 29 years old with a wife and two children.

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Project work in 2014 on Storrington's war memorial and Roll of Honour by the Storrington Local History Group discovered that David's grave could not be identified in St Mary's churchyard.

Members of the group wrote to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to get him the recognition for his war service with a headstone as his medical records stated that his disabilities were attributable to ‘service during the present war’.

In 2018 David's name was added to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Book of Remembrance and a headstone was erected in the churchyard on a spot overlooking where his grave is believed to be.

Members of the district and parish councils are expected to attend the dedication ceremony along with local youth organisations and Storrington's branch of the Royal British Legion and other local ex service groups.