Sancreed War Memorial was unveiled and dedicated on Sunday 7th December 1919.

It was planned to be unveiled by Lord St Levan but due to illness this duty was undertaken instead by Mr Stanhope Forbes, the artist.

It was dedicated by the Rural Dean of West Penwith, the Reverend R.D. Purves of Marazion assisted by the vicar of Sancreed, the Reverend J. Stone.

The memorial, which is located just outside the main gate, is a cross of Cornish granite standing on a base of the same material. The total height is 13 feet. It was designed by Mr F. Latham, the Borough Surveyor, with the work being executed by W.H. Snell and Son of Newlyn.

The inscription reads as follows:-

At the base of the cross is added:-

Their name liveth for Evermore

Within the church there is another memorial, a tablet in oak measuring 6 x 5 feet, which

lists the above thirteen names of those who fell in the Great War together with the

names of seventyfour parishioners who served in the Great War but who were fortunate enough to survive and come home.

The carving was executed by Messrs Wippell and Son, Exeter.

The inscription reads as follows:-

BOLITHO, William Harry. Gunner (Signaller). 65330. 242nd Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. Died in Boulogne Military Hospital of double pneumonia 11th May 1917 age 24. Born at Gulval and enlisted at Bodmin. Eldest son of George and Grace Ellen Bolitho of Newbridge, Penzance.

Interred in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Plot IV, Row B, Grave 16

Also listed in Penzance Book of Remembrance.

CHAPPLE, James. Private. 30317. 1st Battalion King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment). Killed in action 12th October 1917 aged 25. Born at Sancreed and enlisted at Penzance. Second son of Mr and Mrs Chapple of Drift, Sancreed; husband of Louisa E. Pidwell (nee Chapple) of 37 Fore Street, Redruth. Formerly 202480 Middlesex Regiment. Commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial at Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Panel 18 to 19. Also listed on Newlyn War Memorial. The Tyne Cot Memorial, which bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men, is one of the four memorials to the missing in Belgium Flanders which cover the area know as the Ypres Salient.

CHAPPLE, William John. Private. 24776. 7th Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Killed in action 2nd April 1918. Born at Sancreed and enlisted at Penzance. Commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial, Somme, France. The memorial relates to the period of crisis in March/April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields. Also in Penzance Book of Remembrance.

GRENFELL, William Henry. Private. 215088. Labour Corps transferred from Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Died 22nd March 1919 age 29. Son of William Henry and Mary Elizabeth Grenfell; husband of Geraldine Victoria Rowe (formerly Grenfell) of 1 Chapel Row, Madron, Penzance.

Interred in Sancreed Churchyard.

HOSKEN, Arthur W. Private. 27041. 6th Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Killed in action 16th September 1916 age 19. Son of Simon Symons Hosken and Marianne Hosken of Lafrowda Villa, Drift, Buryas Bridge, Penzance. Born in Sancreed and enlisted in Penzance. Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. Also listed on Penzance War Memorial and in Penzance Book of Remembrance. The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20th March 1918 and have no know grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

KESSELL, Frederick (Freddie) John. Gunner. 321675. 93rd Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. Died of wounds to leg and stomach at No2 Casualty Clearing Station on 1st June 1917 age 19. Born in Madron and enlisted in September 1915 in Penzance. Eldest son of Walter and Susan Kessell of Catchall, Buryas Bridge, Penzance. Interred in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Poperinge, West - Vlaanderen, Belgium. Plot XII, Row C, Grave 6.

LAWRY, John. Private. 33670. 1st Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Killed in action 8th May 1917 age 34. Son of John and Mary Lawry of Sellan, Sancreed; husband of Amelia Lawry of Chapel Place, Sancreed, Newbridge. Commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Faubourg - d’Amiens Cemetery, France. The Arras Memorial commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7th August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The Battle of Arras began on 9th April 1917 when British, Australian and Canadian Divisions fought on a front that stretched from Vimy Ridge, through Arras to Bullecourt against the heavily fortified German line. The battle slogged on until 16th May 1917 following a final large scale attack on 3rd May when casualties were particularly high on the British side.

It was the greatest killing battle of the war with a daily casualty rate exceeding 4,000.

LAWRY, William Francis. Private. 42546. 8^th (Service) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, 57^th Brigade, 19^th (Western) Division. Formerly 3286 Royal North Devon Hussars (Devon Cyclists). Killed in action on Thursday 6^th June 1918 age 19. Born at St Just-in-Penwith and enlisted at Penzance. Son of Francis Lawry and Elizabeth Jane Lawry (nee Tonkin) who were both born at Sancreed. Listed on the Soissons Memorial, Aisne, France, on Sancreed War Memorial, in Bolitho Club, St Just and on his father’s grave in Tregrest Cemetery, Pendeen, Cornwall. The Soissons Memorial commemorates almost 4,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom forces who died during the Battles of the Aisne and the Marne in 1918 and who have no known grave.

PAUL, Benjamin James. Private. 30824. 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment. Died of wounds on 6th September 1917 age 19. Eldest son of Richard and Anne Paul of Penzance.

Born in St Buryan and enlisted in Penzance.

Interred in Wimereux Communal Cemetery, Boulogne, France. Plot VI, Row A, Grave 14A.

Listed in Penzance Book of Remembrance.

RICHARDS, Sydney. Private. 30874. 8th Battalion (Service) Devonshire Regiment. Died of wounds 30th October 1918 age 20. Only son of William and Agnes Richards of Trevorian, Sancreed. Born in Sancreed and enlisted in Penzance. Interred in Giavera British Cemetery, Arcade, Treviso, Italy. Plot 5, Row D, Grave 3 (Battle of Vittorio - Veneto/Passage of the Piave).

THOMAS, Albert Ernest. Gunner. 150364. 92nd Battery, 17th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. Died 16th April 1917 age 38. Son of John and Ellen Jane Thomas of Little Sellan, Sancreed, Newbridge; husband of Clara Thomas. Born in Sancreed and enlisted in Penzance. Interred in Faubourg d’Amiens Cemetery, Arras, France. Plot V, Row A, Grave 13.

THOMAS, Percy. Second Lieutenant. Royal Air Force. Killed in a flying accident on 6th February 1919 age 22 while stationed with 29th TDS at Beaulieu, Hampshire. Youngest son of Robert and Mary Elizabeth Thomas of Tregonebus, Sancreed. Enlisted in 1914 and served with 6th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry in Salonika and later in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps. Transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in January 1918 and granted a commission.

Interred in Sancreed Churchyard.

WARREN, Harry Wilson. Private. 16886. 6th Bn Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Killed in action 18th August 1916 age 19. Son of James and Mary Hannah Warren of Rose Valley, Sancreed, Newbridge, Penzance. Born in Sancreed and enlisted in Penzance. Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20th March 1918 and have no know grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

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CLARKE, Jack Mortimer. Sergeant. 1386277. Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. 39 Squadron, Royal Air Force. Killed in action 10th January 1943. Commemorated on the Alamein Memorial, Egypt. At the time of his death 39 Squadron was based at RAF Shallufa, Egypt and operated Beauforts on anti-shipping and minelaying missions against enemy convoys in the Mediterranean Sea. (To be confirmed as I have yet to prove a Sancreed connection)

MILDREN, James Henry. Private. 5434782. 2nd Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Killed in action 19th May 1940 aged 29 years. Husband of Irene Mildren. Interred in Avelgem Communal Cemetery, West-Vlaaderen, Belgium. Also listed on Newlyn War Memorial and in Penzance Book of Remembrance. James Mildren, a soldier in 2 DCLI, was killed during the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force to the sea in the Spring of 1940. His death is alleged to have occured on 19th May during the occupation of a major rearguard defensive position on the River Escaut. The word ‘alleged’ is used because the Battalion arrived in the position just before midnight on 18th May; recced the presumed defensive layout on 19th May; carried out further recces after the original plan had been changed, and dug in during the night 19th/20th May and during daylight on the following day. It was not till 3 o’clock that afternoon that the first German shells fell on the Battalion position and it is therefore probable that James was killed on either 20th or 21st May.

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Also within the church there is an impressive family memorial plaque in memory of Second Lieutenant William Alexander Stanhope (Alex) Forbes. It is a two by three foot bronze plaque of the young man which was executed by his father, the artist, Stanhope Forbes. It shows him as a 2/Lt in DCLI uniform with a tower and bridge in the background which were taken from a series of drawings by Alex for which he won a travelling studentship of the Architectural Association. The architectural part of the monument was executed under the direction of Mr Edward Warren F.S.A who was the architect of Newlyn War Memorial. The entablature surrounding the plaque is of grey stone with black marble columns from Derbyshire.

FORBES, William Alexander Stanhope (Alec). Second Lieutenant. 1st Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Enlisted in early 1916 and selected for officer training. Originally commissioned into the Military Forwarding Establishment but then transferred to DCLI. On or about 29th August 1916 he crossed to France and joined 1 DCLI with four other young 2nd Lieutenants. On 3rd September 1916 the Battalion took part in the final attack on the notorious Guillemont strong point. The village of Guillemont had been totally razed by shellfire but, because it represented vital tactical ground had been very heavily defended. Already three major attacks had been thwarted at considerable cost of life. This fourth attack was entirely successful and was accomplished with comparatively few casualties. However, amongst those who were killed was Alec Stanhope Forbes, age 23, together with three of the four newly joined subalterns (W.T. Hichens, E. G. T. Kitson and J.G. Teague) who had accompanied him to France. Educated at Bedales College. He was a student of the Royal Architectural Association. Only son of Stanhope Alexander Forbes (Artist) and Elizabeth Adela Forbes (Artist) of Higher Faugan, Newlyn. Interred in Guillemont Road Cemetery, Guillemont, France. Listed on Newlyn War Memorial, on family plaque within Sancreed Church, on Paul Church War Memorial, Tredavoe Methodist Church Memorial and in Penzance Book of Remembrance. On his headstone in Guillemont his parents added the following inscription:- He saw beyond the filth of battle and thought death a fair price to pay to belong to the company of these fellows.

The above information has been kindly donated by Bob Harrison of Paul, with thanks.