STORIES of soldiers, commemorated on the First World War Memorial at All Saints Church in Castlemain Avenue, Southbourne are being brought to life at a public exhibition launched today.
Research has revealed the experiences of brave Pokesdown and Southbourne servicemen who died in the Great War, and has also uncovered 23 names not yet included in Bournemouth’s civic Book of Remembrance.
Stories include Harold Reginald Baker, 18, of the Royal Navy who was killed when HMS Louvain was sunk by a German submarine in January 1918.
Francis George Camp, 33, was a sapper with the Royal Engineers working in the tunnels under the trenches of Northern France where he succumbed to the terrible conditions and died of dysentery in October 1918.
Former Bournemouth School pupil Edward Robert Eyre Hickling, 19, of the Gloucestershire Regiment was shot by a German officer with a weapon he had concealed after he was taken prisoner.
Harold Walter Finch, another Bournemouth School boy, survived combat in Gallipoli but died at the Somme in 1916, aged 21.
Son of the Rev George and Mrs Parker of Bournemouth, Captain Basil Stewart Parker, 37, was serving in the Hampshire Regiment when he was killed leading his men into battle at Gallipoli.
Ernest Frank Langridge DCM was a member of the early Royal Flying Corps who was shot down by Baron Von Richthofen’s squadron. He was only 20.
Army staff sergeant Alfred Reginald Clarke was a Senior Patrol Leader in 23rd Bournemouth Scouts based at All Saints Church in 1915. His father was the scoutmaster. He survived the war, but died of his injuries in 1919. He was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre for his bravery.
Captain Francis Henry Tremlett Joscelyne, 30, of the Somerset Light Infantry, was killed in 1916, and his brother Arthur Kennett Joscelyne, 25, of the Royal Berkshire Regiment died a year later. Their cousin Lawrence Arthur Joscelyne, 19, of the Somerset Light Infantry was awarded the Military Cross after he was killed in October 1917. All are commemorated on the church memorial.
Corporal Walter Ware, 24, of the Royal Engineers was killed during fighting at Lys in 1918, and Lieutenant Colonel Cecil Longueville Snow, 51, of the intelligence services died trying to save the life of a Bedouin and was mentioned in despatches.
Royal Navy stoker Edwin Vincent Young, 25, was member of Pokesdown’s Lads’ Institute. He was killed in the accidental explosion and sinking of HMS Bulwark on the River Medway in November 1914.
All Saints, which celebrates its centenary next year, is still looking for information on J H Bryant and H Woodford to add to their website allsaintsWW1.wordpress.com The exhibition is open from November 5 – 12, 1.30 to 5pm, with coffee and Anzac biscuits available. All are welcome to their Remembrance Service at 9am on Sunday November 11. Contact allsaintschurch2@gmail.com
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