Bingham St Mary and All Saints

War Memorial

The War Memorial screen Pages from the
Dedication Service
First World War
names on the left
of the Memorial
First World War
names on the right
of the Memorial

First World War

The First World War memorial in Bingham is the restored chancel screen.

The screen is originally 15th Century, and parts of this remain. It was restored in the 19th Century under the rector the Rev Robert Miles, and decorated with paintings by his wife Mary Miles and son Frank Miles.

After the First World War it was agreed that there should be a War Memorial in Bingham, but there was some controversy about where it should be. Several non-conformists did not wish the memorial to be in the Parish Church, because a number of those commemorated were from different denominations. But the Rector, Canon Hutt, held out for it to be in the Parish Church, and his will prevailed.

Very much under the direction of the Rector and the architect W D Caröe, the Memorial was to be this restored chancel screen. So all of the 19th Century work was removed, new panels put in at the lower level with the names of those who had given their lives in the war, and entirely new woodwork put in at the upper level. The memorial was dedicated at a service on 26th June 1921.

The inscription along the top, under the letters AMDG, reads:

TO HONOUR THE MEMORY OF THE MEN FROM THIS PLACE WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918

The names of those who fell are on the four central panels which read:

WILLIAM BARRATT

ARTHUR BROWN

THOMAS BUGGINS

FRANK BURROWS

ERIC CABOURN

HERBERT COWDELL

SIDNEY CUDDY

JOHN DERRY

 

JOSEPH DUNSMORE

SIDNEY FEWSTER

FRANK GREEN

CHARLES HACKETT

FRANK HARRIS

ROBERT HENSHAW

THOMAS HENSHAW

LEONARD HICKMAN

 

AMOS HILL

PERCY HIND

RICHARD JARDINE

ERNEST JOHNSON

GEORGE KETTLEBAND

WALTER KIRK

GEORGE MARIOTT

CHARLES PENSON

 

GEORGE SQUIRES

FRANK STARBUCK

GEORGE THORNTON

WILLIAM WIDNALL

GEORGE WILFORD

FREDERICK WRIGHT

RUSSELL WRIGHT

GEORGE BRAITHWAITE

(The name of George Braithwaite appears out of sequence. It was originally omitted from the list and eventually added in 1995.)

Second World War

After the Second World War two new panels were added to the screen with the names of those who fell. These read:

1939

CLARENCE SLATER

PETER FELLOWS

ROY THOMAS

EDWIN SINGLETON

AUBREY BACON

WALTER COWLING

 

1945

JAMES HAMMOND

ERNEST TINSLEY

HERBERT DAVIS

THOMAS SMITH

JAMES MCGEORGE

The hanging cross Panels with names from
the Second World War
Panel explaining
the hanging cross

Some time later it was felt that a separate memorial was needed to those who fell in the Second World War. Because of the proximity of RAF Newton, and its importance for Bingham both during the war and afterwards, a cross was created out of former aircraft parts. The original plan had been for this to hang in the Methodist Church, complementing the memorial in the Parish Church, but in the end it was hung here.

In the middle of the cross seven doves, representing the ‘Seven Spirits of God’ (Rev 3.1) and also universal peace, surround a poppy of remembrance. A circle round these carries twelve spheres representing the twelve apostles. At the foot of the cross is a rose.

In 1992 the cross was suspended in a prominent position over the east end of the nave. In 1995 a further panel was added to the screen reading:

THE HANGING CROSS

WAS GIVEN BY THE

PEOPLE OF BINGHAM

TO HONOUR THOSE

FROM THIS TOWN

WHO GAVE THEIR

LIVES IN THE

1939-1945 WAR

Roll of Honour

After the First World War, Ann Harrison (already 89 years old, and now commemorated by the small statue near the screen) raised money by selling scraps for pig food in order to provide for the purchase of a Roll of Honour book. This contains the names of all of those who served in the war, 202 names in all, in addition to those who gave their lives.

After the Second World War the names of those who fell in that conflict (though not all the others who served) were also incribed in the Roll of Honour book. The Roll of Honour book is still used, and the names of those who gave their lives are read from it at the Remembrance Service each November.

Association Flags

In 1996 the standards of the RAF Association and the British Legion were laid up in the church. (The RAF Association had recently disbanded. The British Legion standard had been replaced by one with the new name “Royal British Legion”.) They were placed in a bracket on the west wall of the church above the arch. The bracket has a third space so that in due time the standard of the Naval Association can also be laid up here.