“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.”
The war memorial stands directly in front of the church, within the churchyard, and was unveiled in 1919.
Unusually, the names are listed in descending order of military rank, rather than a simple alphabetical list. The names of twenty men killed in the First World War are recorded, as follows:-
Alick Luther Baker (service no. 26507) died on Friday 25 October 1918 aged 35
Stanley George Butterfield (service no. 1421) died on Saturday 8 July 1916 aged 21
George Day (service no. 10290) died on 31 July 1917 aged 26
George Draper (service no. 301277) died on Monday 9 October 1916 aged 29
Samuel Draper (service no. M2/019467) died on Saturday 20 April 1918 aged 27
George Arthur Ellis (service no. 201424) died on Tuesday 27 March 1917 aged 28
John Ellis (service no. 23482) died on Monday 3 July 1916 aged 24
Ernest George Fitt (service no. 14885) died aged 24 on Thursday 30 September 1915
Stacey Gamgee (service no. 733566) died on Monday 14 October 1918 aged 24
Percy James Gayler (service no. 4336) died on Monday 25 September 1916 aged 21
Joseph George Giddings (service no. 19739) died on Saturday 16 September 1916
Randal John Harwood (service no. 5295) was killed on Saturday 12 August 1916 aged 28
George Douglas Jephson died on Monday 7 February 1916 aged 40
Alfred John King (service no. 36372) died on Saturday 14 October 1916 aged 22
Jesse Charles Mardling (service no. 7305) died on Friday 28 May 1915
Harold William Philpott (service no. 222) died on 15 September 1916 aged 25
Alfred Shepherd (service no. 5290) died on Saturday 12 August 1916 aged 18
William Welsh (service no. 1688) died on Friday 26 April 1918 aged 23
Cecil Bertram White (service no. 4335) died on Wednesday 16 August 1916 aged 25
James Wigmore (service no. 353158) died on Thursday 20 September 1917
The war memorial was cleaned and restored by Baker’s of Danbury in Spring 2023, with a grant from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This work revealed an inscription on the base: “Designed by John Rigby, Hertingfordbury”. John Rigby (1857-1936) lived at The Moat House, Hertingfordbury and was described as an architect in the 1921 census.
Remembrance Day is the only Sunday in the year when our church service does not begin at 11.15am. On Remembrance Sunday we arrive early at 10.50am to gather around the war memorial. The names of the war dead are read aloud and we listen to the clock strike 11am, then the service continues in the church.
An email newsletter entitled “The Churchyard News” is published four times a year for people with loved ones commemorated in either churchyard or on the war memorial. If you would like to subscribe to this free newsletter please contact us, stating your connection to the parish.