Manningtree Memorial Are Here
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Manningtree ‘Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends’ The Manningtree War Memorial ‘Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends’ In memory Sacred for all time of the Manningtree Men who fell in the Great War AD 1914 to 1919 for the world’s freedom’ The Manningtree Memorial. Even before the end of the war the movement to set up local ‘memorials’ had started. There were long debates in places as to who should lead this and what form they should take. One typical discussion was whether to go for something practical, such as a new Memorial Hall, playing field, new houses or other ‘useful’ notion, rather than a stone monument. War memorial committees were often set up to raise considerable funds, decide on the location and design and ensure both the war and those locals who died were listed and remembered. The Manningtree Memorial is located on a prominent position in the High Street, in a section of what was the garden of the old Church Rectory. Dedicated on the 11th June 1919 it is a typical Celtic cross design in grey granite with two columns of initials and forty seven surnames in alphabetical order, carved on the main shaft. Funded by public donation, built as a permanent commemoration, it has stood the test of time and with help from the Town Council, still stands proud nearly 100 years on. An oak shrine was also dedicated on the 1st July 1923 at the old church which stood opposite. Memorials were also erected in Lawford on the 7th November 1920 and Mistley, with some names appearing on more than one. Mistley with 60 names was dedicated on 16th January 1921. A roll of Honour with seven names was unveiled on the 9th April 1920 at the Mistley Primitive Methodist Church. Another large memorial was set up at the Brantham factory works, where again some of the same names can be found. The important factor seems to have been to include all those who died who had links, if only in passing, with Manningtree. So their names are still with us and some of their individual stories have been captured here to add to the local historical record. ‘In memory Sacred for all time of the Manningtree Men who fell in the Great War AD 1914 to 1919 for the world’s freedom’ Manningtree. Known as the country’s smallest town, at the 1911 census there was a total population of only 887 people living in 216 dwellings, many of which were shops. There were 432 men and male children recorded. By the end of the war 47 men linked to the town were dead. A loss of this magnitude, even spread over four years, would have had a real impact, bringing the war home to those living in the Town. Everyone would have personally known someone who died; they would have encountered relatives who had lost sons, husbands or fathers. World War. Whilst the bulk of the fighting took place in France and Belgium the conflict spread across Europe and into the Middle East. Private Amos Garrad sailed from Avonmouth with the 1st Battalion of the Essex regiment, passing through the Mediterranean, stopping over in Egypt. He then joined forces landed in Gallipoli, with the aim controlling the Dardanelle Straits. He died of his wounds in June 1915, fighting Turks of the Ottoman Empire. Harry Dawson, a local factory worker, and Stanley Oxley also joined the Essex regiment, this time with the 5th Battalion, sailing out to Egypt. After crossing the Suez Canal, Harry was killed on the opening day of the first battle of Gaza, on the 26th March 1917, and is buried in a local cemetery in Palestine. Arthur Brown-Sawyer another Xylonite worker from Brooke street also fought in this campaign with the Queen’s own regiment and was Killed in action on the 4th November. Stanley Oxley progressed further with the Essex regiment as part of General Allenby’s campaign, but died of his wounds on the 7th November just as Gaza fell to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force at its third attempt to take the heavily defended town. Islay Whittington Baxter came originally from Neath in Gloucestershire, moving to the Town with his father, who was for a while the local High Street doctor. After a spell here, the family immigrated to New Zealand where Islay attended King’s College Auckland from 1906 to 1911, along with his brother. He became a Corporal in the New Zealand Rifle Brigade and in late 1915 passed through the Suez Canal on his way to France where he was killed in action on the Somme in September 1916. Richard Chambers enlisted at Harwich in Royal Army Medical which took him first to Gallipoli then to Mesopotamia, again in battles with the Ottoman forces. He drowned in the Persian Gulf on 25 September 1916, aged 22 years and is commemorated on the Basra memorial, now in modern day Iraq. For Ever England. Whilst it has become usual during the recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, for fallen personnel to be brought home for burial, during the First World War this was only rarely done. Over a period the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was set up to record and care for locally constructed cemeteries, both in France and other theatres of war. By 1918 it had identified 587,000 graves with a further 559,000 casualties having no know grave – including many of the Town’s men. This left families with no local grave to focus their emotions around, receiving just a letter and perhaps after the war having some small effects returned to them. Whilst most of the local men fell and were buried in France, two are, as already mentioned, buried in Palestine, now Israel, where the War Graves Commission still maintains a cemetery. Those lost at sea like young Charles Spooner may have no known grave, but are remembered on Naval Memorials positioned around the country. ‘IF I should die, think only this of me; That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England’ (Rupert Brooke. 1887–1915). Men and Boys. The average age of the men when they died was 26 years. The oldest was 44, the youngest only 16 years. By that age some would have been in work for a couple of years, but many had no experience of life or marriage before they volunteered or later were conscripted. The loss of life build up slowly, with four killed in the first four months of the war in 1914, two in 1915, seven in 1916, thirteen in 1917 and sixteen in the last calendar year as the conflict reached its bloody climax. Most were from humble, working class backgrounds, representing the variety of local tradesmen. Eleven were working at the Xylonite factory over in Brantham, the major employer at the time. There was only one fisherman and a couple of Dockers, with only two (including the boy Charles Spooner) going into the Royal Navy, possibly one other going into the Merchant fleet. Maybe the Manningtree men were good Sailors and mostly came back safe. About half remained front line army ‘Privates’, eight rose to Corporal and two became Sergeants. Charles Butler, as in the wood merchants Taylor and Butler, was born in Mistley and went away to boarding school in Wanstead, became a Lieutenant with the London Regiment. The highest rank was Captain William Cecil Holt Cree, son of the Manningtree Vicar, who joined the army as a gentleman cadet in about 1900. Whilst others had done service before the war, he was the only army career man from the Town, lost in the conflict, having set out early with the expeditionary force just after being promoted Captain. Eleven were married men and left between them 16 children to be looked after with some financial help for their Widows, in the form of a government pension. Regiments and brothers. Of the 44 men we have records for; only 16 were in one of the main Essex Regiments, with four each in the original 1st and 2nd Battalions. Two ended up in the Suffolk regiment, two with the Northamptonshire regiment and two the Royal fusiliers. So there were no local ‘Pals’ regiments as such and most were scattered around various units, presumably as the need for replacements arose. Walter Garrad from Mill Lane had seven children in all. He lost his wife Elizabeth and mother of his large family a few years before the war, then saw at least three of his sons sign up. As part of the reserve army, Fredrick Garrad was one of the first to be sent to France (having been transferred to the Cheshire Regiment’s 1st Battalion) They arrived at Le Havre on the 16th August 1914 and he was assumed killed only a few days later on the 24th August (the day after the battle of Mons) at 20 years of age. His brother Amos sailed off to the Mediterranean with the Essex Regiment’s 1st Battalion and died in 1915 at Gallipoli. The third brother Walter also served in the Cheshire regiment, but survived the war. Mr and Mrs Sissen lost both their sons, Julian was killed on the Somme in March 1918 his brother William Walter Sissen who joined the Royal Navy some years earlier in 1909 serving on several ships before he died on the 8th November 1918 – just before the war ended.