As fund raising for the war continued at Holywell School under the direction of headmaster Mr Maltravers, Alf Clark from Poot Lane started the Free Will Offering Memorial Fund for a war memorial to honour the fallen after the conflict had finished. By August 1916 £13/17/0d had been raised. Holywell School contributed to the fund by staging a fairy operetta called ‘Briar Rose’ in which 40 children participated. Later in the year £4 was raised for the Lord Kitchener Home for the Blinded and Disabled Soldiers and sailors. In December Young Patriots at Holywell School raised £11/1/6d for St Bart’s Hospital in Rochester and in May they raised £5. Throughout the year they raised money for other causes like HRH Princess Mary’s Christmas Fund for Soldiers and Sailors, the Belgian children and the YMCA hut scheme. In the period October 1915 to May 1916 the Young Patriots made a total of £17.
The war remained firmly in people’s minds as news of fatalities arrived. On March 5th Henry Marsh of the Ist Canadian Pioneers from Rose Cottage in Forge Lane died of pneumonia in British Columbia in Canada and was buried with full military honours at Ross Bay cemetery. He was one of three brothers fighting in the war. One of his other brothers George Marsh, formerly a blacksmith from Forge Lane, went to France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1915 as a member of the RAMC and became a staff sergeant, taking charge of motor convoy workshops.
Edward Seamer from Shoregate Lane served as a leading stoker on H.M.S Turbulent but died on June 1st 1916 aged 28 when a German ship rammed his vessel and sank it at the Battle of Jutland. On the Western Front Arthur Faulkner aged 28 served as a corporal in The Buffs but perished after a bomb dropped by a German plane exploded close to him in May 1916. He lived and worked in ‘The Crown’ where his father James Faulkner served as publican. Fred Banfield aged 35 from Bayford also died in action while serving with the REKMR on September 7th. He had joined up only fifteen months earlier and had been in France for just over a week when he perished.
Some men were scarred for life by their war-time experiences like Charles Witherden from Ham Green who served as a Royal Marine at the naval Battle of Jutland on May 31st 1916. For years after the battle he had nightmares about the dead bodies of victims floating on the sea after witnessing the destruction and sinking of British ships.
War incidents in the village were rare throughout the conflict but in May 1916 Police Constable Jenner arrested Private William Duley from the 5th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment for being absent without leave from the army. Duley had taken refuge in a private house in Upchurch before being caught.
With the outbreak of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916 the sound of massive artillery explosions on the battle front could be faintly heard in the coastal areas of Kent when the wind blew from France. By this stage of the war precautions against air attacks led to the windows of Upchurch church being shrouded with curtains and the interior being lit with candles. The windows of the Mission Room in Otterham Quay were fitted with blinds at about the same time. This had been decided by the parish council which formed a committee that included Messrs Holloway, Bishop and Anderson to raise money for the materials. The parish council also proposed to have a public telephone installed in the village so that warnings of approaching enemy aircraft could be obtained and also for general use by local residents. Councillors Mr O’Connell and Mr Dennis were elected to make the necessary application but long delays meant that the telephone did not materialise during the war years.
All was not bad news as annual events like Empire Day still took place in the village on June 10th. Mrs Dora Wakeley from Rainham, who later became well-known for establishing Upchurch Pottery, opened the event then distributed attendance medals and certificates to Holywell pupils. Ivy Robinson appeared as the May Queen while children from the Infant’s School performed maypole dancing. A cricket match between the choir boys and Holywell schoolboys followed this in The Paddock during the evening. Another cricket match took place in The Paddock by invitation of Reverend Dicker in July. This was played between Royal Engineers who had erected telephone lines in the village and Upchurch Cricket Club. Upchurch won the match when after scoring 66 runs they bowled out their opponents for 58 to win a closely contested game. After the match both teams were invited to a smoking concert given by Reverend Dicker at the vicarage. Reverend Dicker played the piano while the cricketers sang the night away.
In September a military wedding took place in the church involving Sid Dennis, a Second Airman Mechanic of the RMC and youngest son of farmer Tom Dennis of Natal Farm. He married Jeannie Gould, daughter of Mr and Mrs Gould proprietors of the Brown Jug pub.
By the end of the year the war had reached a stalemate with massive casualties including 120,000 British soldiers killed at the Battle of the Somme. Without an end in sight and war casualties mounting, Upchurch residents entered 1917 with apprehension that the war would continue with more suffering and the loss of more village boys at the war front.
About David
About David
David Wood was born and raised in Upchurch and is able to write from personal experience about many people and aspects of the village and of changes that have taken place over the years making ‘Memories of Upchurch’ a very readable book and a detailed historical study of the village. David's book ‘Memories of Upchurch’ is available direct from David at: david3702001@yahoo.co.uk or from us here at Upchurch Matters. Price £12 + £3.50 postage and packing.
David Wood
