St. Giles The Abbot

Village Sign

Farnborough (Kent)

Parish

St. Nicholas
Home News & Events St.Giles St.Nicholas Parish History Contacts Contents Search Website

 

                        

 

Up
The War Memorial
Book of Remembrance
Garden of Remembrance
Grave Registers
Churchyard Map

 

St. Giles The Abbot: 

The Churchyard - The War Memorial

        As reported in the District Times on Friday, 20th October, 1922, the War Memorial in Farnborough Parish Churchyard was unveiled and dedicated on Sunday, 15th October, 1922. It was unveiled by Brigadier-General G. Lubbock, C.M.G., D.S.O. and dedicated by The Venerable Archdeacon of Rochester the Revd. Donald Tait. M.A. The Vicar of Farnborough, Revd. E. J. Welch, M.A. conducted the service and the church choir led the singing, under direction of the organist Mr. H. Atkinson, who played accompaniments on a harmonium.

        The service round the memorial, which nearly everybody in the village attended, was preceded by a procession which assembled at the Farnborough Schools in Starts Hill. It was headed by the band of St. Joseph’s Orphanage Orpington, under Band Master Lane and it was followed by Ex-Servicemen, under Major Grinley and Major Pilditch, Farnborough Parish Council, the Farnborough Memorial Committee, The 1st Farnborough Boy Scouts under Scoutmaster F. Mason, the Farnborough Fire Brigade under Captain Wallis, St John’s Ambulance, and members of the Court "Lord Farnborough" of the Ancient Order of Foresters. All marched through the Village to the Churchyard.

        That was the dedication service, but how did the memorial come into existence? After the Armistice in 1918 many towns and villages began to organise memorials to those from the area who did not return. The people of Farnborough, under the guidance of Farnborough Parish Council, formed a Memorial Committee to raise the money and organise the design.

        The Architect they selected was Fred Harrild, son of Frederick and Edith Harrild who are buried in the square grave, with a yew tree in the middle, in front of the War Memorial Cross. Frederick and his family moved from Long Ditton to "Shirlies" in Tubbenden Lane in 1884. Before the 1914-1918 War, Fred studied and became an architect with an office in Grays Inn Place, Holborn and did work in many places including Chislehurst and on Farnborough Church. During the war Fred Harrild served as a volunteer ambulance driver in France for the British Red Cross and later as a lieutenant in the Army Service Corps M.T. in Mesopotamia, from where he was invalided to India. He married in 1920 and moved to Totnes in Devon where he practised as an Architect. In 1926 he became a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and moved to Storrington, West Sussex, but continued to practise in Devon. He died in June 1969 and is buried in Sullington Churchyard.

        The Committee chose well, as Farnborough War Memorial is widely acclaimed one of the finest in Kent. It has needed care and attention over the years and thanks to the generosity of the Farnborough residents and others who have connections with the village, remedial work has been carried out in time to preserve it. Sadly there is need for more preservation work to be carried out as well as re-painting the names of those who are remembered on the tablets on the wall. There is also a proposal to include the names on the War Memorial of those who went from Farnborough in the Second World War and did not return. When the call comes for us to subscribe to this project, the response will surely be as positive and generous as when the first appeal went out in 1920.

        This is the Farnborough War Memorial, dedicated to the men of Farnborough and must be kept and preserved by the good folk of Farnborough.

Alan Robinson

Top

 

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ The War Memorial ] [ Book of Remembrance ] [ Garden of Remembrance ] [ Grave Registers ] [ Churchyard Map ]