War Memorial - St. Catherine's Chapel

There is a "war memorial" area within St. Mary's Church at the East End of St. Catherine's Chapel. As can be seen above, this contains the British Legion flags, as well as Rolls of Honour for Gillingham men who died in the tragedy of both World Wars, and also a book containing the service details of all those from Gillingham in the forces in both wars.
On this page there is a list of all those on the Rolls of Honour, with some information about them. At the moment this is being worked on; if you have information to add about any of the men please let us know.
CWGC - Commonwealth War Graves Commission; this gives some information about those killed in both world wars.
Nearly all of the pictures on this page can be clicked on to see an enlarged version - this can then be closed or you can view the enlarged pictures as a slideshow, clicking on the right of each picture to view the next (you can also click on the left to see the previous one. (This relies on you having javascript enabled - if you don't you can still enlarge each picture individually). The slideshow does not include the pages from the War service book for the First World War - these can be viewed individually or as a separate slideshow.
The graves shown on this page are all in Gillingham Cemetery.
World War 1
Roll of honour
The WW1 victims are listed here in the order in which they appear on the Roll of Honour in St. Mary's. This is approximately the order in which they died; it may be the order in which their deaths was learnt of. For most the link to Gillingham is clear - the CWGC entries show they had parents and/or wives living in Gillingham; most were probably born in the town (tbc). In a few cases however the link is unclear.
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Henry Shepherd
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From the book in church giving information about the Gillingham men who took part in WW1 we learn that he was a Private in the South Wales Borderers, who served in France and Belgium before being killed in action. We have no other information about him: it has not been possible to find him on the CWGC website nor identify him with any certainty in the 1901 census (the closest Henry Shepherd's on this to Gillingham were living in Milborne Port).
Not found on the CWGC site - despite site various spellings and allowing for Henry not being his first name.
The next 3 victims all died when H.M.S. Bulwark blew up in the estuary of the River Medway; more can be read about the ship and its fate here.
Herbert Hooper
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Herbert George Hooper was a Private in the Royal Marine Light Infantry; he had joined the army before the war - in September 1911 - and served in the Channel Fleet.
Born in 1894, Herbert was the son of Henry (Harry) - a boot and shoe maker - and Mary Hooper, and like them was born up the road from Gillingham in Mere (Wiltshire). In 1901 he was the middle child of a family of 7 but the family may have grown after this and was still in Mere. His parents were later "of Cemetery Road, Gillingham".
His first cousin, Albert Henry Hooper, also died in the war.
He is remembered on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial.
Robert Lockett
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Robert was an Able Seaman, and is buried in in Kent.
His Link with Gillingham is unknown (he is not in the book of the war service of the men of the town or on the Town War Memorial). A John Robert Lockett was born in the Sherborne in 1885; his parents married in the Wincanton district in 1882, his father being from Wells (Somerset) and his mother from Compton Pauncefoot i.e. not very far from Gillingham. If this is the right Robert then maybe he is on the Roll of Honour because he had close family living in the town. The family were in Sherborne for both the 1891 and 1901 censuses, with his father being described as a "blacksmith" and then "a journeyman shoeing smith". His mother was recorded as a "glover" in 1881 before she married.
Henry S J Vincent
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He had joined the navy before the war in November 1911, and served during the war as an Armourer, at sea.
Henry Sidney John Vincent was the son of Frederick James Vincent, a blacksmith from Hilton, Wiltshire and his Gillingham born wife, Annie. At the time of the 1901 census he was an only child, living with his parents and maternal grandmother, District Nurse Mary Extence. The family lived at Pierston, Milton.
He is remembered on the .
Tom Bealing
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He had joined the army on August 18th 1903, aged 17, and was a Private in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, serving in France during the war where he was killed in action.
George Parr
So far it has not been possible to find out anything about George Parr. It seems he may not have been a Gillingham man, being one of the five men on St. Mary's Roll of Honour but neither on the Town War Memorial or in the Town War Service Book in St. Mary's.
Garnet Read
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He joined the army in 1901 and served as a Private in India and France where he died of pneumonia, 29th January 1915.
Garnet Wolsely Read was a Private in the 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment, the son of William and Emily Read. Born in Zeals (Wiltshire) in 1883, he was living in Gillingham by 1891 - in Peasemarch Place, with his father William (a picture frame maker) and Ellen, his step-mother, and three brothers and three sisters, of whom he was the fourth child.
His mother, Emily, died a few months after his birth, aged 38, and his father remarried a few months later. From the 1881 census it can be seen he had at least 4 older siblings who had left home by 1891, while the 1901 census shows a younger half sister not born by 1891.
He is buried in the in Rouen.
Gideon Stone
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A Private in the army which he joined before the war in October 1908. He served in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) where he was killed in action on 17th November 1914.
F J Kinnaird
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William Thick
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William Charles Thick joined the army on August 5th 1914, serving as a Private in France and Belgium, before dying of pleurisy less than a year later, on July 2nd 1915. In 1914 he was decorated with the Star and Clasp.
The age of 29 at death suggests he was born between July 1885 and July 1886. Two William Thicks were born in Gillingham at around this time - one in 1884 (son of Henry and ??), the other, born 1887, was the son of Thomas and Anna. It is believed the William who died was the latter. In 1906 he married Alice Maud Jellett - she was born in 1884 so perhaps he increased his age to lessen the difference between them!
Alice was a labourer's daughter, born on the Isle of Wight, and married William, the son of a gardener, in Portsmouth. By the time the CWGC records were compiled she was living in Roath, Cardiff. It is not known if they had any children.
Sadly William wasn't the only son of Thomas and Anna to die - they also lost his older brother Edward Cornelius less than 3 months later.
Why is William remembered in St. Mary's while Edward isn't? We can't be sure. The family appear to have moved to Gillingham between 1881 and 1884 (from West Knoyle) and moved from Gillingham between 1891 and 1901, by which time they were living in Speen, Newbury (Berkshire). Possibly William and Alice had moved back there after his marriage. Or it may be because William is buried in the town. No doubt he would have had friends in Gillingham from his younger days; they probably wouldn't normally be aware of the death of those who had moved away, but with the death in the town they would - and so added him to the Roll of Honour? It is assumed that William died in the town and that is why he is buried here - although he does not seem to be in the registers of births, marriages and deaths (the only William Thick in 1915 died in the Blofield district in Norfolk). During the first world war there were hospitals in requisitioned buildings in the town - presumably William was in one of these.
Lionel Sotheby
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Lionel is on the Church Roll or Honour but appears not to have been a Gillingham man (he is not on the town War Memorial Roll of Honour or in the town War Service book). His connection seems to be that his father's cousin, Walter Edward Hamilton Sotheby, was Vicar at the time Lionel died.
Author of a published war diary.
Thomas Lees
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Sir Thomas Evans Keith Lees is another not found in the town's war service book or on the town war memorial, but in his case the link to the town is known: the CWGC records his wife as being "of Thorngrove, Gillingham, Dorset". He had married his wife, Benita B Pelly, in the third quarter of 1913 so maybe he didn't get a chance to live in Gillingham himself sufficiently to be viewed as a "Gillingham man". He was the second Baronet, his father, Sir Elliott Lees, a politician being the first. Although his father was from a Lancashire family, being MP for Oldham, and later Birkendhead, his parents married in London and he was born in the Wimborne area.
Fred W Bracher
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Fred Bracher joined the army on September 6th 1914 and was killed in action a year later (September 1915), having served in France as a Lance Corproal with the 1st battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment.
Wilfred Bailey
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Joined up on September 9th 1914, serving in Gallipoli as an Able Seaman in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve before dying of fever on 30th June 1915 aged 24.
Wilfred's parents Arthur and Minnie seem to have liked to move around. Arthur, a Grocer's manager in 1901, was from East Wellow, near Romsey in Hampshire; his wife Minnie nee Tull was born in Brighton in 1865 but moved to Reading with her parents in about 1870. Arthur and Minnie married there in 1887 (Arthur was living in Reading by 1881 at which time he was a grocer's assistant). Wilfred was born in Leamington in Warwickshire in 1890; three siblings were born in the Poole area (in 1893, 5 and 7) but by the time of the 1901 census the family were living in Newbury St., Gillingham. Wilfred is buried in the in Greece.
Bertram Hiscock
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He joined up in March 1914 and served as a Lance Corporal in the Dorset Yeomanry (Queen's Own) in Egypt and Gallipoli before dying of wounds on August 30th, 1915.
Born in Gillingham in 1889 but living in Wincombe Lane, Shaftesbury as a baby in 1891 with 3 older siblings and his parents (his father Edward was described as a "farm servant (agricultural)". By 1901 he was living in Peasemarsh (Gillingham) with his widowed mother Emily and 2 older brothers - both out at work and so presumbably maintaining the family - and a younger sister.
He is buried in Cairo war memorial cemetery.
Edgar A Gower
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Edgar Albert Gower joined up in August 1914, Serjeant, served in Gallipoli before being killed in action on 31st August, 1915.
Edgar was not born or brought up in Gillingham but perhaps had moved to the town as a young man (he IS listed as a Gillingham man in the war service book. He was born in 1881 in Hastings and was still there at the time of the 1901 census, aged 19 and living with his parents and 6 siblings, whose ages ranged from 3 to 26. Like his brothers he was a clerk - in his case for a brewer, perhaps at the brewery where his father Jesse was manager. In 1891 he was a "scholar" whilst his father at that time was a merchant's clerk.
Buried in in Malta.
George Edwards
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George Harold Edwards was a Private in the Wiltshire Regiment, having joined up on the 1st of January 1914
George was the youngest in 1901
He is remembered on the Basra Memorial.
George Strickland
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joined up 1913, served in France, killed in action Sept 1914
On the
Maurice N Kennard
An account of the probing raid - the start of an offensive on the Somme - in which he died can be found in this world war one diary.
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Samuel Esdaile Shaw
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Edward Philip Matthews
One of two sons of the family killed in the war, the other being Walter Franey Matthews; the sanctuary screen and reredos are in their memory.
Charles Down
William Stone
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Walter William Stone was a Private in the Dorsetshire Regiment which he joined on June 5th, 1915. He served in Gallipoli, Egypt and France before dying of wounds on February 5th, 1917.
Buried in Etaples Military Cemetery.
John William Harris
Albert Miles
James Charles Foot
John Kenneth Manger
Henry Read
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A Lance Corporal in the 1st Dorsets which he joined on Aug 12th 1914, served in France before being killed in action.
Tom Read
The War Service book has two Reads with Thomas as middle name, namely Alfred and Frank. Presumably the "Tom Read" on the Roll of Honour refers to one of these.
Alfred Thomas Read
Frank Thomas Read
W Oliphant Down
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Edwin Cabell
Albert Henry Hooper
William George Bracher
Walter F Matthews
One of two sons of the family killed in the war, the other being Edward Philip Matthews; the sanctuary screen and reredos are in their memory.
Harold Wm Lydford
Alan Northeast Light
Arthur Thornton Phripp
Arthur Green
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Joining up on 7th September 1914, Arthur Green was killed in action on 6th October 1917, having served as a driver in the R F A (Royal Field Artillery) in France. He was awarded the 1914/15 star.
Henry George Ware
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George Henry Ware in the War Service Book (and elsewhere), he joined up on 5th August 1914 and served as a Private in the 5th Dorsets in the Dardanelles, he was killed in action about a year later on 21st August 1915.
Walter Smart
William Crocker
Frederick Street
John Edward Wiles
Wilfred Lodge
Jack Beck
John Hull
(prisoner of war)
Leslie Victor Ward Dunning
Sylvester Henry Dukes
Arthur Bert Wadman
Donald R G Martin
Reginald Carlton Cross
Robert Leslie Grove Burnell
Harold James Wadman
William Charles Wadman
Victor Stokes
Henry Arthur Doddington
Percival Albert Gray
Leonard Walter Kiddle
Alfred Bealing
Henry Scott
Clifford Henry Kiddle
Harry Luke Fletcher
Gillingham Cemetery
Gillingham New Cemetery contains 14 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and two from the Second World War.


World Peace Prayer
Lead me from death to life,
from falsehood to truth.
Lead me from despair to hope,
from fear to trust.
Lead me from hate to love,
from war to peace.
Let peace fill our hearts,
our world, our universe.
Simon Mewburn
This memorial to Simon Mewburn is in St. Mary's Church although his connection with Gillingham is not at present known. This is being investigated - if you have any information please let us know.
Simon Mewburn was from Acomb, near Hexham in Northumberland and a memorial and window and marble "tomb" in his memory are in the church there - more details on their website.
War Service
In St. Mary's is a book listing not only those who gave their lives in both wars, but all those from Gillingham who served in the forces in the First World War. You can view the pages of this book by selecting them below (n.b. to make the text legible these images are quite large and may take a while to download if you have a slow connection):
Those who died in World War One
Page with surnames beginning:
B - D
D - H
H - L
M - R
R - V
V - W
This book lists 93 men who died in the war, i.e. it inculdes a number not on the Church Rolls of Honour, listed above.
Those others who served in the First World War
Page with surnames beginning:
A - B
B
B - C
C - D
D
D - F
F - G
G
H
H - I
J - K
K - L
L - M
M - N
N - R
R - S
S - T
T - W
W - Y
World War 2
Roll of honour
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John Foulkes
John G 14-12-1939 RAF Europe Air Gunner/Sergeant 15/16-9-1941
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Joseph Goodships
Joseph Henry Goodship 1940 Reconn. Corps. CMF Trooper 24/9/1943
William Collis
William Charles Collis 1940 RAF Home Water 1st class stoker 7/12/1942
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Albert Hunt
Albert Charles Hunt 12/8/1940 RA Egypt Gunner 12/11/1942
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Remembered on the Alamein Memorial.
Ernest Edwin Sharpe
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Reginald Sharpe
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Charles Gatehouse
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Ronald Davies
Ronald John Davies 11/7/1939 RAF Europe Pilot Officer 16/10/1940
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Percy Alger (missing, believed killed)
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Ronald Whitmarsh
Frank Tucker
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Kenneth Read
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