Southborough War Memorial Book Launch
Pictured, with names in brackets of their relatives named on the Memorial - back row, left to right: Mrs D Henry (FREDERICK KATES), Mrs A Owen (ALBERT LORNE), Mr C Maier (OSCAR MAIER), Mr Fulker (SYDNEY DIXON), Mr P Winter (WILLIAM WINTER DSM), Mr M Beevis (FREDERICK SOMERS); front row, left to right: Mr A McKay (CLARENCE AND EDWARD SMART), Mrs R Marshall (representing family of JOHN FOUNTAIN), Judith Johnson, Mrs B Fulker (SYDNEY DIXON), Mr and Mrs K Brand (FREDERICK ANDERSON), Mr E Hook (CHARLES BARTON).
I'd always been deeply affected by the personal tragedies that result from war, and particularly moved by the accounts of those who served and died in the First World War. Seven years ago I started researching the names on the Southborough War Memorial, near Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The book was finally launched on Saturday, 26 September, 2009 in the hall of Christ Church, Prospect Road, Southborough. It was a very pleasant occasion, and I think I can safely say that it was enjoyed by all those who attended. Many who came were the surviving relatives of those named on the memorial, and they had waited patiently, for years in some cases since they were interviewed, for the book to be published. I hope they feel that I have done them justice.
'A magnificent piece of highly investigative research, worthy of those named on the War Memorial'
Lt Col Maxwell Macfarlane, President of the Southborough Society
Lt Col Maxwell Macfarlane, President of the Southborough Society
Southborough War Memorial
Every town and village in Britain took a devastating blow in losing an inordinate number of its young people in the major conflicts of the twentieth century, and has its memorial to them. As the years go by, in all communities, we are losing touch with who the war dead were - and they are becoming, to most of us, a list of names, rather than individuals who we once, as a people, pledged to remember. This book aims to serve as a unique record of the two hundred and fifty-four men and one woman associated with Southborough and High Brooms who are commemorated on the Southborough War Memorial. It recalls the details, poignantly scant in some cases, of their lives and their final resting places, where they have been possible to find through records and the memories of those left behind.
