Finding memorials

A look at some of the local memorials to those who served in the First World War.

One of the many private memorials you can find locally; this one is to George Frederick Luffingham, who died at Gallipoli, and is in St Saviour's Church, Brockley Rise

Last year we wrote about the 147 names on the WW1 Memorial Cross at St Hilda’s. St Hilda’s, however, is not the only war memorial in the Crofton Park area, although it is the most visible and contains the most names. I have tracked down eight other local memorials commemorating people serving in WW1, including many Crofton Park residents.

St Saviour’s Church memorial is in book form (above). Unlike St Hilda’s, which only has the names of service people who died in WW1, St Saviour’s book has the names of 127 WW1 servicemen who died in WW1, 27 who died in WW2, and, unusually, 6 civilians who were killed in WW2. Among the WW1 dead is Harold James Slight, a merchant seaman who went down with his ship in May 1915. He had survived the sinking of the Titanic, on which he was a steward. He was unmarried and when on land, probably lived with his mother who lived at 77 Bovill Road. Also on the list is John Walter Harrison Lynde, who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, also in May 1915, and whose foster parents lived in Malham Rd.

   Soon after the end of WW1, in April 1920, The Lewisham Borough News reported on the official unveiling of a large oak tablet at Dalmain primary school. This tablet, which was hung in the hall of the infants’ department, was dedicated to 73 ‘old boys’ who fell in the war. The names listed included 31 who were also on the St Saviour’s list, and, remarkably, eight pairs of brothers.

   Another lost memorial is that of the 5th Brockley Scout group, known as the ‘Dandy 5th’, at their  headquarters, 320 Brockley Road, — Kar Klinik is on the site today. Unveiled in May 1921, it contained the names of seven troop members who died in the war, two of whom were also on St Hilda’s memorial. Forty-eight other scouts who served were also remembered. In 1922, the troop moved to the Scout Hut in Courtrai Road and the memorial was lost around that time.

   St Andrew’s church, at the corner of Wickham Road, was known locally in the early twentieth century as the Scottish church. This has the most complicated memorial list. Originally started in 1917 while the war was at its height, it began with 77 names — 15 who had died on active service and 62 others who were still serving. One of the names on the memorial is that of the vicar at the time, Rev J W Niven, as well as his brother Hugh Mackenzie – the latter was in the Royal Fusiliers but there are no military records for the vicar. Another 18 names were added later. Many of those named had Scottish roots, or fought in Scottish regiments, primarily the London Scottish.

   Other local memorials included St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church in Howson Rd, which honours 13 dead, and Brockley School, now Prendergast Hilly Fields. Brockley School was the local grammar school for boys, and its memorial commemorated 28 former pupils who had died in the war. Being a boys grammar school, it had pupils from a wider area, so only two — George Edgar Fuller, of 25 Montem Road, and Reginald Alfred Furby, of 62 Braxfield Road — were from Crofton Park.

   St George’s Church, Foxberry Road, Brockley is now the Elim Pentecostal Church. Its memorial listed nine dead, five of whom were from Crofton Park.

   St Peter’s, the large Anglican church on the corner of Wickham Road, has five private memorials; one is to Charles Anthony Harding who died of enteric fever in the Second Boer War, and the other four are to soldiers who died in WW1.

St Cyprian's church. Its WW1 memorial chapel was destroyed on the first night of the Blitz, 7th September 1940

One of the largest memorials locally was a dedicated chapel in St Cyprian’s church, which was in Adelaide Avenue. The church was destroyed by bombing in WW2. The inscription in the chapel read, ‘In Loving Memory of Sec.-Lieut Edward Southon M.C who was killed in action near Cambrai on October 2nd 1917 as well as many others who gave their lives for their countries and whose names are here recorded”.

   Southon, who was 18 when he died, lived with his parents at 44 Adelaide Ave. The names of the 86 local men who also lost their lives were recorded on an oak frame placed on the wall opposite the entrance to the chapel.

   You can find out more about Edward Southon MC on the Friends of Brockley and Ladywell cemetery website: https://foblc.org.uk/posts/st-cyprians-church/

   The cemetery also has many Commonwealth War Graves and many of its family graves commemorating the death in service of, often, more than one family member.

 We have found at least 100 residents of Crofton Park who died on active service during WW1 without any commemoration; there may have been other memorials in other churches and schools commemorating them. We’ll keep looking and if you know of any more memorials, names and places, or seek information on any of those memorials above, please contact us.