The Congregational Memorials
The first of the Great War memorials in the village, were unveiled in the Congregational Church on 21 March 1920. These were not memorials to the men from the village as a whole, but commemorated those connected to the Congregational Church and its Sunday School.
- 6
- The Congregational Church Memorials to those who died and also those who served in the Great War
- 51.971594, 1.010039
Details
The Unveiling
The following article appeared in The Suffolk Chronicle and Mercury on Friday 26 March 1920:
“The Rev. T.A. Carritt unveiled a very suitable and well-designed marble tablet in the Congregational Church, East Bergholt, on Sunday morning, in memory of eight members who fell in the war, and at the evening service unveiled another tablet commemorating 31 who had returned safely from the war and had in the past been connected with the chapel and Sunday School. The Rev. C. Stanley expressed the wish of the congregation for Mr. Carritt to come again on account of the great impressions he had made. Mr. Carritt gave touching addresses.”
The second “tablet” referred to in the article is not actually a tablet as such, but is a paper image of a scroll within a wooden frame.
All 8 of the men commemorated on the Chapel’s Memorial to the Fallen also have their names inscribed on the Village’s Memorial to those who died in the Great War, which can be found in the Anglican Church.
However, it is interesting to note that the name of one of the men commemorated on the memorial to “those associated with the life and work of our Church and Sunday School, whose lives have been spared” does not also appear on the Village’s Roll of Honour. 1 Abraham Pinner’s name does not appear on the Roll of Honour (now in St. Mary’s Church) which bears the names of “East Bergholt Men Who Served in the Great War of 1914 to 1919”.
Neither the 1901 nor the 1911 Census returns show an Abraham Pinner who was living in East Bergholt, or was born there. The 1911 Census does however record an Abraham Pinner who was living at that time in Higham and who would have been of an age to have served in the Great War. Whether this is the man commemorated on the Memorial can no longer be established using the surviving documentary sources.
- 6
- The Congregational Church Memorials to those who died and also those who served in the Great War
- 51.971594, 1.010039
Footnotes
Other Images
