Details of the Market House memorial can be seen at the link. The local history group link will give further information on the town and those listed.
The original memorial is in Minchinhampton Parish Churchyard. Mrs. Lawrence offered it in memory of both her sons and all the men who fell in the Great War from Minchinhampton and Box. This Calvery was originally located on the site currently occupied by the Porch Room. It was moved to its present position in 1973/4.
Also within the church there are a number of memorials.
The wooden screen, separating nave and chancel cost £500. The money was raised by the church members.
A war memorial plaque was placed in the Lady Chapel of the church, adjacent to the screen, to the fallen of WW1 and WW2.
The old font was discovered in the Rectory garden, and was being used as a flower container. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson of Hyde had it restored to the memory of their eldest son, who fell at Gallipoli. They also lost another son in 1917. The font has a brass plate that reads:
“ This ancient font was restored as a thank offering to God for the life of Geoffrey Robert Johnson 2nd Lieutenant 7th Battalion Gloucestershire Regt who fell fighting for his country in Gallipoli Aug 7th 1915 aged 22 years.--- Sursum corda.”
There are also some individual plaques in the Lady Chapel and Nave
In the northwest corner of Holy Trinity Churchyard there is a group of four war graves from WW2. These record four young airmen, members of the Operational Training Units (O.T.U.) at Aston Down, who died during operational training.
Operational training was a dangerous exercise, and many young pilots lost their lives in and around Aston Down and the other airfields in Gloucestershire. Recruits would first train with an instructor in two-seater Miles Master aircraft, then the pilots honed attack techniques solo, first in Hawker Hurricanes and as they became available from the factory, Supermarine Spitfires. By reference to various sources, including the excellent “Wings Over Gloucestershire” by John Rennison (1988) it has been possible to find out rather more of the circumstances of these young pilot’s deaths
Norman William Barbeau (see photo) was one of six brothers from Ontario, three of whom served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Aged just twenty, he was married one month before being posted overseas, and was in England for about a month when he was killed. Barbeau was based with an Operations Training Unit (O.T.U.) at Aston Down and was taking off in his Spitfire when his port wing hit a petrol tanker. He was committed to take off, the wing became detached and the plane crashed on to the road at Stratton St. Margaret, Swindon.
His elder brother George corresponded with Minchinhampton and sent a copy of a poem (see below) that Norman wrote to his mother on arrival in England – the family treasure it as a poignant tribute to him.
Nature and God
I stood on a Surrey hill one day
Looking down over the green
The morning sun came slanting down
And tipped each dewy blade with sheen.
Upon the sparkling stream below
A thousand sunbeams danced
And from a poplar’s fluttering leaves
A thousand others glanced.
I’ve never forgotten that beautiful morn
When angels kissed the Surrey sod
I’ve treasured it deep inside my soul
For it brought me close to God.
And whenever I feel a doubt of Him
As in the loss of someone dear
I think of that day in the Surrey hills
And I feel God’s presence near.
____________________
In some accounts Sgt. Roger Pierson Owen is listed as an American, but he was a member of 52 O.T.U. Aston Down, who was killed on take-off, crashing his Spitfire at France Lynch.
Sgt. Peter Bryant Tyers Quint (see photo) was a member of 50 O.T.U. Aston Down, also a Hurricane pilot. His aircraft was caught in the slipstream of others in the formation, and crashed at the New Grounds, Slimbridge, now part of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust site.
Sgt. Thomas Desmond Vernon (see photo) was a member of 55 O.T.U. Aston Down and was killed when his plane, a Hurricane, nose-dived into a farm at Saul.
There are a further 3 war graves close to one another in another area in the north east of the graveyard for WW1
Pte. Herbert Stafford Cox was born in Minchinhampton in 1888 to Joseph and Ellen Latham (Close). The address in 1911 was Amesbury, Wiltshire. He died in Warminster.
Pte. Charles Richard Newman was born in 1899 in Minchinhampton to David and Mary Ann (Payne) of Tetbury Street, Minchinhampton. He was in the 10th Battalion.
Pte. Arthur Bertram Workman was born in 1887 in Minchinhampton to Frederick and Hannah Maria (Swayne). The address in 1911 was in Swindon. In the 1911 census his wife is recorded as Mary (Clarke). He was in the 1st Battalion.
Box Memorial