Researching the Names of the Men on the War Memorial

Like
every other parish in the country, Ditchling saw young men go to fight
in the First World War. Most were born in village and attended the
village school, perhaps joined the newly formed Boy Scout movement, sung
in the church choir or played in the village football or cricket teams. Brothers
enlisted together, with some village families losing more than one son.
These men were part of the village community working on the land, at
the local brickworks, or in village gardens and shops. The letters they
sent home provide often quite eloquent first hand accounts of ordinary
men thrust into extraordinary and often unimaginable circumstances. The
village must often have been in their thoughts and it was to Ditchling
they hoped to return from the battlefields of the Western Front,
Gallipoli and Palestine.
Twenty men from Ditchling lost their lives in the ‘war to end all wars’
but in 1946 a further thirteen names of those who died in the Second
World War were carved on the village War Memorial. In carrying out
research on those killed in the Second World War it was possible to
contact family members, some still living locally, who were able to
provide background information, documents and photographs. The results of this research was first published in 2002 in the DHP publication 'For the Fallen', available from our shop.
WE WILL REMEMBER ...
World War I
Captain Francis Attree, Suffolk Regiment, May 8th 1915
Private Charles Blake, Royal Sussex Regiment, September 2nd 1918
Private George Brown, Royal Sussex Regiment, June 1st 1916
Private Edward Cherriman, Royal Sussex Regiment, July 26th 1915
Private Sidney Elsworth, Royal East Kent (The Buffs), September 23rd 1918
Sgt William G. Foster, Royal Air Force, October 26th 1918
Private William Green, Middlesex Regiment, November 24th 1917
Private George Harbour, Royal Sussex Regiment, April 1st 1918
Private Thomas Harbour, Royal Sussex Regiment, March 4th 1916
Private George Harwood, Grenadier Guards, October 6th 1918
Lance Sgt Robert Horney, Royal Sussex Regiment, April 6th 1918
Gunner Frederick Leaney, Royal Garrison Artillery, June 17th 1917
Private Alfred Mears, Royal Warwickshire Rgt., October 4th 1917
Lance Cpl Arthur Mears, Coldstream Guards, September 11th 1917
Lance Cpl Frederick Merrit, Royal Fusiliers, July 23rd 1916
Private Charles Pratt, Royal Sussex Regiment, September 25th 1915
Signaller Frank Skilton, Royal Sussex Regiment, September 11th 1915
Trooper Frederick Tingley, Royal Dragoon Guards, November 6th 1914
Private George Tingley, Royal Sussex Regiment, July 7th 1916
Lance Cpl Charles Waller, Royal Sussex Regiment, July 7th 1916
WE WILL REMEMBER ...
World War II
Sapper William ‘Tommy’ Burt, Royal Engineers, June 10th 1944
Flight Lt Thomas Carson, RAF Volunteer Reserve, January 25th 1943
Sgt James Cottingham, RAF Volunteer Reserve, August 15th 1941
Sgt Ronald Evans, Royal Air Force, February 3rd 1943
Private Cecil Faulkner, Pioneer Corps, February 7th 1946
Flying Officer Henry Emden, Royal Air Force, September 4th 1939
Sgt Harry Legg, RAF Volunteer Reserve, October 13th 1941
Able Seaman Frederick Noakes, Royal Navy, March 26th 1942
Captain William Sherrard, Royal Artillery, February 14th 1942
Flight Lt Richard Stevens, RAF Volunteer Reserve, December 15th 1941
Private William Weaver, Leicestershire Regiment, February 28th 1943
Captain Herbert Shove, Royal Navy, December 5th 1943
Lieutenant Reginald ‘Tony’ Smith, RN Volunteer Reserve , April 28th 1944