GRID REF: NY33851 48742 Postcode CA5 7JH
St John the Evangelist Cumdivock Memorial
The Memorial to the Fallen of the small rural community of Cumdivock stands within the grounds of the Church of St John the Evangelist. There is no burial ground here so there are none of the tributes on private headstones we find in many other churchyards. The Church is within the Parish of Dalston and approximately ten miles south west of Carlisle. Grid Ref NY338488.
The Memorial, an octagonal pillar and plinth of local sandstone surmounted by a cross on some armorial insignia stands, almost hidden from public sight, in a small grove of mature woodland at the western end of the Church.
There are seven names inscribed on the Memorial; four are of the Fallen of The Great War and three of WW2.
The Great War casualties are;-
LCpl Thomas Dodd, who died on 21st August 1915 at the age of 19 while serving with 6th Bn Border Regiment in the Dardanelles. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Thomas was the son of John and Beatrice Dodd, of Dalston.
Pte Harry Barclay, who died on 23rd Oct 1915 at the age of 23 while serving with the 6th Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. He is interred in Rue-de-Bacquerot No 1 Military cemetery, Laventie, Pas-de-Calais. Harry was the son of John and Jane Barclay, of Cardew, Dalston.
Major Philip Ferguson M.C., was 30 years old when he died on 22nd Oct 1917 while serving with the “D” Battery, 152nd Bde, Royal Field Artillery. He is interred in Canada Farm Cemetery, grave iii.F.2. He was the son of Charles and Alice Ferguson, of Cardew Lodge, Dalston.
Sapper Wm Andrew Barnes, who died on 15th August 1919 while serving with the Royal Engineers was 27 years old. He died in the Royal Victoria Military Hospital in Hampshire after a long struggle with battle induced illness. He is interred in the nearby Netley Military Cemetery, grave 2016. This cemetery holds over 600 graves of the First World War, of wounded soldiers who were brought back to the UK but did not survive their injuries. The hospital has since been demolished. William and his wife Eleanor lived at Church View, Rockcliffe, Carlisle. Eleanor later remarried.
The three WW2 casualties are simply listed as, John Graham, Charles Notman, and Joseph Strong, with no further information displayed.
