ROADE WAR MEMORIAL

UNVEILED BY COLONEL VERNON

Sunday 31^st July 1921

Colonel Vernon DSO, K.R.R, of Stoke Bruerne, unveiled on Sunday afternoon the cross erected on the village green at Roade to the memory of the eight men of that village who gave their lives in the war.

The memorial, erected at the cost of £140 by public subscription, is of blue Forest of Dean stone.  In form it is slender octagonal column surmounted by an ornament cross and with two steps at the base.  Inscribed upon it are the words:

“To the Glory of God and to the memory of the men of Roade who fell in the Great War, 1914-1918, in defence of Home and Country":

Capt. J H A Ryan MC

Lance-Corp. J G A Sheppard

Pte A Chaplin

Pte G F Harbidge

Pte P T A Smith

Pte W Whitlock

Pte C E Elliott

Pte R Lane

‘At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.’

‘Pass not this stone in sorrow, but in pride, and may we live as nobly as they died’.

The cross was the work of Mr J. F. Sturgis, of Roade.  Of the memorial committee, Mr. C. F. Alsop was chairman, Miss E. M. Lea treasurer, and Mr. J. E. Harris secretary.

The short service was conducted by the Rev. W. H. Sharland (Vicar of Roade), the Rev. J. M. Sturgess (Baptist Minister, Roade), and the Rev. A. E. Boyce, Northampton.

Colonel Vernon, who was accompanied by his wife and Dr. and Mrs. Ryan, gave an impressive address before uncovering the memorial.

England, he said quite unprepared and quite light-heartedly, entered into the biggest war that the world had ever dreamed of.  Our diminutive regular army proved itself to be the finest body of troops that had ever taken to the field.  Numbering about 150,000 men, it found itself confronted by the German millions.  Slowly, fighting every inch of the way, it stayed the Boche advance, and threw the German Army on the defensive.

In this supreme, wonderful effort the British Army was practically annihilated.  It seemed as if everything was all over.  England was a Country without an Army.

Then the Empire showed what it was made of.  From every city, town, village and hamlet came the new Army.  The Village of Roade, numbering all told 700, sent some fifty to the war - a record of which it could be justly proud.  Of those 50, seven did not return, and this memorial was a token of great pride and gratitude which the people felt for them.

The dominant feeling should be one, not of regret or sorrow, but of great pride and gratitude for those who laid down their lives so gloriously.  They died the noblest death a man could die for god, for right, for home, and liberty.  That was not death; it was immortality. They helped to win a great and glorious victory, and they left their beloved England a free Country.

“I dare not draw a picture,” added Colonel Vernon, “of what I know our England would have been like if we had lost the war – invaded, over-run, devastated, conquered, enslaved.  But we won the war, and if the dead have a message for us it is this: ‘We have done our job; it is up to whoever is left to do his.  We who fought and gave our lives and have passed on, ask all who remain to make a contented England.’”.

Wreaths from the Memorial Committee, the ex-service men, the Girl Guides, Mr. Jesse Sturgis (late chairman of the Northamptonshire Men in London), and other mourners were then placed at the foot of the memorial, which was saluted by the ex-servicemen under ex-Sergt. G. Whitlock (who wore five wound stripes on his sleeve), by Girl Guides from Roade, under Capt. Alsop and from Courteenhall, under Miss Wake, and by the Village school children.