War Memorial – History of the Memorials

The present church, St John’s, was consecrated on 18 June 1965 (Foundation Stone laid 16 January 1965) and a Deed of Substitution made dated 22 February 1966 made it the Parish Church.  (Source:  Grove PCC Vestry minutes).

Research of both the Church records and Parish Council records reveal very little about the history of the memorials.

In the Parish Council minutes of 28 March 1919:

“The Rev SH Howard [Grove Vicar] raised the question of a memorial in memory of men of Grove who had fallen in the War. The Council expressed its sincere sympathy with the object and wished him every success.”

In the Parish Council minutes of 11 September 1941:

“The business was to form an emergency committee to carry on the internal affairs of the Village in the case of invasion. This was formed.”
[no indication who they were but Councillors present were: H Denis De Vitre, Mrs T Adams, W Wickham, C Collett, A Denly and F Bosley]

At the Annual Parish Meeting held on 19 April 1948 Mr Minns and Mr C Wickham were asked to see the Vicar and see what could be arranged with reference to the War Memorial.

The Parish Council minutes of 10 November 1948:

“It was agreed to call a Parish meeting on 26 January 1949 to consider a War Memorial.”

The Parish Council minutes of 13 January 1949:

“The meeting for Parishioners to discuss the War Memorial was re-arranged for 4 February at 8:00 pm.”

The PCC minutes of 27 January 1949 stated that “The Vicar, [Canon CWW Bourne] read a letter from the Parish Council asking that representatives attend a meeting on 4th February 1949 to discuss the proposal of a War memorial. Mr Denly, as churchwarden, agreed to attend and others present said also said they would be present.”

The next meeting’s minutes dated 2 March 1949 stated that “On the subject of the War Memorial it was stated that a village committee had been appointed to ascertain the wishes of the people.”

The Berkshire Herald of 11 February 1949 reported that a committee had been formed with FJ Minns as chairman, AC [Cyril] Wickham as secretary, F Powell as treasurer and Mesdames Sewell, AC Wickham and CM West and Messrs A Smith, PJ Powell and G [George] Cottrell making up the committee. The report said that £60, being the balance, from the Grove Home Guard Social Fund together with £16 from the Parish Magazine appeal would start the fund. It was suggested that a tablet similar to that commemorating the fallen in World War I would cost £25. This suggests that there was a tablet but no information has yet been found about it. Suggestions from the public meeting were for a recreation ground and a new choir stall.

We have been unable to find any further information, so far, to find out what happened at subsequent meetings as no reference could be found in either sets of minutes. So we have not been able to ascertain who made the decisions, who researched the names to be commemorated, the cost of the memorials or when the memorials were dedicated and by whom. Nor have we found out why there are plaques rather than the more usual monument. The Parish Council would welcome any further information about the men, their families and background and the memorials.

Memorial to those who served at Grove Airfield during WWII.

This document only refers to those commemorated in St. John’s Church. Those casualties from the American airfield are covered in A Short History of Grove Airfield 1941-1996 by Don Summers (published in April 1997 by Ridgeway Military; Aviation Research Group (RMARG), revised November 2018).