Bishopswood War Memorial - St John's Church.

DEDICATION of WAR MEMORIAL AT BISHOP'S WOOD
Bishop's Wood war memorial was dedicated on Sunday afternoon, in the presence of a large congregation. It consists of a brass tablet, inscribed as follows:- "In honoured memory of Charles Edward Evans, John James Evans, Philip Jackson, Fred Onion, James Onion, John Southall, Francis William Yates, who died in the Great War, 1914-1918." The service was conducted by the Vicar (the Rev. Alfred Archer), and the unveiling ceremony was performed by Vice-Admiral Dampier, who, in the course of an address, paid a tribute ot the work of the Dover Patrol. He said that he doubted whether 10 per cent. of the eight million soldiers who went to France and the Far East ever saw a man-of-war except their attendant cruisers or destroyers, and it was impossible for them to realize that their safety lay, not in those cruisers or destroyers, but in that great fleet watching in the mists of the North Sea which controlled the movements of the enemy. Vice-Admiral Dampier went on to speak of the desolation of the battlefields of France and Belgium, which he visited in 1917. Looking back into the history of England, they would find that she had practically always stood for liberty. In Queen Anne's reign she fought against France both on land and sea, and in the great wars against Napoleon to obtain liberty for nations. The spirits of the soldiers who fought under Marlborough and Wellington must have wondered to see the mighty English armies which fought and fell on the same battlefields where they themselves laid down their lives, and they must have thanked God that the spirit of the Old Country remained the same. Only once during many centuries had England broken her word, and that was in 1864 when she promised to help the Danes against Prussia, and failed to do it. In conclusion, the speaker said it was well perhaps to remember in the disturbed and unpleasant times in which they were living that the same discontent and unrest made itself felt for several years after the great wars which ended in 1815. Let them hope that the sacrifices of those men who had not laid down their lives in vain might bring to those who had survived, owing to their courage and devotion, a time of freedom and true liberty. He hoped that that memorial would remind many future generations of young men of Bishop's Wood how nobly their fathers or uncles responded to England's call to her sons in defence of right and justice, and let them add for them the old prayer of the Church - "That they may be granted Eternal Rest." - A feature of the service was the large number of men present, including many who had served in the war. The tablet was supplied by Mr. R. G. Cowern, of Aberystwyth. [Staffordshire Advertiser 14 August 1920]