The following article appeared In the Rugby Advertiser on 29th February 1924.
CHURCH LAWFORD AND THE WAR.
TABLET IN THE PARISH CHURCH.
UNVEILED BY MR. W. W. VAUGHAN.
At last the memorial tablet to the boys of the villages of Church Lawford and King’s Newnham who fell in the war has been placed in the Church. At the time the memorial stone in the village was erected it was decided at a public meeting that a tablet should be placed in the church as well. This, however, had been allowed to drift until a little time ago, when some members of the Church Council brought the matter forward again. Collections were made and met with a ready response, the result being that a very nice brass plate on an oak frame has been fixed in the Church in a prominent position on the south wall. It is engraved and filled with black letters. The names of the fallen are as on the stone in the village, with the addition of two lads who died after the Armistice as a result of the war.
The inscription reads:
“In grateful memory of the men of this Parish who gave their lives in the great war, 1914-18.
“1914.-Ralph John Dunn, Charles Hancox.
“1916.-Arthur Cashmore, George Henry Gurney, Arthur Henry Hammond, Ernest Payne.
“1917.-Herbertt Addison, Sidney John Batchelor.
Also, after the Armistice :-
” 1921.-Clarence Beers.
“1923.–Arthur Ernest Cockerill. – R.I.P “
The ceremony of unveiling the tablet took place on Sunday evening, and was performed by Mr. W. W. Vaughan, C.V.O., Headmaster of Rugby School, assisted by the Rector (Rev. M. A. Shorland).
Mr. Vaughan, upon pulling the cord and releasing the Union Jack with which the plate was covered, said : I unveil this tablet in memory of (here followed the names of all the men) the men of Church Lawford who fell in the great war. May their courage inspire us in the greater war against evil, may their memory ever remain in the hearts of those they left behind.
Mr. Shorland: Wo here dedicate this tablet to the glory of God, to the memory of those fallen, in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Ghost – Amen. Let us remember before God for a few moments in silent prayer those who from this place gave their lives for their King and Country, also all those of our nation who fell in the Great War.
Mr. Vaughan: Although there is some risk at a moment like this of breaking the spell of memory and of sorrow by words, for words from human lips are very poor things on the great occasions of life, whether they be occasions of joy, or occasions of stirring remembrance, still I venture to put before you two or three thoughts that should hover around us at this time – hover around us this evening and accompany us helpfully tomorrow and in the days to come. “It is not for the sake of those brave men whose names I have just read, but it is for our own sakes and for the sake of the generations to come that that this memorial is added to the sacred association of this Church and village. It will be years before the memories of these brave men will fade from the hearts of all who regard this spot as “home.” Today the tablet is in a certain sense superfluous. Mother and father, wife or lover, brother or sister, son or daughter-even though time has now softened the bitterness of parting, the heart takes into its memory the glorious memory of the dead, and makes them the motive of noble hope. All these, I say, hardly need for years to come any memory of their loss, for it will be with them throughout their journey through the world. But the mourners of today will, in their turn die, and then, perhaps, this tablet will speak eloquently, for living beings will then be silent. What it will – what it ought to say-is surely no less than, “There were found men here, in this very, very heart of England, men who were ready to endure hardships for the sake of country and right, and who have passed out of men’s sight along the path of duty, accompanied often by terror and pain, into the sight of God before their time.” Their going made this world a very empty world to some of those who now live in freedom. It is surely no idle fancy to imagine the brave dead here tonight – here once again in the Church where they may have been christened, or confirmed or married, or where they probably worshipped from time to time, where they had a right to be buried when their work on earth was done. Imagine them mustering here, I say, from distant graves and from secret places of the battlefield, with all their human imperfections redeemed, and if we can fancy them here we can fancy them at peace, we can fancy them saying that the peace of life for which they died can only be won. Each boy and girl who is touched by the thought of them, and who marks in the days to come this record of their services, prays for peace in his or her own heart, and shuns all thoughts or deeds that destroy the heavenly love that alone can knit all the inhabitants of a village or of the world together in a peaceful truth. Though full five years have passed since peace was won, we need not speak of their valour, for its echo still rings in our ears, and in our mourning. We are proud, but we must be humble, too, and with lowly, penitent heart, pray that we may be more worthy than we perhaps have been these last five years, of the noble causes of justice and merry and self-surrender, and truth for which they died almost unconsciously but still almost dearly, giving up their claims of life that we might, in fact, be living memorials in our daily life of their heroic deaths.
A collection in aid of Ear! Haig’s Fund amounted to £1 16s.