Great & Little Ryburgh and Testerton War Memorial

Memorial soon after opening - Taken by None 01 Jan 1923

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Great Ryburgh inscriptions and WW2 names - Taken by Craig Howard 21 Mar 2005

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Great Ryburgh WW1 names - Taken by Craig Howard 21 Mar 2005

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Great Ryburgh WW1 names and Korea - Taken by Craig Howard 21 Mar 2005

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Great Ryburgh - Taken by Craig Howard 21 Mar 2005

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Ryburgh War Memorial - Taken by Ryburgh Remembers 13 Jun 2014

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Ryburgh War Memorial - Taken by Ryburgh Remembers 13 Jun 2014

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Ryburgh War Memorial - Taken by Ryburgh Remembers 13 Jun 2014

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Act of Remembrance 2014 - Taken by Ryburgh Remembers 09 Nov 2014

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Act of Remembrance 2014 - Taken by Ryburgh Remembers 09 Nov 2014

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Act of Remembrance 2014 - Taken by Ryburgh Remembers 09 Nov 2014

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Act of Remembrance 2014 - Taken by Ryburgh Remembers 09 Nov 2014

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Great Ryburgh War Memorial - Taken by Nick_2 27 Aug 2015

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Great & Little Ryburgh and Testerton War Memorial - Taken by Nick_2 27 Aug 2015

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Great & Little Ryburgh and Testerton War Memorial - Taken by Nick_2 27 Aug 2015

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Great & Little Ryburgh and Testerton War Memorial - Taken by Nick_2 27 Aug 2015

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Great & Little Ryburgh and Testerton War Memorial - Taken by Nick_2 27 Aug 2015

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Great & Little Ryburgh and Testerton War Memorial - Taken by Nick_2 27 Aug 2015

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Parish War Memorial George Harry Bond WW1 Centenary - Taken by Steve Bushby 05 Jun 2016

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Parish War Memorial George Harry Bond WW1 Centenary - Taken by Steve Bushby 05 Jun 2016

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Obelisk Station Road - Taken by Steve Bushby 09 Aug 2016

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Obelisk Station Road - Taken by Steve Bushby 09 Aug 2016

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Reference WMO/138877

Address:

Station Road

Great Ryburgh

NR21 0DX

England

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War Memorials Trust case: War Memorials Trust needs to avoid Contributors changing location/description details as we help to protect and conserve this war memorial through our casework. You can still add photographs, update condition and use the tabs below. If you believe any of the information you cannot edit is wrong or information is missing, please make a note of the reference number and include it in your email when you contact us.

Status: On original site

Type: Freestanding

Location: External

Setting: Roadside

Description: Pillar/column

Materials:

Stone Granite

Lettering: Leaded

Conflicts:

First World War (1914-1918)
Second World War (1939-1945)
Korean War (1950-1953)

About the memorial: Within a flint walled and gated, fenced enclosure. A square, polished granite pillar with a small urn on top, on four stepped square base. The dedication and names are in lead lettering on the sides of the pillar and base. The names appear to possibly be in order of date of death, with first name and surname.The front face bears the general commemoration for WW1, with the WW1 names on the left and right faces, in year of death order: The left face there is 1 name for 1914; 1 name for 1915; 6 names for 1916; 4 names for 1917. The right face has 7 names for 1917; and 4 names for 1918. On the front face of the lower steps are the names of 4 who fell in WW2, one each for 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1944. On the lower step of the right hand face is the name of one man who fell in the Korean War

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Comments:

24 May 2014 marked the 99th anniversary of the death of Private Ernest Thompson 1st Battalion Norfolk Regiment.Ernest William Thompson was born in Great Ryburgh in March 1894, where he lived with his mother and father, Matthew and Agnes Thompson and his eleven brothers and sisters. Before World War 1, Ernest worked as a cowman at Savory's Farm, in the village. Ernest became 16013 Private Thompson when he enlisted (with his best friend 'Bunkey') into the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment on Wednesday 2nd September 1914, at the age of 20 years and 5 months. After 6 months training at Walton, near Felixstowe, he was posted to France to join the 1st Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment, who were in the 15th Infantry Brigade of the 5th Division of the 2nd Corps.

In his last letter home, Ernest wrote about being on guard duty on the night of January 19th 1915 when two German Zeppelin airships crossed the Norfolk coastline at around 8.30pm. Having crossed the coast, one turned north and the other south. 25 incendiary bombs were dropped from each airship to enable the pilots to navigate to their chosen locations - Great Yarmouth and Kings Lynn where they each dropped their 8 bombs.

On Monday 24th May 1915 Private Thompson was Killed in Action between Hooge and the Ypres Canal, at Hollebeke. According to a letter sent to Mrs Agnes Thompson by 'Bunkey', Ernest's last words were reported to be "Give mother my love". Private Ernest William Thompson is remembered on the Parish Memorials and at Menin Gate. 
Currently, on display at St Andrew's Great Ryburgh is a profile of Private Thompson researched by his nephew, named Ernest after him, who has also loaned the collection of his Uncle's memorabilia to the The Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum as part of its First World War Exhibition. 

The Fakenham Times covered the story of Private Thompson on Thursday 22 May 14, with the headline 
Church Reveals More Of Lost Soldier's Story.

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Pte 32025 Reginald Platten 9th Btn Norfolk Regiment Killed in Action 8/10/18 Commemorated High Tree Cemetery Montbrehain A.44.
Richard Reginald Platten was born in Reepham 1890 and by the 1911 Census he was still single, living at Hill Farm Little Ryburgh and working as a journeyman butcher. According to his service record he was attested in Dec 1915 and appointed to the Norfolk Yeomanry on 31 March 1916 then living at Church Street Reepham and he is described there as a Butcher’s Cattle Dealer. He married Ivy Norah Wilson in Salle Church on the 27th April 1916 they had moved to White Rail Farm in Little Melton by October of 1916. He went to the front in December 1916. Wounded on 6th September 1917, he was admitted to hospital back in England in January 1918. He had been appointed unpaid Lance Corporal in November 1917. He was granted home leave from 27th March to 5th April 1918. He returned to the front in August 1918 knowing that his wife was pregnant with their first child. He was “Killed in Action” on the 8th October 1918 so very near to the end of hostilities. His daughter Iris Elaine Platten was born on Christmas Eve that year.

Family History:

John Platten and his wife Lucy kept the Boar in Gt. Ryburgh from 1836-1846. When she died, John Platten married again to farmer’s widow Sarah Mitchell of (Hill Farm) Lt Ryburgh in February 1847. He was a churchwarden and Overseer of the Poor for Little Ryburgh and kept the Walsingham Union’s Receipt and Account book from 1847 intermittently and then continuously from 1859 to 1867. Thereafter the book was used for the farms butter accounts until 1875.
It would seem that Hill Farm was left to his Grandson Robert Samuel Platten who lived there before he married, with his Uncle Samuel’s widow Eliza keeping house. It has not yet been possible to identify which of John’s sons was his father but I would suggest Robert born 1826 who seems to be not much in evidence. In census records Robert Samuel Platten lived with both his Uncle Philip in Gaywood (a teacher 1861) and then his Uncle Joseph in London (a coach body maker 1871) 
He married Mary Ann Elizabeth in 1889 and they had 3 children the eldest being Richard Reginald Platten. He shares John Platten as a Great Grandfather with Robert William Barker.

Footnotes.
Other information available at this time.

1. There are no mention of any Plattens in the book ‘Little Melton – The story of a Norfolk village’.

2. Ivy Norah Platten

Birth Date:16 Jun 1891

Date of Registration: Sep 1969

Age at Death:78

3. The daughter Iris Elaine Platten married Albert Frederick Beechey in 1941.

4. There is nothing obvious in the catalogued Evans-Lombe archives in the NRO relating specifically to White Rails Farm.

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#RyburghRemembers #WW1
Information known about Robert William Barker as of 14 June 14.

Private Robert William Barker of the 2nd Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment was born on 29th July 1875 and baptised at St Andrew's Great Ryburgh on 7th June 1876. The son of Arthur (a Merchant's Clerk, died 29th Dec 1887, aged 34) and his mother Martha Ann (died 12th September 1900, aged 50), 

Robert Barker is documented as both a bell ringer in 1891 and a member of the Ryburgh detachment of the Volunteer Battalion Norfolk Regiment based in Fakenham in 1894. He was a member of the winning Mid-Norfolk Shield cricket team in 1904. There are existing photographs of him in these two latter capacities. He worked for F&G Smith, as his father had done before him, and was living near The Crown pub in the 1890s, later moving to 3 Bridge Cottages. Later, Robert became groom and gardener to the Rector, Reverend F H Tatham. 

On 31st January 1905, Robert married Maud Rush (eldest daughter of Frederick Rush, publican of The Boar, which still operates as a pub) at Fakenham Registry office and they had three children, all born in Ryburgh: Frederick William 28/12/1904, Rhoda Maud 10/1/1906 and Herbert Lawrence 10/11/1914. Frederick and Rhoda would have been at Ryburgh School when their father was killed. The school log book for the period never once mentions the plight of its former pupils and their children.

Private Barker died on March 4th 1917 and is commemorated at Thiepval Memorial in the Somme, France, and on his brother Herbert's grave (died April 22nd 1906) in St Andrew's churchyard close to their parents. On 9th June 1917, after Robert's death in the trenches, Reverend Tatham wrote to the Army on Maud's behalf about items missing from Robert’s personal effects on their arrival from France. Sadly, this was not an uncommon occurrence and it is not known if they were ever returned to the family or compensation paid.

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#RyburghRemembers #WW1 Private Stanley Curson information known at 19 Apr 2014.

Stanley Curson 15/11/1897 - 19/4/1917

Stanley Curson was the 8th of 10 surviving children born to John and Sarah Ann Curson (nee Wilkerson) both of Great Ryburgh. They were married in 1887 but not in the Parish Church of St Andrew. They lived in Mill Road according to the Census return for 1901.

Stanley was born on November 15th 1897. He attended the village school from the day after his 5th birthday in 1902 where he is listed No 60 in what was then the new register (and the earliest of those to survive). He left school on 30th June 1911 when the Register says he went straight into “employment”. In his surviving fragmentary service record he is described as a labourer.

His father John had been a stationary engine driver at the Farmers Foundry before going on to work first as a labourer and then again as a stationary engine driver at F & G Smith’s Maltings.

According to his Attestation form Stanley, "the said Recruit has made and signed the declaration and taken the oath before me at Norwich on this 27th day of November 1915".

He was appointed to the Norfolk Regiment on 25th Jan 1916 and became No 241173 Private Stanley Curson 1/5th. Btn. Norfolk Regt.

His Home training lasted 164 days until 7th July 1916 after which he joined the M.E.F. until his death in Palestine on 19th April 1917. His military career lasted exactly 1 year and 86 days.

The following is an extract from the 1st/5th battalion diary -
'The 1st / 5th battalion marched out of Egypt in Feb 1917. They bivouacked in the desert at night and trekked through hot and tiring days in March. On 27th March Turks were spotted on the skyline and they dug in at Mamazua, with instructions given on using gas masks. On 16th April operations began against Shaveh Abbas ridge, which was carried with only slight opposition and 1 killed. On 18th April preparations were carried out for the Battle of Gaza the following day.
19th April 1917. The Battle of Sampson’s Ridge proved to be horrendous for the two Norfolk battalions, after which the survivors joined other units. After two hours of artillery bombing, the 5th Norfolks attacked at 7.30a.m. in artillery formation with one tank behind. They advanced 2000 yards under rifle and big gun fire, the tank flattening barbed wire entanglements. There were severe casualties then and even more when a portion of the enemy’s trenches were entered and Turkish fire hit the tank’s wheels and put it out of action. The counter attack was impossible to resist, the battalion retiring and taking up a position 1500 yards from the Turks. Among the ranks 13 were killed, 174 went missing and 401 were wounded that day, and amongst those lost were Bertie and Walter Curson.
By the 22nd April, 9 more Norfolks had died of their wounds. On the 9th Dec 1917 Jerusalem surrendered and this proved to be climax of the offensive against the Turks.' 

Name: Stanley Curson

Death Date: 19 Apr 1917

Death Location: Palestine

Enlistment Location: Norwich, Norfolk

Rank: Private

Regiment: Norfolk Regiment

Battalion: 1/5th Battalion (T.F.)

Number: 241173

Type of Casualty: Killed in action

Theatre of War: Egyptian Theatre

Commemorated by the CWGC at Gaza XX111.B.7 and on 3 Memorials within Great Ryburgh.

Stanley's older brother, General served with the 2nd Dragoon Guards Queen’s Bays . He was in barracks in Aldershot in 1911 and served throughout the war. His other brother Napoleon, a Bombardier in the Royal Garrison Artillery enlisted 15th May 1916. He had fought in France from 26th September 1916 until 25th October 1918 having first been hospitalised at the Casualty Clearing Station at Abbeville with broncho-pneumonia as a result of his “exposure whilst serving overseas” and then for a month until 25th Nov 1918 at the Huddersfield War Hospital. He was discharged on 23rd Jan 1919.

Also killed on the same day, was Private Stanley Edward Curson (possibly from Hindringham) of 1/4th Norfolk Regt. Perhaps Stanley Edward is the Bertie mentioned in the diary extract above and Walter is the Ryburgh Stanley?

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#RyburghRemembers #WW1 10 May 1917. On this day in 1917 Private Frederick J Bone 6th Battalion Royal West Surrey Regiment died.As of 10 May 2014 Here is what we know so far about Frederick known as John.

BONE, Private, F J, 9287, 6th Bn, The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment). Enlisted Norwich. Died of wounds 10 May 1917. Age 39. Son of Robert and Mary Bone, of Little Ryburgh, Norfolk. Commemorated Etaples Military Cemetary Grave Ref. XVIII. L. 16A.

Frederick's parents Robert Rudd Bone and Mary Hipkin married 17/11/1875, he was the eldest boy in a family of 5, 4 of whom survived infancy. Birth registered as Frederick John Bone in the 3rd quarter of 1877, but only referred to as John in all the Census returns. He was 39 and unmarried when he was killed.

Two of his first cousins also served in #WW1. Edward Charles Bone served throughout the war and is listed on the Roll of Honour in St Andrew's church. Everard B Hipkin a Private in the 8th Battalion Norfolk Regiment was Killed In Action 2/11/16. Everard is commemorated in the parish and at Courcelette.

According to the Dereham Fakenham Times of 24 December 1904 - "1 December 1904 John Bone, of Little Ryburgh, labourer, was charged with using obscene language and was fined 10s and 4s costs".

The following is based on information gleaned from the 6th Battalion Royal West Surrey regimental diaries from January 1917.

It is not known when Frederick actually landed in France or which company he was in, so this is a general picture of what happened.
January;
1st battalion arrived Grand Bullecourt, mid Jan went into Arras trenches.
February;
1 – 3 in Busmettes billets for training.
4 – 14 moved to Bourcq for billeting and more training
15 – 21 now in Bethune for more training and different billets.
22 – 28 back into Arras trenches this time with many exchanges with the Germans, lots of trench mortar and rifle grenade exchanges.
29 billeted at orphanage in Bethune.
March; 
1 – 4th billets.
5 – 15 now in Arras for working party alongside the R.E.
16 – 25 billets at various places Montenes Corbet and Ligneruell.
26 – 31 back in Arras for more working party duties.
April;
1 – 8 still in Arras trenches.
9 -10 First day of `The Battle of Arras` (incidentally the same day Ryburgh born Herbert Fox DCM was killed) battalion heavily involved attacking German trenches. 2 officers and 4 OR killed, 7 officers and 19 OR wounded.
11th now in Glasgow trench with 13 OR killed and 26 wounded and 7 OR missing. 
12th – 13th Monchy, 1 officer and 2 OR killed.
14th left Arras for billets.
15th – 23rd billeted in Gouves and Humbercourt.
24 – 30 still in billets.
May;
1st - 10th back in Arras in the `brown line` and various places heavily involved in many battles and exchanges with the Germans taking many casualties. It can only be assumed that it was in this time frame or even before that Frederick became wounded before his removal to Etaples. It is impossible to be precise about the circumstances of his injury and how severe it was.

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9 June 2014Local historian Peter Trent has started to delve into the Ryburgh Parish Magazines that were issued monthly from 1910 right up to the death of F.H.Tatham in 1947. In doing so, he appears to have partially solved the conundrum of the two separate war memorials here in Ryburgh. It can only be partial at this stage because we only ever hear the story through Hugh Tatham’s words, in fact about 6500 of them!.......... but to summarise: By 1917 he was beginning to think of a War Memorial in the Church by way of the restoration of St Thomas’ Chapel after having visited J.N.Comper in London probably in May of that year. Plans arrived in Ryburgh by the end of January 1918 and they were reported to be of screens for both the Chancel and the South Transept. A drawing survives today in the Comper Archive showing just such an arrangement. Already in August 1918 he is addressing the question from the village. “Why should it be in the Church” and of course he can think of no better place and by November he is raising funds for “The Rood Screen Memorial to the Fallen” As in many parts of this tale it has to be left to the imagination as to the extent of opposition to Tatham’s, dare one say “restoration by memorial” scheme, but in January 1919 he suggests a public meeting so everyone can “see and hear about the proposed screen in the Church”. Hugh Tatham was also part of the Parish Council and so he reports of a Council meeting in May which decided on three proposals to be later discussed and I assume put to the vote. These were the Church Memorial, an obelisk in a public place in the village or the purchase of a Recreation Ground. In July the following year 1920, he appeals for “a mutual arrangement that will please all “especially the relatives of those killed. In August a public meeting is called to consider afresh a war Memorial for the village and by September he writes: “The collection for the Parish War Memorial amounted to close on £200 and it has been decided to place the Memorial on a piece of ground given by Messrs. F. and G. Smith just between the garden of Mr. Lovett (Foundry Manager) and the gate leading to the Football ground. The actual form the Memorial is to take has not yet been decided.” Bearing in mind that he had been collecting for a Rood Screen Memorial designed by Comper for the previous three years, he compromises seamlessly into this: “Side by side with this public Memorial, a Memorial is to be placed in the Church as has been done in very many parishes and the relatives of those who have fallen are collecting for this object-------Mr. John Page, Architect, has prepared a beautiful design for this Memorial and I very much hope that we shall be able to carry this through in accordance with the wish of the relatives. “ There is ample documentation about this Screen which was dedicated in Nov 1921 though the Magazines reveal that it was incomplete at the time and the debt on work done was finally cleared in May 1923. The completion of the screen, namely the paintings of the 8 East Anglian Saints was finally achieved in November 1927 in time for St Andrew’s Day celebrations. They were painted by an as yet unknown artist from Walsingham Church Shop.

Kelly’s Directory for 1933 states that the Church Memorial cost £240. The published subscriptions haven't been totted up, so can’t be verified. No published accounts for the Screen have been found yet.

When the Village Memorial was built, and by whom is still unknown. (War Memorials Trust do you have any information?) Hugh Tatham writes in May 1924 when publishing the accounts for the Village Memorial:

“The conveyance, minute and balance sheet were given into the custody of the Clerk for safe keeping among the Parish Records--------the minute, list of names and balance sheet being recorded in the minutes. The Parish Council, together with the co-opted members from the parishes of Little Ryburgh and Testerton, will in future be the Committee for the care and upkeep of the Memorial and site.” The final published accounts show that the total cost for the Village War Memorial was £207-5-2d. and not “about £150” as the entry in Kelly’s 1933 Directory puts it!

These have since been lost, and one lives in hope that they may turn up.

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Inscription:

IN HONOURED/ AND LOVING MEMORY/ OF THE MEN FROM/ GREAT & LITTLE RYBURGH & TESTERTON/ WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914-1918/ AND/ 1939-1945

Names:

(On the left hand face) 1915/ ERNEST THOMPSON/ 1916/ GEORGE HARRY BOND/ FREDERICK GREEN/ ALBERT GREEN/ HAROLD COMER/ EVERARD B. HIRKIN/ JOSEPH CHAD HOWMAN/ 1917/ HERBERT CHASTNEY/ ROBERT W. BARKER/ WALTER PENN/ HERBERT FOX D.C.M./ (On the lower step) 1914/ JOHN CREMER/ (Right hand face) 1917/ STANLEY CURSON/ FREDERICK BONE/ CHARLES STEWARD/ JOHN BETTS/ WILLIAM DOY/ WALTER BETTS/ CECIL KAIL/ 1918/ JOHN BACON/ HARRY CHILVERS/ ERNEST NELSON/ REGINALD PLATTEN. (Front face, lower steps) 1941/ A. J. WHITESIDE/ 1942/ F. H. TATHAM/ 1943/ C. R. MATTLESS/ 1944/ D. J. NELSON/ (Right face, lower step) KOREA/ 1952/ NOEL A. HAYNES.

Suggest information

Listing grade:

Grade II (England)

Listing URL:

www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1452673

Unique listing reference number:

1452673

Conservation area:

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Local list / Historic environment record:

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Custodian name:

Ryburgh Parish Council

Custodian website:

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