LEATHERHEAD WAR MEMORIALS
What's New?
contacting us & finding the memorials
last updated 1 June 2010
CWGC = Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Contacting us
This website is a team effort. Frank Haslam is the website editor and keeper of the database. Ian Whitlock provides invaluable assistance on WWI issues and was the inspiration for the site.

email Frank and include Leatherhead WM in the subject line of your message
and where appropriate Ian will be forwarded your message.

Or contact us by post via the Parish Office:
Haslam/The Friends of Leatherhead Parish Church, The Parish Office,
Parish Church Hall, Church Road, Leatherhead, Surrey, England, KT22 8AY

Map/website links
Leatherhead Parish Church, Church Rd - contact the Parish Office for opening times
Town Memorial, North Street - to get it unlocked - map - junction of Gravel Hill & North Street
St John's School Chapel - please contact the school to make arrangements to visit
Methodist Church, Church Street - please contact via their website to make arrangements to visit the church

What's New?

Jul 2010

• WWI - Investigations - Albert Ansell b Leatherhead but not commemorated here now looks very likely to the the Pte AE Ansell commemorated on the Ashtead war memorials.

Jun 2010

• WWII - Sturt brothers page updated

Mar 2009

• Story pages are being revised to a new format, it will take a while ..
• Page added on WWI - William Worsfold, showing a photo of him

Feb 2009

• Pages added on:
  WWI - Arthur Clapshew: the same name appears on Great Bookham's war memorial
  WWI - FR Hillier is one of the 22 names orginally identified by Ian Whitlock as having Leatherhead connections bu absent from the town's war memorials. FR Hillyer has been found on the Ashtead War Memorial.
• Menu link added to Local War Memorials - Ashtead, Fetcham, Epsom (Ashley Road) and more being added.
  AR West, buried at Effingham, is on the Town Memorial.
  CD Kirkham is also on the Fetcham WM.
• FP Vickery and CH Fabray are updated - both are on the Ashtead War Memorial (outside St George's)
• Via Goff Powell, text added to the St John's School War Memorial page, describing the dedication on Saturday June 19th 1920.

Jan 2008

• Description of Church Lads Brigade added - see Memorials > All Saints > Church Lads

Jan 2006

• St John's School Chapel Rolls of Honour added - see Memorials > St John's School

Nov 2005

Pages added on:-

• WWI - William Albert Bussey of Lower Fairfield Road
• WWI - Frederick Robert Lavender, died as a POW in Germany, 1918
• WWI - Absolam Henry Harvey Summerfield of Ashtead
• WWII - Donald Frederick Kebbell of Leatherhead

Jan 2005

• WWI - Charles Grantham identified as the maker of the War Shrine - see Memorials > Town > Creation > Ladies War Shrine

Oct 2004

• WWII - James William Finch page updated with information from his brother Norman - see WWII
• WWII - the mystery of Harold James Prentice unravels a bit further with more information via Meredith Worsfold - see WWII

Sep 2004

• WWI - New pages added on the original memorial in the town (the War Shrine, which is now in the Parish Church) and on the planning and dedication of the Town Memorial, North Street - see MEMORIALS > Town > Creation
• WWII - pages added on the Thompson brothers of Kingston Road - Frederick Reginald Thompson and Frank Richard James Thompson
• WWII - the mystery of Harold J Prentice, on the WWII memorial but not a member of the services - see WWII
• WWII - Max Millward page added, with a fascinating account of wartime and post-war Leatherhead - see WWII

Aug 2004

• WWI - George Alexander, Frederick Blackwall, Reginald G Crocker (a particularly bad case of the Town War Memorial getting it wrong), William George Goodchild, Cyril Harold Peters, Thomas John Victor Piper, Herbert Tribe and Miss Ada Weller pages added. Grave photo added for Abell.
• WWI - almost all WWI casualties on the Town Memorial now at least have a link to their CWGC record
• WWI - Battlefield Crosses website linked to FCB Coward page - see Memorials > Parish Church > Mystery
• WWII - photo of fireman Charles Henry Richard's funeral and an account of his death in Portsmouth, via his grandaughter, Mrs Marion Donnelly
• WWII - Edmund Hedley Archer, Andrew Cyril Davies, Arthur Davies, Peter George James Messenger, Donald Orchard pages added.
• WWII - The Sturt brothers and James William Finch pages added.
• WWII - Frederick Hatchwell, Old Contemptible and first WWII civilian casualty in Leatherhead added.
• WWII - Frank Richard James Thompson traced on the CWGC database and all WWII presently traced on the CWGC database now linked to their entries: it is evident that there are discrepancies between the RBL Roll of Honour and the CWGC and that the Town WWII Memorial was incomplete in giving initials.
• WWII- Frederick Reginald Thompson traced thanks to his sister-in-law Mrs Edith Thompson - but the CWGC have him as Reginald Frederick!

July 2004

• Leatherhead Royal British Legion's Roll of Honour for WWI and WWII, which is kept in the Parish Church, has been scanned and can now be viewed via Memorials > Parish Church.
• WWII - Civilian war deaths in Leatherhead Urban District now listed (mostly people injured elsewhere) & listing of military graves in the Parish Churchyard - see Buried/Died here.
• WWII - First results from L Ad letter - Charles Henry Richards, a Leatherhead fireman who died in Portsmouth 11 March 1941. A lead on J(ames) Finch.
• WWII - Flynn, Gillett and von Bergen pages added: WWI - Abell, Adams, Gray, Yardley added.
• Work begins on the WWII casualties - see the development pages via the World War II link.
• Search function added.
• Help page updated: letter to Leatherhead Advertiser
• Images added of the Leach, Chapman and Gillett memorial plaques in Leatherhead Parish Church.
• Town Memorial images added and of restricted access notice.
• Work begins on adding Liam Sumption's research on the WWI casualties listed on the Town War memorial - see the development pages via the World War I link.
• Pages added on John Pattenden 15.08.22 and Frank Room 12.08.20

May 2004

• Rev Briony Martin's Remembrance Day sermon in Leatherhead Parish Church 2003. Please read it and be touched by it.

Oct 2003

• Discovering Private Coward's connection with Leatherhead thanks to Ian Whitlock and Alun Roberts - see MYSTERY link in PARISH CHURCH MEMORIALS

July 2002

• Jon Miller provides image of Private Coward's headstone in the HAC Cemetery - see MYSTERY link in PARISH CHURCH MEMORIALS

Nov 2001

• WWI - Sue Parrott of Fetcham solves the Treadgold mystery - he was on the CWGC database as Treadgol!

Feb 2001

• Website redesigned and presentation updated

Jun 2000

• Great War Churches added to Useful Links
• Article in Parish Magazine about upkeep of War graves prompts offers of help

Apr 2000

• The Mystery of the Cross in the Tower - see Parish Church memorials
• Site format upgraded

May 1999

• Friends of Leatherhead Parish Church AGM - talk given by Frank Haslam and Ian Whitlock which is now available in the form of a presentation on this website.
• Appeal for assistance on WWII names appears in Parish Magazine: Methodist WWI plaque, Church Lads Brigade memorial in All Saints added to website.
• Liam Sumption's research information provided by Leatherhead and District Local History Society

Apr 1999

• 'Website memorial for brave soldiers of War' story in Leatherhead Advertiser

Mar 1999

• Investigations section added to website.
• 'Missing Names Appeal' story in the Leatherhead Advertiser, 25th March issue, announces the project and that the Friends and Ian Whitlock are working together, inviting help from the public.
• Website launched 21st March with a full list of names on the Town and Parish Church memorials: site explains that the Friends and Ian Whitlock are working together

Feb 1999

• Article in Leatherhead Advertiser, 25th Feb issue, listing possibly missing WWI names on town memorials, based on research by Ian Whitlock.

1998

• Story in Leatherhead Advertiser about the Friends of Leatherhead Parish Church Project with Leatherhead Royal British Legion to locate names of any Leatherhead serviceman or woman who gave their lives this century, apart from in WWI or WWII.