The memorial commemorates six men: two officers and four other ranks who died in the Great War, 1914-1918. Company Sergeant Major Chivers was awarded the Military Cross. Sergeant Hall was awarded the Military Medal with Bar. Private Clark was a member of the Australian Imperial Forces. Private White died of pulmonary tuberculosis in England and is buried in Kingston Cemetery. Lieutenant Rought was a champion rower who represented England in the 1912 Olympic Games in Sweden. He was captured in France at the very end of 1914 and, until after the Armistice in 1918, was a prisoner of war in Germany. He died of food poisoning in London on 31 January 1919, before demobilisation. 2nd Lieutenant Shaw, of the Royal Flying Corps, rose from the ranks, served in Egypt, was Mentioned in Dispatches and was killed in a flying accident in England. He is buried in St Mary’s churchyard, Long Ditton. All men are commemorated on the Surbiton UDC Memorial.
Audrey Giles’ new book evolved from the research of a family anecdote about a railway accident in 1904 in which her grandfather, George Spencer, was seriously injured.
The first mission in Kingston upon Thames, mentioned in the Catholic Directory, was St. Raphael’s Church, in Surbiton.
Hillcroft College, Surbiton KT6 6DF was built in 1877 as a mansion for Wilberforce Bryant, Chairman of Bryant & May, safety match manufacturers.
Local historian Tim Everson’s collation of old and new photographs with informative captions…