|
ARBORFIELD MEMORIALS. Contributed by: Trevor STUBBERFIELD (52A) |
|
|
|
On
a recent visit to Wokingham I took the opportunity to record the details of
some headstones which have a relevance to the early history of our old
school. |
|
|
|
St. Bartholomew’s Church, Arborfield, Berkshire. |
|
|
|
|
|
The
headstone at the resting place of RSM H.E. ‘Ben’ Cook M.B.E, Grenadier
Guards. The inscription reveals the
true names of the man who will ever be known as Ben by the many who remember him
from his position as RSM at the Arborfield Army Technical School from 1939 to
May 1941. He was one of the hand picked team who were charged with organising
and implementing the establishment of the school before it opened its gates
to the apprentices in 1939. Later he was promoted to Captain Quartermaster
and Agricultural Officer in which position he assumed responsibility for the
grounds and sports fields surrounding the school. For many of the later
intakes, the enduring memory will be of Ben and Gilbert, his trusty
Clydesdale horse, along with the cart, moving around the camp attending to
his duties, with a noticeable twinkle in his keen eyes. Some
personal memories of ‘Ben’ are recounted by Ian Rea
(Arborfield ‘39)……. “I
always thought of Ben riding his enormous army bike with his great big army
boots on the pedals. When he was a Captain riding on the same bike, and later
on with Gilbert, I thought him to be the worst dressed officer I'd ever seen,
but everyone loved Ben, and when the boys came back from overseas to the
depot at Arborfield, now nearly all WOs, all called in to see him and his
wife Evaline. He was a bed patient
when I returned from Benghazi, but even then it was difficult to talk to him
as an equal, but he remembered my name, and Mrs ‘Ben’ gave me tea and cake,
as she had done many years before. |
|
|
|
R.S.M. R.L. McNally, Scots Guards. |
|
The
intention was to match the record of RSM Ben Cook with a similar report for
RSM R L ‘Mac’ McNally. of the Scots Guards.
Along with Ben, he was an icon of the Arborfield School. Joining in 1941 he was at the forefront of
school life for 15 years. He died on
the 28th of March 1973 as the result of a tragic road traffic accident. He was cremated at the Reading Crematorium
on the 4th of April 1973. The cemetery
records show that he was interred in Plot No. CR142. I made a trip to the cemetery to make a
photographic record of the information there but, alas, no headstone was
found. There was just a mown strip of
grass between neighbouring headstones.
Further enquiries have been made but I have found no details of where
Mac lies at rest. The search goes on. He is
remembered in a Memoire by Peter Crowther 65B which can be read from HERE |
|
If
anyone has any details to help with the search, please e-mail THE
EDITOR __________________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
St. James Church, Finchampstead, Berkshire. |
|
|
|
The graveyard at St. James Church, Finchampstead, contains
eleven graves registered with the
Click on the icon above to visit the main
web site. The
details of the three Apprentice Tradesmen recorded below remain the Copyright
© of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and are reproduced in accordance
with the Terms & Conditions displayed on their web site available from HERE. |
|
_________________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
Army Plot: J45. |
|
|
|
In Memory of ____________________________________ 7601251
A/T Rex David Field, aged 15. Joined the Arborfield Army Technical School in
1939. At this time the school badge was that of the Royal Army Ordnance
Corps. Rex Field is believed to have
died of pneumonia. ___________________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
Army Plot: B52. |
|
|
|
In Memory of ____________________________________ 7590912 A/T D C Hall aged 15. Another RAOC badged
apprentice. Desmond
Hall died as the result of a tragic firearm accident as recounted by Ian Rea
(Arborfield ‘39)…., “I was
in hut J4 at the time and Pete Humpston (Jersey intake
1938 Oct, died 2009 in Perth) was in H3 D Coy. We in our location did not
hear anything, but Pete came over and said one of his crew in the hut had
been cleaning a 303 rifle, fitted a so called emptied 303 cartridge in it and
shot it, hitting A/T Hall in the neck. This was in 1940 early in the year.
Very little of this incident was spoken of at the time, but Pete was in
support mode at the time, and we again spoke of the incident in 2008.” __________________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
Army Plot: B52. |
|
|
|
In Memory of ____________________________________ 2547580
A/T D W Sutherland Royal Signals. His
name is recorded on the Slateford and Longstone War Memorial, his hometown
near Edinburgh. The
following information was supplied from the Royal Signals Museum. My Thanks to Lt Col (Retd) Mike Butler, a
volunteer researcher at the museum, for his help. ‘2547580 AT David Wright Sutherland died of appendicitis on the 14 May 1943 at Battle Hospital Reading. He was stationed at A T School Arborfield at the time. He was in the Royal Corps of Signals. The casualty record is No. 59273 and the original is held here’. In
further talks with Mike Butler it was noted that although the museum has the
casualty record for David, it has no record of him joining the Royal
Signals…. ‘Thank you for your reply. Sutherland had a pencil notation on his Casualty Card that mentioned GSC Arborfield. We have no record of him on our lists – but we do have record of Wells D, enlisted Oct 1943.’ Mike
Butler then forwarded a photo of the Royal Signals squad that our Fred Wells
44A joined in October 1943 at Catterick before transferring to
Arborfield. Fred’s Memoire can be read
from HERE.
and it throws some light on how David may have finished up at Arborfield. ___________________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
Additional
information is contained on a supplementary page Royal
Signals At Arborfield. |
|
|
|
|
|
First Published: 1st June 2011. Layout Revised and Content Updated: 8th June 2011. Latest Update: 15th April 2013. ___________________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
