Neil Rees's Investigating The Chartridge War Memorial

The Chartridge Parish War Memorials

In 1920, three war memorial plaques were commissioned by Chartridge Parish Council to 

commemorate local men who died in the Great War. These were for the three parts of the parish which 

had lost men: Chartridge, Hyde Heath, and Bellingdon.

In 1921, these were put up on behalf of Chartridge Parish Council in the three church buildings then in 

Chartridge Parish, at the Baptist chapel in Hyde Heath, the Anglican Mission (now St John’s) Church at 

Bellingdon, and at Chartridge Chapel. The Bellingdon Memorial was unveiled on Friday, February 11, 

1921, and the Hyde Heath Memorial was unveiled on Monday, June 4, 1921. The men named on the 

Plaques did not necessarily have any connection to those churches.

Unveiling

The Chartridge memorial plaque was unveiled on behalf of Chartridge Parish Council

on Tuesday, March 8th, 1921. The service was led by the Rev Walter Archibald

Weeks, pastor of Hinton Baptist Church in Red Lion Street. Chesham. The service

was recorded in the Bucks Examiner on March 11th.

There are four men on the Chartridge memorial who had local connections – three

from Chartridge and one from Pednor. The memorial commemorates those who

were from Chartridge, and it is not known if they had any connections with the chapel.

The memorial reads.

“To the Glory of God

and in undying memory

of

F.R.A.N. Knollys, - Major, City of London Yeomanry

Harry Hearn - Royal Garrison Artillery

William Higgs - London Regiment

Edward James Rodwell - Royal Field Artillery

Who Fell in the Great War

1914-1918”

Rest in Peace”.

Major F.R.A.N. Knollys

Frederick Roger Alexander Nicholas (F.R.A.N.) Knollys was born in Kensington on

December 1, 1884. F.R.A.N. Knollys was the youngest son of the late Colonel

William Wallingford Knollys and his wife, Sophia Elizabeth Tuckfield, who was a

nephew of Viscount Knollys, Private Secretary to King Edward VII, and later King

George V. As a baby, he was baptised into the Church of England at Chelsea on

March 2 nd, 1885.

F.R.A.N. Knollys attended Borden Grammar School, at Sittingbourne in Kent. He had

lived at Wallingford House, Little Pednor near Chesham, since his family had had it

built in 1910, when his father was Lord-in-waiting to Queen Alexandra. The house

included 20 acres of land. The house lay south of Little Hundridge Farm in the civil

parish of Chartridge.

F.R.A.N. Knollys always took a great interest in military matters and was made a

Major in the City of London Rough Riders in January 1914. Major Knollys was a

most popular and competent officer. In 1915, he was seriously wounded in August

23rd, 1915, while in action in the Dardanelles with the City of London Rough Riders.

He succumbed to the injuries he received and died on September 24th, 1915, at the

Red Cross Hospital, Netley near Southampton.

He is buried at Highgate Cemetery in London, and his name also appears on the

City of London Yeomanry War Memorial, at the Priory Church of St. Bartholomew-

The-Great, at Smithfield, in the City of London. He is also on the plaque in Ballinger

Memorial Hall, opened in 1922, which commemorates people from Ballinger, Potter

Row, South Heath, Pednor and Hundridge.

Harry Hearn

Henry (known as Harry) Hearn was born at Lee Common in 1892. He was the

second of four sons of Thomas (1860-1937) and Sarah Hearn (1858-1934) of Rose

Cottage, Chartridge. His father was a farm labourer.

Harry enlisted in Harrow and was Gunner 60527 in the Royal Garrison Artillery, 77th

Siege Battery. They went to France in March 1916, where he died of typhoid in June

14, 1916, aged 23. He is buried at the Couin British Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France.

His name also appears on the war memorial at St Mary’s Church in Chesham, and

Chesham War Memorial.

William Higgs

William Higgs was born in 1892 at the Portobello Arms pub in Chartridge, which was

opposite The Bell. He was the sixth child of William (1847-1892) and Rose Higgs

(1858-1928) who ran the pub. His father had died in 1892 when he was young, and

his mother remarried to James Barnes, and they continued to run the pub.

William Higgs enlisted at Kingston in Surrey in 1914. He first served in the 6th East

Surrey Regiment and then transferred as Private 783080 in the 24th (County of

London) Battalion, known as the Queen’s Regiment. He had spent two years in

France, where he was killed in action near the Somme. He died on September 2,

1918, aged 26. He is buried at the Fins New British Cemetery at Sorel-le-Grand in

France. His name also appears on the war memorial at St Mary’s Church in Chesham.

Edward James Rodwell

Edward (known as Ted) James Rodwell was born in 1898 at Chartridge Green

Farm. He was the eldest son of James and Annie Rodwell, and they later lived at

Lime Tree Farm, Chartridge. As a child, he had attended Lee Common School.

Edward James Rodwell enlisted in Aylesbury and joined the 3rd Reserve Brigade of

Royal Field Artillery as a driver. He had been in training at Tidworth Camp in

Hampshire, where he contracted cerebrospinal meningitis and died at home on

March 14, 1917, aged 19. A photo of him was published in the Bucks Examiner on

Friday, May 11, 1917. He is buried in the churchyard at The Lee. He also appears on

the war memorial at St Mary’s Church in Chesham, on the War Memorial in the

Church at The Lee, and on the Roll of Honour at Lee Common School.

This was researched and written by Neil Rees to mark the 140th anniversary of

Chartridge Chapel's current building.