Monday August 4 marks the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, during which Lewes, in common with towns and villages throughout Britain and most of Europe, lost large numbers of its young men, 236 of whom are commemorated by name on three bronze plaques on the Lewes War Memorial.
Some names are missing since the roll of honour was only compiled in 1922 by means of forms filled in by friends and relatives of the deceased, and some names were sent in to the Town Hall too late to be included.
Others continued to die of war wounds and the effects of gas long after the conflict was over. The true impact on Lewes families was therefore undoubtedly even greater than the numbers on the War Memorial itself would suggest, leaving a legacy of shattered lives which lasted in some cases for decades.
Lewes War Memorial was the result of a competition organised by the Borough Council and judged by Edward Prior, Slade Professor of Fine Art of the University of Cambridge. The chosen design draws on classical references, the white Portland Stone obelisk being surmounted by a bronze winged Victory bearing a laurel wreath, its base flanked by Peace caressing a dove and Liberty bearing the torch of freedom.
On each side there is a bronze plaque, three of which bear the names of the fallen, the other inscribed ‘In memory of the men of Lewes who died for their country and for mankind in the Great War 1914-1918’.
According to Professor Price, the three bronze figures and plaques were to be supplied with a green patina which was to be heightened and toned by gilding on the ornaments of the tablets and the lettering of the inscriptions. Its unveiling and dedication on September 6 1922 took place in front of a crowd of several thousand townspeople, including all the children of the Elementary Schools in the town, a special enclosure being reserved for relatives of the deceased.
Reflecting the large number of Lewes men, many of them Territorials, who had served with the Lewes Company of the 5th (Cinque Ports) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, its soldiers provided the honour guard around the War Memorial, their arms reversed.
After speeches from General Sir Henry Sclater, Adjutant-General of the Forces 1914-16 and subsequently General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Command, Alderman Rugg (chairman of the war Memorial Committee) and the Mayor, Charles Patrick, the memorial was dedicated by the Bishop of Lewes, who had himself served as Chaplain during the war, being twice mentioned in despatches and who had himself lost a son during the conflict.
Following the service, the Last Post was sounded by buglers from the Royal Garrison Artillery and after a minute’s silence, Reveille was sounded by a lone Royal Field Artillery trumpeter, the choice of both military units honouring their strong Lewes connections.
No doubt many older Lewes families will recall loved ones who fought and came through the horrors of the Great War, as well as knowing of family members who were killed. When I was first Mayor in 1981 there was still a substantial contingent of First World War veterans at the annual Armistice Day parade.
My father’s two older brothers, John and William Mayhew, joined up in 1914. John, the elder of them, a member of the Lewes territorial company of the Royal Garrison Artillery, subsequently rose through the ranks to Sergeant. He was wounded in action for which he was awarded the Military Medal, presented by the Mayor in Lewes Town Hall as part of Gun Week in September 1918. He subsequently spent many years as secretary of the Ancient Order of Foresters in Station Street (now the Subud buildings). Like many others, he never talked about his war experiences.
No-one hearing the news of the declaration of war against Germany on August 4 1914 in Lewes could have foreseen the terrible carnage which was to result nor that the war itself would drag on for more than four long years. The day war was declared saw a flurry of activity in Lewes as the town was rapidly placed on a war footing.
Public sentiment against Germany had been growing since the start of the naval arms race in 1906, and there was an increasing realisation over the weeks following the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28 that war was a possibility.
As early as July 30 the Lewes territorial company of the Sussex Royal Garrison Artillery were mobilised, followed on August 3 by members of the Royal Naval Reserve and on August 5 by the Lewes Company of the 5th (territorial) battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment, amounting in all to more than 200 men.
By September 4 local newspapers reported that these had been joined by a similar number of recruits meaning that more than 460 Lewes men had entered military service, most of these sworn in by the Mayor and local magistrates at the Town Hall. The names of almost 50 of these are amongst the dead recorded on Lewes War Memorial.
The reality of war must have first hit home when on Monday September 7 a large crowd gathered to wave goodbye to more than 100 recruits, many from the surrounding villages. The men were addressed by the Mayor, Councillor T. G. Roberts, before marching off to Lewes Railway Station, headed by a Boy Scout bearing the Union Jack and the Lewes Town Band, which played on the platform as the train pulled out.
Other groups of recruits left Lewes in the subsequent three days, to be replaced on September 14 by 11,000 troops, part of a division due to begin training at Seaford, who were billeted on the town, 6,000 of them in private houses, the rest in public buildings including the Naval Prison, Town and County Halls, the Grammar School, and a variety of smaller halls including St Michael’s Parish Room and the Tabernacle and Eastgate Baptist School halls. A month later School Hill House opened as a hospital for wounded soldiers as Lewes settled into the routine of being a town at war.
Over the next four years, as we remember the events of the Great War as they unfolded, no doubt many local people will have stories about their own relatives to tell. I hope too to be able to add something to that record from my research into the Lewes men who gave their lives for their country in what was the greatest and most brutal conflict that until that time the world had ever seen.